PRINCIPAL'S LEADERSHIP STYLES, ADAPTIVE STYLES, AND SCHOOL CLIMATES OF INSTRUCTIONALLY EFFECTIVE PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NEW JERSEY
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the perceptions of principals and teachers in instructionally effective and ineffective New Jersey public secondary schools with respect to the principals' leadership styles, adaptive styles, and school climates. In addition, the study sought to determine the appropriateness of applying the findings emerging from elementary school effectiveness studies to the study of secondary school effectiveness. Design of the Study. The 1980 New Jersey Minimum Basic Skills Test results of all public secondary schools in District Factor A and B groupings were examined. Schools in which 90 to 99.9 percent of the eleventh grade students received at least a score of 65 on the reading component of the test were classified as instructionally effective schools. Schools in which less than 65 percent of the eleventh graders scored below 65 on the reading component were classified as instructionally ineffective schools. Twenty instructionally effective and 20 instructionally ineffective schools were identified for inclusion in the study. Data Collection. A questionnaire which contained the Profile of a School (Likert and Likert, 1977), the Situational Preference Inventory (Edwards, 1973), and the Educational Administrative Style Diagnosis Test (Reddin and Reddin, 1975) was mailed to the principal and five teachers in each of the selected schools. A total of 25 principals and 81 teachers responded to the questionnaire. The analysis of the data was accomplished by employing a Two-Way Analysis of Variance and The Pearson Product Moment. The analysis of the data revealed that at the .05 level of significance no significant differences existed between instructionally effective and ineffective schools with respect to the principals' leadership styles and adaptive styles. In addition, no significant differences were found to exist between instructionally effective and ineffective schools with respect to school climate. Conclusions and Recommendations. Based upon the findings of this study, it was concluded that the prescriptions for developing elementary school effectiveness were not applicable to the study of secondary school effectiveness. It was recommended that a more precise definition of effectiveness be developed so that effective secondary schools could be identified and serve as models to be emulated by other secondary schools.
Subject Area
School administration
Recommended Citation
ARENA, ALFRED EMIL, "PRINCIPAL'S LEADERSHIP STYLES, ADAPTIVE STYLES, AND SCHOOL CLIMATES OF INSTRUCTIONALLY EFFECTIVE PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NEW JERSEY" (1983). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8326158.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8326158
