The purpose of this study was to discover and compare perceptions of three different groups
of Indiana elementary educators concerning the importance of areas of the principal’s literacy
knowledge base, as well as responsibility for and use of this knowledge by principals to
adequately support effective research-based literacy instruction. The educator groups selected to
participate in the study included elementary principals, non-permanent teachers, and literacy
curriculum specialists from all Indiana public elementary schools containing grades K – 4.
Using a survey specifically designed for this study, data on participants’ perceptions connected
to the purposes of the study were collected and analyzed. Twelve different areas of literacy
knowledge were identified for investigation. The areas included: Literacy Research and Best
Practice, Role of Change Agent in Literacy Curriculum and Instruction, Literacy Instructional
Components, District Language Arts Curriculum, Language Arts State Standards and
Assessments, School-Based Literacy Assessments, Literacy Data Collection and Analysis,
Literacy Classroom Environments and Schedule, Literacy Instructional Resources, Quality
Children’s Literature, Meeting Struggling Readers Needs, The School Literacy Curriculum
Specialist. The study used quantitative methods of statistical analyses. Results showed a large
percentage of participants perceived all twelve identified areas as absolutely essential for the
principals’ literacy knowledge base. Some areas were statistically more important than others.
The results were similar concerning the principals’ ability to use and share the areas of literacy
knowledge. Perceptions of who the principal should be able to share areas of literacy knowledge
revealed faculty as being most important when compared with parents and children. Sharing
literacy knowledge with parents was considered more important than children. While it was
perceived as critical for principals to have a broad literacy knowledge base and have the ability
to use this knowledge with various school constituent groups, all literacy areas with a few
exceptions were seen as the responsibility of both teacher and principal equally. Finally, a
comparison between perceptions of participating principals, non-permanent teachers, and literacy
curriculum specialists showed more similarities than differences between groups overall. / Department of Educational Leadership
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:123456789/194631 |
| Date | 29 June 2011 |
| Creators | Thomas, Barbara M. |
| Contributors | Sharp, William L. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
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