Principals in Urban Schools Under Pressure: Relations With Parents in the Era of Test-Based Accountability

2020 ◽  
pp. 004208592093776
Author(s):  
Jordan A. Conwell ◽  
Simone Ispa-Landa
Keyword(s):  
Parent Involvement ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Parental Involvement ◽  
Urban Schools ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Instructional Time ◽  
Academic Goals ◽  
Public School Principals ◽  
Chicago Public School

We conducted an inductive analysis of 166 interviews from a longitudinal study of 26 Chicago Public School principals. Test-based accountability pressures played a visible role in principals’ views of and relations with parents. Some principals reported banning parents from classrooms based on the need to protect instructional time to raise test scores; others thought more parental involvement would help their school reach its academic goals. Viewing principals in urban schools as street-level bureaucrats who have discretion in how they implement policy demands offers a way to understand variation in principals’ decisions about parent involvement.

scholarly journals Principals’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Math Education in Single-sex versus Co-educational Schools in Beirut – Lebanon

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 486-507
Author(s):  
Zeina Hariz Khaddaj ◽  
◽  
Dalal Moukarzel ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Parental Involvement ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Math Education ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Public School Principals ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Student Gender ◽  
Female Teachers ◽  
Single Sex

The purpose of thismixedstudy was to explore school principalsand teachers’ perceptions about (a) students’ performance in mathematics in single-sex versusco-educational schoolsin Lebanon,(b) instructional methods used according to student gender, and (c)the effect ofteachers’ gender onstudents’ behavior.Quantitativeand qualitative data were collectedto validatethe results found. The sample consistedofnine public school principals and seventeenteachers.Three instruments were used for data triangulation: an interview with principals,a surveycompleted by teachers, and a classroom observation grid;the surveywas piloted prior utilizing it and its analysispassed through an expert panel to secure itsvalidity and reliability.Results showed that students performance was not affected by the gender of the classes or schools as per the principals and teachers feedback; however, other factors such as classroom size, parental involvement, boys versus girls’concentration in class, parents’carelessness, and girls’socioand cultural economic backgroundwere of concern to the participants in the study . We also found that principals and teachers did notwrite different lesson plans based on gender in class; moreover, based on the principals’ interviews and classroom observations, female teachers were more tolerant than male teachers towards disruptive behavior.Recommendationsfor further studies were suggested as to investigate students’ perceptions towards mathematics in both types of schooling.

Is “Whole Child” Education Obsolete? Public School Principals’ Educational Goal Priorities in the Era of Accountability

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 856-884 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaekyung Lee ◽  
Moosung Lee
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
Private Schools ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Educational Goal ◽  
Whole Child ◽  
Academic Goals ◽  
Public School Principals ◽  
Accountability Policy ◽  
Child Education

Objectives: Working under the constraints of external accountability policy, public school principals are faced with challenges in prioritizing educational goals. Using the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) data sets, this study examined the nature and sources of changes in principals’ educational goal priorities in the era of accountability, including the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Method: Difference-in-differences method was used to compare the national average trends of educational goal priorities between public and private schools during 1991–2012 period. Comparative interrupted time series method was also used to explore the impact of NCLB accountability policy on those trends across 50 states. At the school level, logistic regression was applied to examine the effect of NCLB Adequate Yearly Progress status on principals’ educational priorities. Results: While academic goals gained traction over the 1991–2012 period, there were setbacks for other goals of education, particularly personal growth and vocational skills. Notably, public schools’ priority changes were more drastic than private schools’ changes. The divergent trends largely persisted after NCLB across the states. On the other hand, public school principals who previously failed to meet NCLB targets gave more emphasis on basic skills and less emphasis on academic excellence and personal growth. Conclusion: Public school principal’s priorities on academic goals have been shaped by test-driven accountability measures, while other equally important goals have been possibly deprioritized. It gives implications for the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, in which educational leaders can redesign accountability systems and incorporate nonacademic measures for whole child education.

Understanding Terminal Decline in Cognition and Risk of Death

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Rabbitt ◽  
Mary Lunn ◽  
Danny Wong
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Intelligence Test ◽  
Practice Effects ◽  
Risk Of Death ◽  
Risk Of Mortality ◽  
Impending Death ◽  
Intelligence Test Scores ◽  
Reduced Risk

There is new empirical evidence that the effects of impending death on cognition have been miscalculated because of neglect of the incidence of dropout and of practice gains during longitudinal studies. When these are taken into consideration, amounts and rates of cognitive declines preceding death and dropout are seen to be almost identical, and participants aged 49 to 93 years who neither dropout nor die show little or no decline during a 20-year longitudinal study. Practice effects are theoretically informative. Positive gains are greater for young and more intelligent participants and at all levels of intelligence and durations of practice; declines in scores of 10% or more between successive quadrennial test sessions are risk factors for mortality. Higher baseline intelligence test scores are also associated with reduced risk of mortality, even when demographics and socioeconomic advantage have been taken into consideration.

Perceptions of Beginning Public School Principals

1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-202
Author(s):  
James E. Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
Time Management ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Beginning Principals ◽  
New Principals ◽  
Local School ◽  
Principal's Role ◽  
Public School Principals ◽  
School Operations

This study was designed to determine the level of competency that beginning principals perceived they had in their primary areas of responsibility when appointed to the position. Secondarily, the study determined what beginning principals perceived to be their greatest challenges and frustrations, most familiar and most unfamiliar areas of responsibility, and who was most and least helpful to them as new principals. The findings indicated that beginning principals are challenged by the following: delegating responsibilities and becoming familiar with the principal's role, the local school, and school operations. Their major frustrations were role adjustment, the (large) amount of responsibility, and time management.

Leadership Styles of Public Schools Principals in the City of Hail in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: أنماط القيادة لدى مدراء مدارس التعليم العام في مدينة حائل في المملكة العربية السعودية

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (41) ◽  
pp. 161-138
Author(s):  
Fahad Husain Alshammari Fahad Husain Alshammari
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Years Of Experience ◽  
Public School Principals ◽  
Low Degree ◽  
Study Population ◽  
High Degree

    This study aimed to: Identify the leadership style prevailing among public school principals in Hail from the teachers ’point of view, and to reveal the statistical significance of the differences in the estimates of the study sample individuals of the leadership style prevailing among school principals, which may due to variables of (educational stage, number of years of experience, and specialization). The researcher used the descriptive method, and prepared a questionnaire consisting of (24) statements distributed to (3) dimensions, which are: Democratic style, authoritarian style and chaotic style. The current study population included all the teachers of public education schools in Hail, who numbered (9390) teachers. The questionnaire was applied to a random sample of (296) teachers. The study found a set of results, the most important of which are: The prevailing leadership style among school principals is the democratic style, followed by the authoritarian style, and then the chaotic style. Where the democratic style obtained a mean (4.18) and a high degree of approval from the study sample, while the domineering style obtained a mean (1.83) and a low degree of approval from the study sample, and the chaotic style obtained an average (1.73) and a low degree of approval. Very members of the study sample. The results also showed that there are statistically significant differences in the degree of the study sample’s estimates of the leadership style prevailing among school principals due to the variable of years of experience, while there are no statistically significant differences in the degree of the study sample’s estimates of the leadership style prevailing among school principals due to the variables of the educational stage or specialization. In light of these results, the researcher recommended organizing training courses for school principals to enlighten them about the modern trends in educational leadership, and urged school principals to follow the democratic style of administration.

scholarly journals Changes in Rod and Frame Test Scores Recorded in Schoolchildren during Development – A Longitudinal Study

PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. e65321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Bagust ◽  
Sharon Docherty ◽  
Wayne Haynes ◽  
Richard Telford ◽  
Brice Isableu
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Rod And Frame Test ◽  
Rod And Frame
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