Blazing New Trails - Connexions

142 CRITICAL ISSUES IN PROMOTING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
mentioned in the interviews, artifacts (letters, e-mails, and flyers) that were digitized and
converted into searchable electronic documents. Findings were organized into a data matrix.
Data were then organized by categories, which grew and developed as findings unfolded.
Data matrix. To determine coding reliability of data, we constructed a data matrix in
which we tabulated and identified the number of occurrences (at least three times) of a
concept/idea under a data source column (for example, interviews) to determine validity. The
headings on the horizontal axis of the table were: principal interviews, teacher interviews,
artifacts/documents, and observations. In the vertical axis, we listed emerging concepts,
beliefs, and principal behaviors as they occurred in the datasets. We looked for an occurrence
of a concept, belief, and/or principal behavior across at least three columns to establish a
theme and thus determine reliability of a concept or idea.
We used the data matrix as an aid to determine the primary findings, secondary
findings and tertiary findings of the study. Three or four data instances common to both
principals denoted a primary finding, that is, across the horizontal axis a particular finding
(data instance) was discovered in at least three or four data collection events (principal
interviews, teacher interviews, observations, and artifacts/documents). A concept or idea was
counted as a finding or data instance only if it occurred at least three times within a data
collection event (vertical axis).
Values survey. We tabulated responses from the Rokeach Values Survey (RVS) to
identify the top five terminal and instrumental values of the principal and participating
teachers for each school. To determine shared values from the RVS top five from each
participant, the teachers’ survey results from Schools A and B were then compared to the
survey results of Principals Alpha and Beta respectively. The top five values were then
compared with the principals’ own teachers’ combined top values to identify their common
top values. Finally, terminal and instrumental values of the two principals were compared to
identify common values between them.
Triangulation of data. To deal with possible bias, we triangulated data by using
multiple sources (interviews, observations, artifacts, and school data) from which to base
conclusions. Only valid, reliable and triangulated data were included in the discussion of
findings. 1 In the following section, we isolated the actions that the principals of these high
achieving low SES schools were taking to create the desired changes resulting in high student
achievement.
FINDINGS
In Table 2, we have summarized findings from five data sources: principal interviews,
teacher interviews, principal observations, artifacts, and a values survey. The primary findings
are presented in six columns: (a) inspirational/collaborative leadership style, (b) actively
involved in classroom instructions, (c) makes extra effort in support of teachers/staff, (d)
approachable to students, (e) sets high performance expectation, and (f) uses a variety of
1 The authors note that while one author worked with one of the principals, the other probed for biases in
questions, notes, findings, and so on; thus, we made several efforts to be aware of researcher bias in findings and
conclusions.