Leadership for Change in School Improvement Grant Case Study Schools

• In Event: Schools’ Experiences With School Improvement Grants (SIGs): First-Year Results From SIG Case Studies

Abstract

Research and policy have stressed the central role of the principal, especially in leading major change efforts (Rhim, Kowal, Hassel, & Hassel, 2007; Whiteside, 2006; Picucci et al., 2002; Johnson & Asera, 1999). One meta-analysis of 70 studies of principal leadership found a positive correlation between principal leadership (as measured by teacher perceptions) and student achievement (Waters, Marzano, & McNulty, 2003). More specific to the goals of SIG, case studies of successful turnaround schools point to the principal’s pivotal role in turnaround efforts (Herman et al., 2008). The purpose of this paper is to describe characteristics of principals in the 25 case study schools receiving School Improvement Grants.
Scholars have conceived various dimensions of leadership; this paper focuses on three: transformational, instructional, and strategic leadership. The transformational leader is one who inspires their staff, promotes a shared vision for change, and focuses on increasing staff capacity, commitment, and initiative (Lynch, 2012; Hallinger, 2003). Instructional leadership focuses on improving the technical core of schooling: teaching and learning. Using two data sources—teacher survey data and spring 2011 interviews of school staff from core sample schools—the study team categorized principals as placing high, medium, or low on a continuum based on characteristics that the literature associates with transformational and instructional leadership.
Finally, the study team examined strategic leadership qualities, or how the principals themselves conceptualize the change process at their schools. Using the principals’ “theories of action” as a construct for analyzing strategic leadership, analysts first developed an operational definition of a “theory of action,” then coded principal interviews to capture which of the elements of a theory of action were present, and lastly categorized the theories of action. A principal was considered to have exhibited a theory of action if the coded data revealed that the principal exhibited four or more elements of the theory of action framework and if the elements were integrated into an overall plan for change.
This paper will describe the extent to which principals of case study schools exhibited the characteristics of transformational, instructional, and strategic leaders, including whether school leaders demonstrated all three types of leadership. We will also place these findings in the SIG policy context, and the implications for sustained change. By examining these three leadership dimensions in conjunction with other aspects of the turnaround process, this study makes an important contribution to understanding leadership in turnaround schools. Because the study’s report has not yet been released, findings are currently embargoed but will be available at the time of the conference.

Authors

• Diana Mercado-Garcia, American Institutes for Research

• Jennifer A. O'Day, American Institutes for Research