A comparison of management and leadership skills critical to the principalship as perceived by superintendents in selected independent school districts in Texas
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine which management and
leadership behaviors selected superintendents perceived as critical to the
position of principal. Differences were examined by gender as well as size of
district. A secondary goal of this research was to raise awareness regarding
gender inequity that exists in educational administration.
The population of the study was all female superintendents in Texas
(N=135) and randomly selected male superintendents (N=301). Data were
disaggregated by gender and size of district. An e-mail was sent to each
superintendent with a web address and an access code. A response rate of 66%
was obtained for a sample size of 290 superintendents.
The survey contained items on management and leadership skills from the
Peterson Managerial Leadership Instrument (PMI) and the Leadership Practices
Inventory (LPI) developed by Kouzes and Posner. Superintendents were asked
to respond to the behaviors based on their envisioned best principal. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed for the total group and
subgroups.
Major research findings included:
1. An independent samples t-test on the PMI determined two behaviors
that were significantly different (p< .05) and six behaviors that were
significantly different (p<.01) between the means of female and male
superintendents.
2. An independent samples t-test on the LPI determined four behaviors
that were significantly different (p<.05) and one behavior that was
significantly different (p<.01) between the means of female and male
superintendents.
3. A post hoc Scheffe analysis on the PMI indicated four levels of
perceived use on the managerial statements and six levels of
perceived use on the leadership statements at the p< .05 level.
Based on the findings of this study, researcher recommendations include:
1. The process of identifying the pool of applicants for the principalship
needs to be examined for screening processes that block women and
minorities from educational administration.
2. Principal appraisal instruments should be reviewed and weighted to
correctly reflect management tasks against other administrative duties.
3. School districts need to investigate the use of personality and
leadership instruments while developing a cohort of potential principals.
Citation
White, Katherine Alia (2005). A comparison of management and leadership skills critical to the principalship as perceived by superintendents in selected independent school districts in Texas. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /3145.