Diana G. Pounder

Leadership as an Organization-Wide Phenomena: Its Impact on School Performance

This article reports the results of a study guided by a conceptualization of leadership as an organizational quality. The study examines the relationship between the leadership exerted by principals, teachers, secretaries, and parents; four functions of effective organizations; and several measures of school effectiveness. The results of path analyses revealed the following: The total amount of leadership in schools was associated with two organizational functions, which in turn were associated with four measures of school performance. The leadership of principals and the leadership of groups of teachers were positively related to organizational latency, or commitment, which was positively associated with the perceived effectiveness of schools and negatively associated with teacher turnover. Finally, the leadership of parents was positively associated with student achievement, whereas the influence of secretaries was negatively associated with student achievement.

Job desirability of the high school principalship : A job choice theory perspective

Many have raised concerns regarding the shortage of qualified candidates for high school principal positions. Using job choice theory as a conceptual framework, this article examines factors that influence potential candidates’ job perceptions and job intentions regarding the high school principalship. Middle school and assistant high school principals (N = 170) in one western state were surveyed regarding the influence job attributes have on their attraction to the high school principalship, their likelihood of seeking a high school principalship, and their likelihood of accepting a position if offered, resulting in an overall index of job desirability. After controlling for candidates’ expectations about being offered the position, results indicate that potential candidates’ perceptions of the high school principalship’s job desirability are significantly related to the desire to achieve and improve education (subjective factor), the additional time demands of the job (a work factor), and the salary and benefits (objective factor).

Teacher Teams: Exploring Job Characteristics and Work-Related Outcomes of Work Group Enhancement

This study explores how teacher teams (work group enhancement) influence teachers’ work characteristics and other work-related variables. The study uses a comparative design to test differences between teamed and nonteamed teachers on work characteristics and work-related variables suggested by Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics model. The study results suggest that teachers whose jobs have a work group emphasis (interdisciplinary teams) report significantly higher levels of the following: (a) skill variety in their work; (b) knowledge of students (their educational characteristics, history, and personal life circumstances); (c) growth satisfaction; (d) general satisfaction; (e) professional commitment; (f) work group helpfulness and effectiveness; (g) internal work motivation; and (h) teacher efficacy than do their nonteaming counterparts. The study also reports auxiliary survey data on students’satisfaction with various aspects of a team versus a nonteam school.

Interdisciplinary Teacher Teams: Context, Design, and Process.

Teacher involvement strategies have become an important part of educational reform. Work group enhancement, although less used than individual approaches, is gaining attention in reform efforts and research investigations. Hackman and Oldham’s model on work group effectiveness provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding the nature of interdisciplinary teacher teams. This article reports on a study of interdisciplinary teacher teams during the 2nd year of implementation of teaming in a middle school. Based on observational and interview data, the study identifies the major context, design (structure), and process features of each of the four teams in the school. The article also provides a discussion of implications for practice and research in the area of collaborative teaching reforms.

Teacher Work Group Effectiveness

Recent research links the development of a collaborative community of educators to enhanced teaching and learning effectiveness. This study contributes to this research by testing a work group effectiveness model with a sample of teachers from middle school teams. The study assesses the interrelationships among the model’s antecedent variables (organizational context, design features, and interpersonal processes), intermediate variables (effort, knowledge/skills applied, and appropriateness of strategies), and final outcome variables (teaching and learning effectiveness). A survey developed to capture the concepts in the model was completed by 174 teacher members of interdisciplinary instructional teams in a large urban district’s middle schools. Findings indicate that two fundamental variables, knowledge/skills applied to the work and appropriateness of strategies, are core mediators in the model. Two healthy interpersonal processes variables were also found to have direct effects on perceptions that teaming had improved teaching and learning.

Recruitment and Selection of Educational Administrators: Priorities for Today’s Schools

Effective recruitment and selection of school administrators continues to be one of the more challenging human resource administration functions in educational organizations. This challenge is due, in part, to the inexact ‘science’ of attracting, screening, and identifying quality candidates to fit the complex leadership needs of schools today. Factors such as recent educational initiatives, new conceptualizations of leadership, and changing student characteristics are influencing the position demands of administrative roles. Articulation of these changing position demands is foundational to the recruitment and selection process because these job characteristics serve as the guiding criteria for recruiting and selecting candidates. Consistency between position expectations and recruitment and selection criteria not only enhances the legal defensibility of the search process, but also promises to increase the reliability and validity of selection decisions.

An Analysis of the United States Educational Administrator Shortage.

There are multiple independent and interactive factors that may contribute to perceptions or misperceptions concerning an administrator shortage in the United States (US). These factors include the complexities of supply and demand data, inferential errors and over-generalisations, candidate quantity issues confounded by anecdotal accounts of candidate quality, administrator accounts of limited job desirability, and the ‘invisibility’ of women administrators as a viable candidate pool. Some researchers have begun to challenge the perception that there is an administrator or educator shortage crisis, but these voices are often readily dismissed. There are multiple reasons why portrayals of an educator shortage crisis may be widely accepted in spite of questionable evidence. Specifically there may be political and ideological reasons that misperceptions about an educator shortage may be perpetuated. This article explores reasons that may explain perceptions or misperceptions of the shortage, including political forces that may encourage or perpetuate beliefs about the problem.

Organizational Orientation in Public and Private Elementary Schools.

Abstract In this study, we investigated the relationship between organizational value orientation and two variables, organizational commitment and job satisfaction, among teachers from private and public elementary schools. We also assessed the central contribution of personal and organizational attributes (i.e., gender, length of professional experience, and type of school) in explaining employee organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Using survey research methods, we collected data from 135 teachers from public schools and 562 teachers from Catholic private schools. We analyzed the data by multivariate analysis of variance and multiple regression. In our study, we found differences between private (religious) and public schools. Specifically, results of this study suggested that (a) private schools exhibit a more normative orientation, whereas public schools exhibit a more utilitarian orientation; and (b) schools with a more normative value orientation had significantly higher teacher organizat...

Leader Preparation Special Issue: Implications for Policy, Practice, and Research

Findings: This article briefly summarizes the nature and findings of the studies presented in this EAQ Special Issue on Leadership Preparation. Conclusions: Implications for future leader preparation practice, policy, and research are discussed.

School Leadership Preparation and Practice Survey Instruments and Their Uses

This article addresses the leadership preparation line of inquiry developed in the past decade by the University Council for Educational Administration/Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership Special Interest Group Taskforce on Evaluating Leadership Preparation Programs, and it particularly addresses the series of survey instruments developed to pursue this line of inquiry. The article describes these collective instruments, titled “School Leadership Preparation and Practice Survey,” and identifies key constructs measured in each instrument as well as uses for each instrument. The article concludes with an explanation of the potential benefits of utilizing a common set of measures to promote research on leadership preparation.