Principal and Teacher Perceptions of Instructional Leadership and Organizational Health in Secondary Schools

Abstract

The first purpose of this study was to measure instructional leadership behaviorsof secondary school principals as perceived by both principals and teachers. The secondpurpose was to investigate if there was a significant difference in the principals’perception of their instructional leadership behaviors and the teachers’ perception of theprincipals’ instructional leadership behavior. A third purpose was to measureorganizational health of the school as perceived by principals and teachers. A fourthpurpose was to investigate if there was a significant difference in principals’ perceptionof the organizational health of the school and the teachers’ perceptions of theorganizational health of the school. A fifth purpose was to examine the relationshipbetween principals’ perceptions of instructional leadership and organizational health.The sixth purpose was to examine the relationship between principals’ perceptions ofinstructional leadership and organizational health. This quantitative study utilizedpurposive sampling of secondary schools of the Park Hill School District. Thepopulation included all secondary principals and teachers (grades 6-12) employed inApril 2011. The first variables in this study were principal and teacher perception of theprincipal’s instructional leadership as measured by the Principal InstructionalManagement Rating Scale. The second variables were principal and teacher perceptionof the organizational health of the school as measured by the Organizational HealthInventory- Secondary. The results of the hypothesis testing indicated statisticallysignificant relationships between principal and teacher perceptions of instructionalleadership behaviors. The results of the hypothesis testing indicated statisticallysignificant relationships between principal and teacher perceptions of the organizational health of the school. One implication for action based on results from this study couldhave strong implications for educators and policy makers eager to implement and sustainschool improvement and accountability efforts. Assessing perceptions of allstakeholders—students, teachers, and administrations—should be an aspect of everyschool improvement plan.