A study of teacher perceptions of the relationship between leadership styles of principals in high and low performing West Virginia elementary schools

This study sought to identify differences in the leadership styles of principals in high and low performing West Virginia elementary schools based on teacher perceptions from the Bolman and Deal Leadership Orientation (Other) instrument. The reading/language arts and mathematics index was used to classify high and low performing schools. Twenty-seven principals (13 in high performing schools; 14 in low performing schools) and 196 teachers (88 in high performing schools; 108 in low performing schools) responded to the surveys. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and t-tests were used to analyze data.;The major findings regarding principals' frame utilization were: (1) principals in high performing schools are significantly more likely to use all four frames than principals in low performing schools; (2) female principals are significantly more likely to use the human resource frame than male principals; (3) rural principals are significantly more likely to use the political frame than urban principals; and (4) principals in small size schools are significantly more likely to use the human resource frame than principals in medium size schools. The multi-frame principals tended to be female with 0--5 years administrative experience in small, rural schools.;The major recommendation was that low performing principals with no, single, and paired frame leadership receive professional development to become multi-frame leaders, and thereby enhance the educational performance of their schools.