Date of Award
1997
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Educational Leadership
First Advisor
Libler, Rebecca
Abstract
The two purposes of the study were to: (1) analyze the relationship between teacher perception of school climate and elementary principal instructional leadership behavoir, and (2) investigate the difference between the manner in which the principals of schools with more positive climates and principals of schools with less positive climates conduct school operations and implement change. Principles at 231 public elementary schools within a sixty mile redius of Terre Haute, Indiana were included in the original sample. These principals were surveyed to determine their instructional leadership behaviors. The priciples who responded to the survey were then asked to have ten teachers fill out a school climate inventory. The data from both instruments were tabulated and used to determine relationships between principals' instructional leadership behaviors and teacher perception of climate. On-site, structured interviews were conducted with three teachers and the principal in four of the elementary schools with more positive climate and four of th elementary schools with less positive climates. These interviews were used to determine the differences between the manner in which the principals of schools with more positive climates and principals of schools with less positive climates conduct school operations and implement change.Statistical analysis of the data included descriptive statistics, Stepwise regression, Independent Sample t-test, and Pearson product moment correlation. Significant correlational relationships were found between the principal's perceptions of instructional leadership behavior and teachers' perception of school climate. No significant difference were found in principals' perception of instructional leadership behaviors between principals of more positive and less positive climates. Principal instructional leadership behaviors explained a significant amount of the variance of seven of the teacher climate subscales. Also, important differences were found between the way day to day operationsl were conducted and change implemented in more positive versus less positive schools.
Recommended Citation
Whitaker, Margaret, "Principal leadership behaviors in school operations and change implementations in elementary schools in relation to climate" (1997). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3012.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/3012