Effective principal leadership practices improve
school organization, teaching, and student achievement outcomes. These
practices include framing and communicating a school's goals and
mission, creating shared expectations of high performance, clarifying
roles and objectives, and promoting professional development. However,
research demonstrates that teachers tend to rate principals lower on
important leadership practices than principals rate themselves, and this
mismatch in perception could have negative consequences.
Numerous
studies in the fields of human resources and organizational management
reveal that leader self-awareness — when leader self-perception is in
agreement with what subordinates perceive — is directly related to
leadership effectiveness. The degree to which leaders rate themselves
more highly than do subordinates correlates with diminished
organizational outcomes, including reduced subordinate job satisfaction
and productivity. Specific to education, negative teacher perception of
school leadership correlates with teacher burnout and reduced teacher
collaboration.
This report from the RAND Corporation's web-based
American Educator Panels gathers nationally representative evidence of
whether perceptions of school leadership practices vary by educator
position. Principals almost universally rate themselves as
effective, but a minority of teachers disagree.
Key Findings
Principals rate themselves highly, teachers slightly less positive
- Over 98 percent of principals stated that they communicate a clear vision for their schools, set high standards for teaching, and make clear to staff expectations for meeting instructional goals.
- Eighty-four percent of teachers agreed that principals set high expectations for teaching, 77 percent agreed that principals had clear expectations, and 79 percent agreed that principals communicated clear visions for their schools.
- These disparities suggest that a significant minority of teachers do not agree with principals' self-perceptions, highlighting potential barriers to a cohesive school culture.
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