In the Midst of Comprehensive School Reform: Principals' Perspectives

Autor/in	Good, Thomas L.
Titel	In the Midst of Comprehensive School Reform: Principals' Perspectives
Quelle	In: Teachers College Record, 110 (2008) 11, S.2341-2360 (20 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-9620
Schlagwörter	School Restructuring; Academic Achievement; Program Implementation; Educational Change; Principals; Administrator Attitudes; Interviews; Educational Improvement; Problems; Arizona + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Schulreformplan; Schulumwandlung; Schulleistung; Bildungsreform; Principal; Schulleiter; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Teaching improvement; Unterrichtsentwicklung; Problemsituation
Abstract	Background/Context: The role of the principal, and especially the role of the principal in promoting school reform to increase student achievement, is a topic with a long and evolving history. Principals are believed to play a critical role in school reform because they have the potential to impact all aspects of school policy, from time allocated to recess to decisions about curriculum and instruction, teacher hiring and evaluation, assignment of students to teachers, and after-school programs. There is a growing and complex literature about the role of principal and teacher leadership in school reform and improvement, and the degree to which the principal's leadership and management can improve academic achievement is actively debated. However, most of this debate occurs on logical grounds because the empirical evidence linking principal leadership to student achievement is sparse. Research Question: The interview questions assessed principals' perceptions about degree of program implementation, school progress, and issues of teacher and student stability, and their beliefs about what policy makers should know about school reform. Population: Twenty-one principals of schools involved in Comprehensive School Reform in Arizona. Research Design: The research was based on interviews conducted with each of the principals. The focus of this article centers on their discussions of English language learners, teacher turnover, what students are like, teacher effort, parent involvement, budget constraints, and principal expectations for improving achievement. Conclusions: Principals described some of the issues they faced in trying to improve student achievement. These issues included high numbers of students (and parents) with limited English skills, high turnover rates of teachers and students, difficulty of involving parents in schooling, inadequate and inflexible budgets, and the various constraints imposed by the pervasive conditions of poverty that surrounded these schools and their students. Yet, despite these obstacles, principals exhibited matter-of-fact and, in most cases, positive postures toward school improvement. Principals did not see their problems--especially those of students' learning--to be intractable, but they did urge policy makers to have patience and a fuller awareness of the difficulties they face. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Teachers College, Columbia University. P.O. Box 103, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. Tel: 212-678-3774; Fax: 212-678-6619; e-mail: tcr@tc.edu; Web site: http://www.tcrecord.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10