A case study of leadership behaviors exhibited by the principal and others in a collaborative school environment

In the restructuring efforts currently under way in many of the nation’s schools, emphasis is being placed on involving teachers, parents, and community members in decision making. In addition, schools are working with businesses and with other community agencies to provide services to students and their families. Both of these efforts require a degree of collaboration not found in traditional schools. Successful collaboration may require changes in behavior for which participants may not be prepared. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe leadership behaviors of the principal and others in a collaborative environment. The following questions were investigated: 1. What behaviors are exhibited by the principal in involving parents? 2. What behaviors are exhibited by the principal in working with groups in shared decision-making Situations? 3. What behaviors are exhibited by the principal in working collaboratively with other agencies? 4. What behaviors exhibited by others contribute to the accomplishment of mutual goals in a collaborative environment? The research design was a case study of one school which met specific criteria related to shared decision making and involvement of parents, community members, and agencies with the school. Data on leadership behavior of the principal and others involved in the collaboration were collected through interviews, observation, and document review. The AskSam software program was used to thematically analyze the data. The findings were used to develop a description of leadership behaviors used by the principal and others in a collaborative environment. Two conclusions are drawn from the study. 1. Collaboration requires an increased awareness of and emphasis on facilitative and human relations skills. These are not new skills, but they have received little attention in traditional principal preparation programs. 2. A strong commitment to mutual goals is of vital importance in a collaborative environment. A model of the participants and behaviors needed in a collaborative environment was developed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Administration

Department dc:contributor.department

Educational Administration

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1994

Author dc:creator

• Thomas, Peggy Davis

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Earthman, Glen I.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Parson, Stephen R.
• Parks, David J.
• Richards, Robert R.
• Taylor, Helen W.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

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

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-05042006-164539

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/37713