Author: William T. CrankshawPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Educational leadership
Languages : en
Pages : 129
Book Description
Superintendents play an important role in the achievement of students. Specific instructional leadership behaviors of superintendents and how they are perceived by teachers have received little attention through research on the topic until recently. The focus of this study was to explore teachers' perceptions of the instructional leadership role of the superintendent, and how their beliefs and values about instructional leadership behaviors of the superintendent affect those perceptions. This study also sought to find how teachers' perceptions of the instructional leadership practices of their superintendent may be affected by their own particular experiential factors, such as experience level teaching discipline and school level. Data for this quantitative study was gathered using a three-part survey, which was completed by teachers from seven component school districts of an upstate Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) regional district. Instructional leadership behaviors of the superintendent were based on Smith and Andrews' (1989) model, within which four constructs of instructional leadership were used to define the superintendent as an instructional resource, resource provider, communicator, and visible presence. Findings showed a positive correlation between teachers' belief that instructional leadership is an important role of the superintendent and their willingness to work constructively with a superintendent who demonstrates instructional leadership practices. Teachers' level of experience and school level may also have a relationship with the combined variables of teachers' belief in the importance of instructional leadership and their willingness to work constructively with their superintendent in that role, although no statistical significance could be demonstrated.