Secondary Education Principals/Superintendents
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to compare the perceptions of self-reported leadership practices between high school principals in North Carolina who had been coaches with those principals who had not been coaches.
METHODOLOGY Principals of all public high schools in North Carolina were surveyed (N = 368) of which 239 (65% response rate) completed the Leadership Practices Inventory. There were 154 former coaches among the principals (69%). Two-thirds of the total respondents were men but there was no significant difference between coaching status on the basis of gender.
KEY FINDINGS No significant differences were found on any of the five leadership practices between principals who had been coaches and those who had never been coaches. No significant differences by gender, educational level, or total years as a principal were found for any of the leadership practices. Significant differences were found on the leadership practices of Inspiring and Encouraging based upon years of experience as a coach; but not for the other three leadership practices. The mean scores of these principals were significantly higher, on average, than the Kouzes Posner normative data on all five leadership practices.