the impact of a pilot program aimed at developing effective school leadership in Kuwait.
Open Access
- Author:
- Alajmi, Munirah
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Leadership
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- August 14, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Roger C Shouse, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Roger C Shouse, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Nona Ann Prestine, Committee Member
Edward J Fuller, Committee Member
Davin Jules Carr Chellman, Committee Member - Keywords:
- educational leadership
Effective schools
education
schools
reform - Abstract:
- The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the pilot program aimed at developing effective school leadership on Kuwaiti principals’ effectiveness as perceived by teachers in three main domains: organizational development, organizational environment, and instructional leadership. Schools were chosen to participate in the pilot program by the Ministry of Education in Kuwait based on recommendations from the six Kuwaiti school districts during the 2012/2013 school year and each school’s interest in joining the pilot program. For this study, I selected 10 schools that had implemented the pilot program (the experimental group), and 10 demographically similar schools that had not implemented the pilot program (the control group). All 725 teachers (experimental = 374; control = 351) who worked in the selected schools completed surveys before and after program implementation. The survey, which was a modified version of the Audit of Principal Effectiveness (APE), included 43 items, with 10 items measuring organizational development, 27 items measuring organizational environment, and 6 measuring instructional leadership. Participants responded to items using a scale ranging from 1 (not effective) to 9 (very effective). The findings reveal that there is a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups’ mean scores for items related to the organizational development domain and organizational environment domain. Higher gain scores are associated with teachers in schools that implemented the pilot program aimed at increasing school principal effectiveness. The findings also reveal that there is no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups’ mean scores for items related to the instructional leadership domain, indicating that the pilot program did not significantly affect instructional leadership. Furthermore, demographic characteristics (gender, years of experience, educational qualifications, teaching level) had no significant effect on the dependent variable. Several implications emerged from findings. Policymakers in the Ministry of Education should focus on” enhancing the capacity of parents, the public, community organizations and businesses to understand and participate in the reform efforts” (Goertz, Floden, & O’Day, 1996,p152 ) . School principals should be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to help teachers with professional development and instructional improvement. Indirect instructional leadership strategies should be acknowledged and valued in Kuwaiti schools. District administrators and policymakers should work together to implement strategies that will enhance the role of school districts as active agents in the change process. Traditional leadership preparation programs should be modified by placing greater emphasis on the knowledge and skills needed to improve curriculum and instruction and addressing the diverse needs of school leaders from different professional backgrounds.