Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2005

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Bradley V. Balch

Second Advisor

Gregory R. Ulm

Third Advisor

Patricia Swails

Abstract

The State of Indiana passed alternative education legislation in 1997 to meet the needs of at-risk students who were not succeeding in the traditional school setting. The number of alternative education programs and schools in Indiana had increased 28% from the 1997-1998 academic year to the 2004-2005 academic year. There are virtually no studies linking leadership styles to effectiveness in alternative education programs for at-risk youth in Indiana. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the prevalent leadership styles among principals/lead teachers in alternative education programs for at-risk youth in Indiana identified as effective. The problems of the study were approached from the conceptual framework of Bass and Avolio's leadership continuum, Raywid's definitions of alternative program types, and a measure of effectiveness based on Iowa's Association of Alternative Education's Quality Indicator Checklist. The study involved the 263 alternative education programs in Indiana and investigated the relationship of leadership style and program type on a measure of effectiveness. Analysis of the study revealed a perspective of three transformational leadership styles predictive of alternative education effectiveness.

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