Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact school principals working in high-poverty urban schools within the city of Indianapolis have on school culture. Specifically, the study sought to determine if the six school culture factors explained a significant amount of variance in the leadership composite scores for high-poverty, urban school principals. The key person in any school is the principal. The principal is the primary leader in a school and is responsible for ensuring that every student receives a quality Education in an environment that is safe, clean and conducive to learning. A positive school culture is the foundation for teaching and learning in any school. A principal must ensure that procedures, routines, and expectations have been communicated and enforced in order to create a positive school culture (Habegger, 2008). The concept of school culture is not new. It dates as far back as 1932 when Educational sociologist Willard Waller maintained that every school has a culture of its own, with a set of rituals and folkways and a moral code that shapes behavior and relationships” (p. 23). In much of the earlier research school culture and organizational culture were used to mean one and the same (Scheon, 2005). The term urban Education has been defined in many ways; however, for the purpose of this study, urban Education refers to schools in metropolitan communities that typically are diverse, characterized by large enrollments and complexity, many struggling with growth” (Urban Education,” 2016, para. 1). The results of this study rejected the first null hypothesis, outcomes of this study revealed that the six factors (collaborative leadership, teacher collaboration, professional development, collegial support, unity of purpose, and learning partnership) explained a significant amount of variance in the leadership composite scores for high-poverty urban school principals in the city of Indianapolis. The second null hypotheses indicated there was not a significant difference based on the length of the working relationship between the teacher and principal on the leadership composite score for this study. The results of this study determined that the length of time a teacher and principal worked together did not impact the scores on the leadership composite score.

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