Educational Leadership: Book 2 of The Process of Education (Educational Leadership: School Principals Make a Huge Difference in the Academic Achievement of Students)

SCHOOL PRINCIPALS MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTSINTRODUCTION: Major research findings stemming from the year 1900 until the present are summarized in this book & presented in my doctoral dissertation research manuscript. My leadership research was a labor of love. I completely funded all of my own research. Prior to beginning this venture, I had taught for 13 ½ years in urban and suburban school districts. My teaching spanned grade levels preschool through adult. It was at this time that I decided to leave teaching to focus full-time on my research. I had already completed all necessary course work for my doctoral program in addition to 125 graduate degree credits in Human Development, School Psychology, & School Administration with the exception of a one semester course in advanced statistics. Dissertation proposal writing & collecting research data were to follow. The next two years were spent analyzing research data & writing the dissertation. I had hoped that my research would one day be able to make a significant difference in the field of education, in leadership studies & in instruction & learning. Thirty years ago, my educational field wasn’t ready to accept my research results. Although I had presented at research conferences, nationally & locally, & visited one of the largest urban center school districts to discuss my research with administrators, the leadership did not embrace my results. They openly stated that they did not need my research findings. Thus, after accepting a leadership position in public school administration, I set out for the next 20 years to put my research into practice before retiring from public school administration.REVIEW OF CURRENT COMPETITIVE WORKSAs evidenced from SAGE Journals’ publications on Educational Leadership (1995-2012), improvement is needed in setting research studies within conceptual frameworks & in applying proper analytical procedures in examining combinations of variables.Explanatory FrameworkMy research is set within an explanatory framework. It is based on theory & the desire to increase our understanding of school process. Proper analytical procedures are employed in examining sets of variables. The rationale of the study; methods of data collection; extraction of data; lengthy descriptions & interpretations of how this has impacted its interpretation are presented in my research study in great detail. It is supported by my real-life experiences over 40 years in educational administration & teaching.Organizational Leadership: ImportanceIts presentation of the historical development of the literature from 1900 provides a rich background study in the field of organizational leadership. The strength of the data collection procedures, data extraction methodology, analytical methods employed, & research findings serve as a model for future researchers & graduate students of leadership effectiveness & school productivity. It is imperative that these research determinations are employed by educators & administrators alike if we are to increase our understanding of leadership effectiveness & school productivity, inclusive of student achievement. Those variables determined to contribute to leadership effectiveness as it relates to school productivity, culled from hundreds of research studies, are subsumed within my single research manuscript which has stood the test of time. Those effective school leader determinations, compiled from the study of hundreds of research studies over the past century and the expenditure of millions of dollars are found in one study, my doctoral dissertation research. The relationship between leadership effectiveness & school productivity is established. It is strong, positive, & significant. Those factors contributing to the differences in leadership effectiveness & school productivity are summarized, analyzed, & discussed in great detail. Read more