Perceptions of Assistant Principals as Equity-Focused Instructional Leaders

Educational equity is a strategy through which schools prioritize equitable access to learning experiences most appropriate for each student's needs. It is an attempt to reduce inequitable student outcomes by closing gaps in students' opportunities to access the teachers, learning, and resources they need. Instructional leaders are vital to how educational equity manifests in the school setting, and assistant principals serve in this capacity among many. The purpose of this study was to identify assistant principals' preparation, opportunity, and self-reported professional learning needs to serve as equity-focused instructional leaders. The researcher sought participation from a sample of assistant principals from four school divisions in Virginia. For this quantitative study, participants completed a researcher-developed survey about equity-focused instructional leadership practices adapted from an educational equity framework developed by the Virginia Department of Education and the nationally recognized BELE framework. The researcher analyzed survey responses and used descriptive statistics to report findings that answered three research questions about assistant principals' preparation, opportunity, and self-reported professional learning needs to serve as equity-focused instructional leaders. The data revealed that assistant principals are prepared and often engage in multiple equity-focused instructional leadership practices. Assistant principals would benefit from increased opportunities and additional professional learning in some areas of equity-focused instructional leadership. The researcher identified implications for the practice of assistant principals and made recommendations for future research that might provide insight for principals, division leaders, and state personnel into how to utilize and support assistant principals in this capacity.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Department dc:contributor.department

Counselor Education

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Waterford, Carmen Renee

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Brinkmann, Jodie Lynn

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Cash, Carol S.
• Price, Ted S.
• Otey, Katina Wright

• assistant principal
• equity framework
• instructional leadership

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:36220

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/113664