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K-12 LEADERSHIP PRACTICESStrategies for Transforming the Daily Work of Principals:
A Study of Present Habits and Opportunities for Change
Timothy B. BerkeyToday’s school principals are faced with the challenge of closing significant gaps between
student achievement levels and accountability expectations under No Child Left Behind
(Adams & Copeland, 2005). Effective school leadership can have a substantial effect on the
improvement of teaching and learning (Wallace Foundation, 2006; Waters & Grub, 2004; and
Waters, Marzano, and McNulty, 2003). Yet, a growing body of work revealed a chasm
between the leadership skill sets required to close achievement gaps and the context of
existing university preparation programs (Bellamy, Fulmer, Murphy, & Muth, 2007; Davis,
Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, & Meyerson, 2005; Hess & Kelly, 2005; Levine, 2005). Fry,
Bottoms, & O’Neil (2005) reported that university programs fail to provide “hands on”
experiences that will prepare leaders to improve student learning.
As universities prepare students for new expectations of school leadership, it is essential
to examine the contextual setting in which school leaders operate and how the internship
experience can bring principals and principal interns together in assessing what needs to
change and how to develop related strategies. In their development of a Framework for the
Assessment of Learning-Centered Leadership, Porter, Goldring, Murphy, Elliot, and Cravens
(2006) revealed that, “As long as leadership assessment continues to focus on the key values
of the profession in the 20th century—maintaining stable operations and avoiding conflict—
and is scaffolded on politics, management, governance, and organizational structure, our
ability to develop a profession with leadership for learning at its core will be severely
compromised” (p. 2). Thus it is relevant to engage students in the study of leadership practices
in the context of their internship experiences and provide them with tools to navigate a more
effective balance with greater emphasis on the improvement of teaching and learning.
PURPOSE OF STUDY
Placing student interns under the direction of principals carries a risk that they will
observe and experience practices that are traditional in nature and disconnected from those
that improve student achievement. This potential disconnect has significant implications for
pre-service programs and the effectiveness of the internship experience in reflecting the
shifting roles of the school principal in the improvement of teaching and learning. This study
involved the engagement of student interns in action research with their assigned principals as
well as fellow graduate students in examining three important questions:
- How do principals spend their daily time?
- To what degree are the daily activities of principals related to those that have been
identified in the research as leadership practices that influence student achievement? - Can principals and principal interns identify strategies that will aid them in reducing
daily time in non value-added work?
Timothy B. Berkey, University of Houston-Victoria