Sharp, David C.
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between teachers’perceptions of empowerment and teachers’ perceptions of principal effectiveness. Theresearch design included the collection of quantitative data to obtain greaterunderstanding and detail about the relationships between teacher empowerment andprincipal effectiveness as perceived by teachers. The population for this study was takenfrom a large Kansas City, Missouri, suburban school district. The sample consisted of101 teachers in three district high schools. Two independent survey instruments wereused to collect information on the study’s two variables. One research question and onehypothesis were developed for testing. Pearson product moment correlations provided thestatistical data for this study. The findings of this study showed 18 significantrelationships between the scores on the three domains of the Audit of PrincipalEffectiveness and the scores on six subscales of the School Participant EmpowermentScale. The data showed correlations between the domains of organizational development,organizational environment, educational program, and the subscale of professionalgrowth as the most statistically significant variables in the study. Correlations betweenthe domains of organizational development, organizational environment, educationalprogram, and the subscale of autonomy showed the least or no statistical significance inthis study. Based upon the data, it appears that specific principal skills related to thedomains have an influence on teacher empowerment.