Four African American Male Principals and Their Leadership in Urban Elementary Schools
Abstract
This research study was conducted as a qualitative study on four African
American male elementary principals. The qualitative research framework was selected
to examine and give voice to the life experiences and leadership practices of four
African American male administrators of urban elementary schools. The purpose of the
study was to expand the limited research base regarding the lived experiences of the
principalship from the participants’ point of view as they are able to apprise other
administrators on the issues of leadership in diverse school settings. The guiding
questions were, (1) what personal characteristics attributed to these African American
male principals success in elementary urban education; (2) how did the selected African
American male principals exercise and interpret their acts of leadership; and (3) what
were these African American male principals’ perceptions about leadership as related to
student outcomes in an urban elementary school.
The results of this study yielded the following as it related to the voices of four
African American male principals and their leadership in urban elementary schools:(1)
many forms or ways of leading were practiced by the principals; (2) their upbringing or
journeys to the principalship were different, however they wanted to make a difference
in the lives of students; (3) the guidance from people around them played an
instrumental part in the principal leadership practices; (4) they believed that hiring
quality teachers was important to the success of the schools they led; and (5) they
viewed acts of caring as essential to building relationships.
Citation
Moultry, Edrick George (2014). Four African American Male Principals and Their Leadership in Urban Elementary Schools. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /152797.