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Dissertation
Planning for the continuity of a school's vision and culture before leadership succession events
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Oct 2008
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-2997
Abstract
This study investigated practices exemplary principals employ to plan for the continuity of vision and culture beyond their tenures and within complex school systems. The study focused heavily on exemplary principals, from their perspectives, using distributed leadership strategies to share leadership responsibility and to build consensus of vision and culture. Analysis of the literature and the common set of strategies described here answer the major research question: "What, if any, are the practices that exemplary principals use to plan for a continuity of culture and vision beyond their tenures and within a complex school system?"The conclusions are as follows: 1. While the differences between the exemplary principals' stories were pronounced, all of them had expressed remarkably similar beliefs. These included the alignment of their visions of learning, the belief that visions and cultures had to be firmly established and distributed before considering leadership succession events, and the admission that distributed leadership practices were crucial to their leadership success. 2. Exemplary principals saw distinct roles for teachers and principals. Principals were to bring ideals to the discussion of learning, to provide the opportunity for stakeholders to learn about and collaborate in the development of the vision, to keep the focus of the culture on learning, to serve as quality managers of school practices, and to continually develop meaningful relationships with stakeholders. Teachers were to identify the needs to be addressed, to work hard on understanding and accepting the vision of learning, to continually improve their teaching practices, and to help others by serving as teacher leaders. 3. In exemplary principals' minds, the relationship between the school and the school district is one of reciprocal benefits. An exemplary principal takes direction from the school district, but reciprocates by providing expertise and filling gaps where they are identified. This benefits the entire school district, and also influences the larger context. 4. Exemplary principals thought about succession events and their impacts on the vision and culture of the school. Perhaps without knowing at the time, all of them began the distribution of leadership responsibilities from the onset of their tenures as principals.
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Details
- Title
- Planning for the continuity of a school's vision and culture before leadership succession events
- Creators
- Christopher Richard Garchinsky - DU
- Contributors
- Marion Dugan (Advisor) - Drexel University (1970-)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Education (1997-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 2997; 991014632656804721