The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there is a relationship
between transformational principal leadership style, a safe school climate, and school
safety (specifically, the number of reported fights and reported bullying incidents) in
Broward County, Florida’s middle schools. This study also investigated if a relationship
exists between transformational leadership and a safe school climate, transformational
leadership, and the number of bullying incidents and student fights, and a safe school
climate and the number of bullying incidents and student fights. The study surveyed 12 middle schools located in a large, urban district in south Florida. Principal leadership style was determined from the MLQ-5X, school safety climate was determined from the school district’s Annual Customer Survey, and the reported number of fights and bullying incidents recorded in the school district’s Discipline Management System were collected via records request for each participating middle school and tallied. Pearson correlations were conducted to examine the bivariate association between the leadership dimensions, a safe school climate, and school violence. Separate multiple linear regression models were used to examine the following relationships: leadership style and the number of reported fights and reported bullying incidents; leadership style and a safe school climate; and a safe school climate and the number of reported fights and reported bullying incidents.
The findings suggested that there were no statistically significant correlations
between leadership style (transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire), and bullying
or fighting, and no statistically significant correlation between principal leadership style
and middle school climate. There was a statistically significant correlation found between
school climate and the number of student fights. The significance of this finding is
important because it illustrates the adverse impact fighting has on student safety, which,
in turn, adversely affects the school climate. Therefore, it is up to the school leader to
create a climate where everyone feels safe can focus on student achievement. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_13471 |
| Contributors | Leff, Jonathan M. (author), Maslin-Ostrowski, Patricia (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 185 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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