| dc.description.abstract | The impact of micropolitics between members of school administrative leadership teams and the effect that these interactions and relationships have on the culture, climate, and academic achievement of students in a middle school is an area of organizational research that has not been thoroughly studied. To meet the increasingly complex duties and responsibilities facing school leadership today, schools have shifted the leadership model from that of a single authoritative leader making all decisions on the campus to a more collaborative, shared leadership model where a team of administrators share leadership responsibilities and make decisions in a collaborative manner.
A descriptive analysis of student and teacher demographic data, a comparative analysis of school improvement plans, and a review of disciplinary data was performed for each school. A three-year longitudinal analysis of STAAR results was made to determine the level of student achievement realized on each campus with results scaled to state averages for each year to control for the variation in scores from year to year.
Using an open-ended semi-structures interview protocol, an investigation of the perceived quality of micropolitical conversations occurring within the administrative leadership teams of three middle schools was performed to ascertain the quality of the interactions, the proficiency of communication, how conflicts were resolved, and the ability of the team to build trust by maintaining confidentiality of sensitive information. Department coordinators were interviewed to learn their perceptions of the level of confidence that they had in the administrative leadership team, the level of support they received from the administration, and administrative expectations for instruction, grading, and performance on STAAR.
A review of generic school improvement plans was conducted to learn the issues that each campus had identified as areas for growth and improvement. Demographic data, and STAAR results were aligned with interview findings to determine if positive micropolitical relationships between the members of the campus the administrative leadership team had a positive impact on the culture and climate of the school, with a positive impact on student achievement.
Findings revealed that while positive micropolitical conversations occurring between the members of the administrative leadership team produced positive effects on the climate of the school, the leadership style of the principal had the greatest impact on micropolitics, school culture, climate, and student achievement. Three leadership styles were identified in this study: traditional managerial, collaborative, and empowerment.
The campus organizational structure preferred by the traditional managerial principal was a well-defined hierarchy, allowing for clearly communicated expectations of teachers and students that resulted in a high degree of academic success. The principal at the collaborative campus focused primarily on process, nurturing a positive campus climate, and encouraging all teachers to offer feedback in decision making process. Process took priority at the expense of the communication of clear campus culture, limiting student achievement. On the empowered campus, the culture, and climate were dependent personal trusting relationships with the principal, often resulting in an inconsistency of policy. Regardless of these inconsistencies, the campus experienced positive student achievement. | en |
