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Since the inception of the role of school principal, the responsibilities of the position have evolved and changed. Early principals were managers; however, over time social issues and the accountability movement led to state and national policies that have impacted the role of the principal to include instructional leadership. Literature on the topic of school leadership has identified a relationship between instructional leadership and student achievement. However, little information on how to develop instructional leaders has been studied. Therefore, the purpose of this explanatory, mixed-methods case study was to determine to what extent a principal development program fostered perceived instructional leadership skills in secondary school principals who have five years or less experience in the role. The case study was conducted in a large, Midwestern, suburban school district that implemented a Principal Academy in the fall of 2015 in order to equip principals to lead the implementation of district-wide instructional goals. This study focused on early career secondary principals as I hypothesized that they would be more likely to perceive an influence from the professional development experience. Qualitative data was gathered via interviews with five principals and their supervisor. Quantitative data was gathered from an online survey of teachers in the buildings whose principals qualified for the study. One overarching question and four sub-questions guided my study. The overarching questions was: To what extent has District X’s Principal Academy strengthened the five identified instructional leadership behaviors of school principals with five years or less experience? The four sub-questions were as follows: •To what degree do early experience secondary principals perceive an improvement in their instructional leadership skills over time? •To what degree do early experience secondary principals who participate in job-embedded professional development perceive that their instructional leadership skills are enhanced?•Over time, to what degree do supervisors observe improved instructional leadership behaviors from their early experience secondary principals. •What instructional leadership behaviors do teachers observe from their principals? Qualitative findings suggested that participation in the Principal Academy led to a perception by both principals and their supervisor that instructional leadership skills were enhanced. Further, quantitative findings from the teacher survey indicated that they perceived that their principals demonstrated five behaviors that are associated with instructional leadership. These findings support the continued use of the Principal Academy by the district and suggest that other districts who expect principals to be instructional leaders invest in professional development aimed at developing those skills. |
