The rise of American urbanized suburban high schools: Teachers' perceptions of leadership
Abstract
In the United States a high school diploma offers a pathway to the growing professional occupations creating the American middle class. The continuous influx of minority families into suburban school districts eventually urbanized districts. As a result, multiple districts struggle in the process of educating a shifted population. Studies have shown that teachers are a direct link to student achievement. Teachers with a strong sense of efficacy guide students toward academic success. Teachers with a weak sense of efficacy tend to avoid any presence of difficulty. Some urbanized suburban high schools have been able to provide effective educational services to their new population, while others have completely failed in the integration process. This mixed-method study examines the influence of leadership style on teachers' sense of efficacy and job satisfaction. Teachers' perception of their self-efficacy is impacted by the style of leadership at the school. The completion of the Teacher Review of Academics Collaboration and Efficacy Survey by 370 teachers from four urbanized suburban high schools in the suburban communities surrounding New York City showed a statistically significant relationship between teachers' level of self-efficacy and the principal's leadership style. Moreover, a significant difference was found between the mean scores of teachers who were identified as being from high performing schools versus those from low performing schools for the five categories of leadership styles. Remarkably, teachers from low performing schools rated themselves as high as teachers from high performing schools in the area of self-efficacy and productivity in the classroom.
Subject Area
Educational leadership|Educational administration|Secondary education
Recommended Citation
Artiles, Dagoberto, "The rise of American urbanized suburban high schools: Teachers' perceptions of leadership" (2013). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI3590183.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI3590183
