Teacher Perception Of Principal Leadership Practices: Impacting Teachers' Sense Of Self-Efficacy In Rural Appalachia Kentucky

<p>The purpose of this study was to determine if a significant relationship existed between principal leadership practices, as perceived by teachers, and teacher’s sense of self-efficacy. The target population was rural Appalachian teachers that worked for a principal that had been in administration for at least three consecutive years. This study utilized teacher responses from a survey consisting of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES, Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk-Hoy, 2001) and the Leadership Practice Inventory – observer (LPI, Kouzes & Posner, 2003). </p> <p>Results from the survey categorized levels of self-efficacy for teachers based on the works of Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk-Hoy (2001). Self-efficacy was broken down into three sub-domains (student engagement, instructional strategies and classroom management) and correlated to response items on the TSES. Overall, Appalachian teachers in the study scored high in perceived levels of self-efficacy (M = 7.1835, SD = .87641). </p> <p>The LPI collected data to measure five leadership practices as observed by teachers. These practices are: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. A close inspection of the data from the LPI revealed an issue with multicollinearity. Teacher responses did not measure the five leadership practices as intended but showed a consensus of exemplary leadership. This generalization made it impossible to perform a correlational analysis between teacher self-efficacy and perceived principal leadership practices. </p> <p>The responses given from teachers in the study imply that principal leadership has the same meaning within the selected Appalachian schools. A similar leadership style based on principal preparatory programs, cultural expectation and individual upbringing could have played a role in limiting the variance in LPI responses. This equates to principal leadership practices not holding a direct impact on self-efficacy as hoped, but a more implied sense of indirect leadership qualities and traits that drive teachers to push students to higher levels of success. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Grantor dc:publisher

Eastern Kentucky University

Year

2016

Author dc:creator

• Hibbard, Brandon Lee

• Appalachia
• Efficacy
• Leadership
• Leadership practice
• Rural
• Self-efficacy
• Educational Administration and Supervision
• Personality and Social Contexts

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2016 Brandon Lee Hibbard

Repository record dc:identifier

https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/374

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:encompass.eku.edu:etd-1372