Discovering Administrative Encouragement Within Turnaround Principals’ Leadership
Various leadership theories and practices, along with state and federal policies, have been implemented to improve school performance; however, turnaround principals (TAPs) have been considered hallmarks of school turnaround. While the key practices for TAPs to navigate school improvement are known, little is known about how TAPs shepherd the humanistic aspects of change for school improvement. This qualitative study aimed to discover how the words, behaviors, attitudes, actions, and philosophies of TAPs serve as administrative encouragement to teachers needing to improve performance. The study utilized a generic qualitative approach with TAPs interviews to answer the research question regarding how turnaround principals’ leadership of low-performing schools encourages teachers to make necessary changes to improve school performance. Through coding and thematic analysis, two themes confirmed the literature reviewed. TAPs’ have students, and those students are their teachers, and TAPs’ distribution of responsibilities promotes a culture of problem-solving. The third theme, not found in the literature, revealed that TAPs’ authoritative approach upholds trusting relationships with teachers. The study's implications included the need for principals within low-performing schools to build a collaborative, but highly structured, culture of improvement where teacher needs are supported. Furthermore, the results support a need for principal preparation programs (PPP) to improve coursework and opportunities for practitioners to experience servant, instructional, and authoritative leadership with appreciative inquiry. Keywords: turnaround, principals, leadership, school, improvement, administrative, encouragement
Administrative, Encouragement, Improvement, Leadership, Principals, Turnaround
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