Award Date

1-1-2005

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Committee Member

Patti Chance

Number of Pages

260

Abstract

Recent federal legislation, Public Law 107-110 (No Child Left Behind Act of 2001), makes certain demands of schools and their instructional leaders, requiring schools to maintain an average yearly progress (AYP), proving student achievement over a recorded period of time. With a greater emphasis on student achievement, principals will need to be knowledgeable in the area of instruction in order to lead effectively their staffs in this age of accountability; The purpose of this study was to determine principals' pedagogical knowledge of research-based instructional practices that improve student achievement. In addition, the study examined principals' and teachers' perceptions of principal practices related to the supervision of classroom instruction and the improvement of student achievement. This study looked at the practices of principals by examining three related areas: the research-based instructional practices proven to be most successful; the depth of principal knowledge regarding research-based instructional practices; and the degree to which principals apply their knowledge in supervisory practices; This study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods in what Creswell (1994) called a dominant-less dominant design. A questionnaire and telephone interview were utilized to gather data. The population for this study was one hundred principals and three hundred teachers working in public elementary, middle, and high schools. The principals were the recipients of the 2004 NAESP and NASSP Principal of the Year Award. They selected three teachers from their schools to participate in the teacher questionnaires and interviews; Results indicated that, in general, principals did have a sound pedagogical knowledge of research-based instructional strategies. Principals were able to identify many practices taken from research-based theories and seemed to encourage most of those practices. However, results also indicated that principals often encouraged certain conflicting practices. In addition, teachers' perceptions of principals' practices were sometimes in conflict with principals' perceptions. This was particularly evident in results taken from secondary principal and teacher data. In light of these findings, this study suggested some discrepancies between principals' perceived knowledge about research-based instructional practices and their actual pedagogical knowledge.

Keywords

Instructional; Instructional Leadership; Knowledge; Pedagogical; Pedagogical Knowledge; Practices; Principals

Controlled Subject

School management and organization

File Format

pdf

File Size

5171.2 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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Rights

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