"We Do What We're Told": How Current Assistant Principals Practice Leadership and how They Wish They Could. Issue 2 (March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Militello, Matt; Fusarelli, Bonnie C.; Mattingly, Amy; Warren, Tom
• Is Part Of: Journal of school leadership. Volume 25:Issue 2(2015)
• Page Start: 194
• Page End: 222
• Publication Date: 2015-03
• Subjects: School management and organization -- United States -- Periodicals; Administration scolaire -- États-Unis -- Périodiques; School management and organization; United States; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 371.2
• DOI: 10.1177/105268461502500201
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2631-9659

Abstract

The purpose of this Q-methodology study was to develop an understanding of the perceptions of assistant principals of their current and idealized leadership practices. Fifty-six current assistant principals sorted a set of leadership behaviors two times—first based on dispositions currently deployed in their practice and a second time based on dispositions that they wish to employ. The Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning empirically developed the sorted statements. Three model factor arrays were derived from each sort. The findings indicate a unique perspective between current and idealized practices for assistant principals. Moreover the dispositions geared toward second-order change did not appear in the positive side of the distribution on both the current and the idealized arrays.