The responsibilities of contemporary principals have increased dramatically and principals continue to be held accountable for school improvement efforts. Leading the school improvement process is a daunting task for principals. In this study, elementary school principals across Massachusetts reported that they consider helping teachers increase student learning to be a high leadership priority for school improvement. Further, the review of the research and literature undertaken for this study argues that principals should place helping teachers increase student learning at the heart of all school improvement efforts and that elementary school principals should make the facilitation of teaching and learning a leadership priority. However, data gathered in this research indicate that elementary school principals spend the greater percentage of their time on management/administrative responsibilities rather than on leadership aspects of their job that help teachers improve student performance. The review of the research and literature undertaken for this study examines the numerous and diverse responsibilities of the principalship, and the contexts in which principals work. The literature review also examines the various ways principals help teachers improve teaching and learning. In spite of the mismatch between what elementary school principals in this study consider to be important and their actual practice, they were able to provide examples of the various ways they are currently helping teachers increase student learning. This study also describes the work conditions elementary school principals across Massachusetts perceive they need in order to improve teaching and learning. The major implications of this study are that elementary school principals need to: (a) find a balance between their management and leadership responsibilities; (b) utilize their discretionary time to help teachers improve teaching and learning; and (c) seek professional experiences to help them reflect on how they can improve their practice. Finally, this study proposes a number of recommendations that may be useful to elementary school principals, organizations that provide preservice and inservice opportunities, educational policy makers, and other parties interested in assisting elementary school principals help teachers increase student learning.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-1641 |
| Date | 01 January 1998 |
| Creators | Gould, Stephen Martin |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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