Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Dissertation

Keywords

School principals--Iowa; Educational leadership--Iowa--Evaluation;

Abstract

Based on the writings and research of Dr. L. G. Bolman and Dr. T. E. Deal, this study sought to assess the leadership practices, preferences, preparedness, and performance of public school principals in urban Iowa. Specifically, were the principals in Iowa's eight largest districts making use of a multiple perspective approach to leadership? In what areas did they appear to feel most competent? And, in what areas did the principals in this study appear to feel most inadequate?

Bolman and Deal's Leadership Orientations ( Self ) Survey (1990) was distributed to 240 elementary and secondary principals working within the Urban Education Network of Iowa in April of 2002. With 126 surveys completed and returned, this study proceeded with a 52.5% response rate.

The following conclusions were drawn based on the results of this study: (a) the human resource frame was the frame of choice among the respondents in this study; (b) the structural frame was the second frame of choice among a majority of the respondents in this study; (c) the political frame and the symbolic frame were used less often than the human resource frame and the structural frame; (d) less than one half (40.5%) of the respondents in this study reported themselves to be using a “multiple perspective” approach to leadership; (e) gender, age, experience, and level did not significantly influence frame use among the respondents in this study; (f) although correlations between the score on the leadership effectiveness self-rating, the managerial effectiveness self-rating, and frame use were found to be statistically significant, little or no practical significance could be found within the data; and (g) the respondents in this study reported themselves to be more effective as managers rather than leaders. Overall, the findings in this study of Iowa's urban principals were consistent with the research of Bolman and Deal.

Year of Submission

2002

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Department of Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Postsecondary Education

First Advisor

Dale R. Jackson, Chair

Date Original

12-2002

Object Description

1 PDF file (ix, 161 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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