This study, one of four cohort studies, was designed to determine the relationship
between student performance and leadership practices as perceived by principals and
selected site-based decision making committee members of middle schools in the
Region 5 Education Service Center area of Texas. Using the Leadership Practices
Inventory developed by Kouzes and Posner, the study compared the perceptions of
middle school principals and selected observers regarding leadership practices. These
leadership ratings were compared to student achievement for each campus in the
study. In addition, the study examined if selected demographic variables impact the
perception of leaders and observers in regard to leadership.
For schools in this particular study, there was no direct correlation between
perceived leadership practices of the principals and student achievement as measured
by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) tests. This was true of
total LPI scores and also of each individual practice measured by the LPI. The data revealed that principals in the study rated themselves higher as a group
than their observers rated them on the LPI. This trend was consistent for the total
instrument and for each leadership practice. There were also similarities, however,
between the two groups. The practice Model the Way had the highest mean for both
groups, while Inspire a Shared Vision and Enable Others to Act were rated lower by
both groups of respondents.
A researcher-developed questionnaire was used to gather demographic information
about each respondent. Years of experience, age group, gender, and ethnicity
were all studied to determine if they had any effect on responses. The results indicate
that there were some differences when principals and observers were studied separately,
but these differences were minimized when the two groups were combined.
Of particular interest was the fact that younger principals and less experienced
principals rated themselves more conservatively than their older and more
experienced colleagues. Younger observers and less experienced observers, however,
had a propensity to rate their leader high when compared to older observers and more
experienced observers. Neither ethnicity nor gender had an impact on leader ratings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/5951 |
| Date | 17 September 2007 |
| Creators | Sheppard, Larry Scott |
| Contributors | Hoyle, John R. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Record of Study, text |
| Format | 664096 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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