A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF PRINCIPAL
LEADERSHIP AT A HIGH-PERFORMING
TITLE I CHARTER SCHOOL IN SOUTH
CAROLINA USING MCREL’S BALANCED LEADERSHIP 21 RESPONSIBILITIES
ARGOSY UNIVERSITY - WASHINGTON, DC
NAOMI TAHIRH GOMEZ
Dissertation Proposal Defense
Chapter 1 – Introduction to the Study
Chapter 2 – Review of Literature
Chapter 3 – Methodology
The Study’s Objective/Research
Question This study’s objective is to determine qualities or competencies that
are essential in the successful running of a Title I charter school in
South Carolina.
The research question is: What are the qualities or competencies that
are essential in the successful running of a Title I charter school in
South Carolina?
In order to contribute to the ongoing progressive literature pertaining
to charter school leadership.
Background of Charter Schools
In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education
claimed the United States was a nation at risk, where “educational
institutions seem to have lost sight of the basic purposes of schooling, and of the high expectations and disciplined effort needed to attain them” (Gardner, Larsen, & Baker, 1983, p. 5-6). The
report also suggested that the educational system had a “rising tide
of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people” (p. 1).
As a potential remedy to this decline in academic status, the first
charter school was introduced in The United States in 1991 in
Minnesota (Hughes, 2010).
Background of Leadership
Research
Beginnings of Leadership Research Include
1840s - Great Man Theory
1920s – The Trait Theory
1960s – Situational Leadership Theory (Northouse, 2012).
Leadership Theories covered in this study
Transformational Leadership
Authentic Leadership
Triple-Strength Leadership
Purpose of the Research
The purpose of this research is to contribute to the knowledge base
regarding successful charter school leadership.
To conduct a leadership study on effective leadership practices, in
hope of assisting charter school systems find ways to improve.
Significance of the Study
This study aims to determine qualities or competencies that are
essential in the successful running of a Title I charter school in South
Carolina.
The results may be able to assist current and prospective charter
school leaders in South Carolina to lead more effectively.
In gaining perspectives of the leadership and stakeholders on what
has worked for this school, the research will contribute to the
literature related to maintaining successful charter schools.
Related Literature – Successful Charter Schools
Merseth, Cooper, Roberts, Tieken, Valant, and Wynne (2009) conducted a two-year study in collaboration with Harvard University
about promising strategies and practices in five high-performing
urban charter schools in Massachusetts.
Lawton (2009) conducted a literature review study on effective
charter schools and charter school systems.
Mailot’s (2005) study in New Jersey on successful charter school principals
Related Literature – Leadership
Transformational Leadership
Authentic Leadership
Triple-Strength Leadership
Related Literature – Charter School
Leadership Competencies
Campbell and Grubb (2008) study included this craigslist job posting
for a charter school principal:
“oversee the development and day-to-day operations of all academic
programs and school operations; recruit, evaluate, and manage staff;
develop and maintain relationships between parents, students, teachers,
classified staff, community members, governance board and all other
stakeholders; show a demonstrated ability in helping students graduate from
high school prepared for success in institutions of higher learning;
demonstrate an intellectual dexterity to synthesize the vision, goals, and
objectives into an operational plan . . . Bilingual (Spanish-English) preferred.”
(p. 3)
Methodological Reasoning
The researcher chose a mixed-method study as it uses both methods of quantitative
and qualitative for a fuller picture of the subject, that using just one of the methods
would not be able to do alone.
Creswell (2013) explained that using a mixed-method design assists in providing a
better understanding of the research topic.
Subjects
- Parents/Guardians and teachers will participate in the quantitative section of the study.
- Teachers N = 25
- Parents/Guardians N = 179
- Total N = 204
- The Principal at Calhoun Falls Charter School will participate in the qualitative section of the
study.
Selection of the School
- The reason why Calhoun Falls Charter School was selected
- The researcher wanted to study a successful Title I charter school.
- Calhoun Falls Charter School was recognized as a Title I Reward School for Performance by South Carolina Department of Education for the past two
school years.
Reward Schools must have the following:
The school attained a grade of an “A” or a “B” as a Federal Accountability Score for the two most recent school years.
The schools had at least fifty percent of their student population receiving free or reduced lunch.
Reward Schools must not have any significant achievement gaps.
Reward Schools must have had at least one grade tested on the state assessments. (South Carolina Department of Education, 2014).
Survey Instrument The researcher selected McREL’s Balanced Leadership 21 Responsibilities because of its
ability to be applied to a school leadership study (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005).
McREL’s Balanced Leadership 21 Responsibilities will be converted to questionnaire format, using a Likert scaled. The Likert scale used in this study is:
7 To an Extremely Large Extent
6 To a Very Large Extent
5 To a Large Extent
4 To a Moderate Extent
3 To a Small Extent
2 To a Very Small Extent
1 To an Extremely Small Extent
I am not familiar with the principal in this capacity
McREL’s Balanced Leadership 21
Responsibilities
1. Affirmation
2. Change Agent
3. Contingent Rewards4. Communication
5. Culture
6. Discipline
7. Flexibility
8. Focus
9. Ideals/Beliefs
10. Input
11. Intellectual Stimulation12. Involvement in Curriculum,
Instruction, and Assessment
13. Knowledge of Curriculum,
Instruction, and Assessment
14. Monitoring/Evaluating15. Optimizer
16. Order
17. Outreach
18. Relationships
19. Resources
20. Situational Awareness21. Visibility
Survey Instrument for Parents
• Affirmation
• Change Agent
• Focus
• Flexibility
• Ideals/Beliefs
Recognizing and celebrating the legitimate successes of individuals withinthe school as well as the school as a whole; also recognizing andacknowledging failures when appropriate.
Being willing to challenge school practices that have been in place for a long time and promoting the value of working at the edge of one’s competence.
Establishing concrete goals relative to student achievement as well as curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices in the school, and keeping these prominent in the day-to-day life of the school.
Inviting and honoring the expression of a variety of opinions regarding the running of the school and adapting one’s leadership style to the demands of the current situation.
Operating from a well-articulated and visible set of ideals and beliefsregarding schooling, teaching, and learning.
Survey Instrument for Parents
Continued
• Optimizer
• Order
• Outreach
• Situational Awareness
• Visibility
Providing an optimistic view of what the school is doing and
what the school can accomplish in the future.
Establishing procedures and routines that give staff andstudents a sense of order and predictability
Being an advocate of the school to all relevant constituents and ensuring that the school complies with all important regulations and requirements.
Being keenly aware of the mechanisms and dynamics thatdefine the day-to-day functioning of the school and using that awareness to forecast potential problems.
Being highly visible to teachers, students, and parents throughfrequent visits to classrooms.
Survey’s Open-Ended Questions
The first open-ended question is geared to understand why a
teacher chose to work at a charter school or why a parent elected
to have their child attend a charter school;
asked to gain further insight into the participant’s thoughts on charter
schools in South Carolina.
The second of the open-ended questions will ask if the participant
has any further questions or comments.
to offer a platform for participants to offer insight regarding the topic or
ask questions to resolve misunderstandings regarding the study
Survey Validity
The survey instrument, McREL’s Balanced Leadership 21
Responsibilities, was used in other studies
(Jacob, Goddard, Kim, Miller, & Goddard, 2014)
(Gonzalez, 2009)
Coastal Montessori Charter School (personal communication, 2015),
a South Carolina charter school, replied with two independent
positive responses regarding the study’s use of the instruments.
Use McREL’s Balanced Leadership 21 Responsibilities in the charter
school community nationwide
Survey Validity
The construct validity is established through:
The leading research facility of the study, McREL
the publisher of the research study, Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
The depth of experience of the researchers of McREL
Balanced Leadership 21 Responsibilities
Interview Validity
Why each question is valid:
Question one: What is your experience in previous leadership roles
within and outside of the educational field? 1a. How did (answer
from question 1) help you lead a charter school?
Question two: Working in a Title I school is a considered working with
an at-risk student population. What types of challenges do you
encounter in training your staff to deal with this learning environment?
Interview Validity
Question three, four, and five: How do you attract highly qualified
teachers to work at Calhoun Falls Charter School? How do you lead
efforts to garner community support? and How do you lead efforts to gain parental engagement?
Question six: How do you balance the vision and mission of the
board of trustees with your own goals?
Interview Validity
Question seven: What do you like about leading a charter school?
Question eight: What are the biggest challenges you find leading a charter school in South Carolina?
Question nine: Do you have a personal development plan to continue professional growth as a leader?
Question ten: If you were to give guidance to someone who was seeking to become a charter school principal, what is the single greatest piece of advice you would give them?
Survey Reliability
The researcher will use Cronbach’s alpha to test reliability and
measures internal consistency of the survey. This will be conducted
during data analysis.
Procedures for Conducting the
Study
Received Organizational Approval
Received approval to use and modify McREL’s Balanced
Leadership 21 Responsibilities for the study
Study needs to be approved by Argosy’s internal review board
Research Study Proposed Schedule
It is proposed that the study will be conducted in the spring of 2015.
Pre-testing will be concluded with three teachers and three parents of students at a Title I public school in South Carolina.
The researcher will obtain emails to the teachers and parents of students through the administrative office of the school.
The researcher will attempt to collect 80% of the surveys in a week via SurveyMonkey.
If there is less than 80% participation, the researcher will communicate via email to the non-participants and ask for participation or for them to complete an opt-out form.
Analysis of quantitative data begins
After the surveys have been collected, the researcher will conduct an in-person interview with the principal.
Analysis will be conducted of the interview
Results will be presented both in quantitative and qualitative forms for a more complete representation of the leadership at the Title I charter school.
Analysis of the Data SSPS will be used to interpret the quantitative data sets that will be collected, using
descriptive statistic applications.
In this study, descriptive statistics will include univariate analysis
Mean
Median
Mode
Range
Quantiles of the data-set
Variance and standard deviation
The researcher will use Chronbach’s alpha to measure internal consistency and
support the reliability of the survey.
The findings of the interview will be coded and classified for analysis
Research Questions
Main research question:
What are the qualities that are essential in the successful running of a Title I charter school?
Supporting research questions
What are the highest rated responsibilities used by the principal according to the
teachers?
What are the highest rated responsibilities used by the principal according to the
parents?
What is the range of use of the 21 responsibilities of the principal according to the
teachers?
What is the range of use of the 21 responsibilities of the principal according to the
parents?
Research Questions Continued
What is the leadership style that the charter school principal being
studied exhibits?
How did the principal acquire the skills necessary in running a successful Title I charter school?
What skills are useful in serving a Title I student population?
How does the principal manage-up?
What motivates the principal?
What expertise is essential to running a successful charter school as
a principal in South Carolina?
Expected Contribution
The purpose of this research is to contribute to the knowledge base regarding
successful charter school leadership at the principal level.
This research study will serve as contributing to the gap in research specific to leadership and the qualities or competencies that are essential in the successful
running of a Title I charter school in South Carolina.
In gaining perspectives of the leadership and stakeholders on what has worked for
the charter school to be studied, the research will contribute to the literature related
to maintaining successful charter schools.
Closing Statements
The study will investigate the principal of Calhoun Falls Charter School as a leader
South Carolina Department of Education recognized this school as Reward School two years in a row, which determines the school is
high-performing
that it is a Title I charter school
that the success is sustainable
Importance: To contribute to the ongoing literature of sustainable charter school success, for future and current charter school leaders.
Thank you for your time and consideration
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