Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the personal characteristics of the administrative team members and how these personal characteristics impact the administrative practices of an administrative team focused on positively impacting school performance. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression were used to interpret and analyze the data for the study. Forty-one Indiana public school corporations participated in the study and a total of 186 team members submitted complete responses to the administrative team survey. This survey was developed by the researcher to measure administrative team effectiveness utilizing the self-rating of the six administrative team practices of planning, implementing, monitoring, communication, advocating, and supporting. Personal characteristics were based upon the Big Five personality traits of extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness, and agreeableness. These traits and also administrative tenure within the current school corporation formed the model of predictor variables. Data was analyzed through multiple regression and the null hypotheses were tested at the .05 probability level or better. Based on the significant findings of the data analysis of the research, the following conclusions are made: (1) Numerous positions make up a public school corporation administrative team. These team members are members of professional organizations, though they are not heavily involved in these organizations. (2) Administrative team members rate themselves above average on each of the five personality traits. This was true for the sample and for each administrative position with greater than ten respondents. (3) The model of all predictor variables does have a significant effect on the administrative practice of implementing. No additional predictive effects were found for the other administrative practices. (4) The personality trait of conscientiousness has a significant predictive effect on the administrative practices of implementing and planning. (5) The personality trait of extraversion has a significant predictive effect on the administrative practice of implementing. (6) The administrative practices carried out by those in the positions of assistant principal, assistant superintendent, principal, and superintendent are significantly affected by individual personality traits. (7) The personality trait of emotional stability was ranked second lowest for the sample, and for positions with greater than ten respondents, emotional stability was the lowest ranked of all traits and for all five positions.

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