Relating Teacher Opinion of Leadership Practices to Teacher Choice of Instructional Strategy

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this quantitative, correlational survey study was to examine the relationship between teacher use of instructional strategy and teacher opinion of principal leadership in high school science teachers in a suburban North Georgia County.

METHODOLOGY
Ten of the principals from 16 high schools in one school district located in a suburban North Georgia County provided consent for science teachers in their school to participate in this study (N=146). While 74 volunteered to participate, 50 fully completed the surveys (34% response rate). Teacher completed an Instructional Strategy Survey (37 items) and the LPI-Observer (related to their principal).

KEY FINDINGS
Enable was the most frequently reported leadership practice, followed by Inspire, Model, Challenge, and Encourage. The relationship between teacher use of instructional strategy and teacher opinion of their principal’s Model the Way leadership as not significant when controlling for the other four leadership practices. This same pattern was found for the other four leadership practices. Using a cut-off point of 24 or less on the LPI (ranges from 6-60) as negative, the researcher categorized an overview of teachers’ opinion of their principal’s leadership as positive for 96 percent Model, 92 percent Inspire, 84 percent Challenge, 92 percent Enable, and 88 percent Encourage.