Final Methodology Plan

Methodology Plan

Sarah Vander Galien

Does the leadership style of a public high school principal impact the schools' organizational performance?

Problem Statement

The purpose of the study is to conduct research of personnel within a school system to determine if the leadership style of the principal impacts the school’s organizational performance. Five areas of school leadership for the principal will be evaluated. The research will analyze the effectiveness of the leadership style in comparison to the TNReady Score Reports for each school.

The variables are the principal, leadership styles, and organizational leadership. The dependent variables are leadership style preferences indicated from the Principal Leadership Questionnaire results. The independent variables are the organizational leadership and will vary depending on the dependent variable being each leadership style of the principal per school.

Research Approach & Strategy

The research will be conducted within a single school system focusing on the four high schools within the county system. Each high school has one principal. First, permission from the director of schools will need to be granted. Once permission is given an email with a survey will be sent to all personnel within the school system that holds a schoolwide email.

The questionnaire will examine five components of the schools’ principal leadership. The survey is partially adapted from The Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale and includes twenty- two questions. The research will use a comparison of data collected, testing results per school available online at TNReady Score Reports, and leadership styles.

Sources & Data Collection

The Principals Leadership Questionnaire is the optimal choice for looking at leadership styles among principals because the survey is partially adapted from the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (Hallinger,1983). The PIMRS is known for its unique scale that assesses principal leadership and has been used for 30 years to help develop staff development needs and evaluate principals. In contrast to the Principals Leadership Questionnaire, the DISC survey does not look at the needs of the position in the school, but rather the individual personality of the person taking the assessment such as dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness (McClendon-Magnuson, 2020).

The quantitative data collection will take place within one school system that has four high schools. A survey will be distributed through email to the school's principals, assistant principals,

teachers, and staff (anyone not within the three mentioned positions but has a school system email) to thoroughly assess the overall school's leadership. The questionnaire will be 22 behavioral statements that describe the principal’s job practices and behaviors observed within the past year of the principal. The principal will complete the survey based off their own performance. All others will complete the survey based off the principal’s performance.

Data Collection & Analysis Methods

Statistical tests were used to analyze survey responses from the Principal Leadership Questionnaire.

A MANOVA test was used to determine if the independent variables impact the principal leadership style based on years of experience, communication of school goals, supervision and evaluation of instruction, process and implementation of curriculum coordination, utilization of professional development, and incentives.

A Principal Leadership Questionnaire was used to address the leadership style of a public high school principal impact the schools' overall organizational performance.

The test is being used to analyze the data collected from principal, staff, and faculty and the impact the principal has on leadership styles and organizational leadership.

Ethical Consideration & Limitations

During this research, a limitation for data collection would be that it is limited to faculty, staff, and school personnel that have access to a schoolwide email account. All individuals involved will give informed consent. Confidentiality will be kept for all individuals that participate in the survey. Names, ages, and specifics will be kept confidential, but the job position may be used during the survey. The names of the schools will also be excluded using School A, School B, School C, and School D in place.

References

McClendon-Magnuson, D. (2020, August 25). What is a DiSC Assessment Profile Test? D.I.S.C. Explained. Online Personality Tests. https://www.onlinepersonalitytests.org/what-is-a-disc- assessment-test/#:~:text=Four%20Main%20Personality%20Types%20for%20DISC %20%20,Analytical%20with%20attention%20to%20detail.%20Com%20...

PIMRS. Leadingware. (2008). http://philiphallinger.com/old-site/pimrs.html.