Blazing New Trails - Connexions

Creating Shared Meaning in High Performing, Low Socioeconomic Urban Elementary Schools 153
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The purpose of this study was to discover what leaders in two high-achieving, low-
SES schools were doing to raise achievement scores. Analyzed data from principal and
teacher interviews, observations, and artifacts revealed findings that are consistent with the
literature about effective principal leadership behaviors in high performing schools. These
leaders inspired their staffs and collaborated with them in a variety of ways. Principals Alpha
and Beta demonstrated faith and trust in their teachers and helped teachers focus more on
students by espousing teacher autonomy, sharing leadership responsibilities, clearly
communicating goals and expectations, becoming very involved in instructional matters, and
keeping consistent the classroom instructions regarding curriculum and lesson plans.
While both principals were actively involved in classroom instruction and believed
this involvement is their most important duty, Principals Alpha and Beta promoted teacher
autonomy when new teachers have proven that they can produce good results with students.
The principals first hired capable, willing, and caring teachers. Starting with a capable set of
educators, the principals built trust and initiative in the teachers by encouraging individual
and group decision making to solve problems or create solutions to improve students’
performance.
While both principals promoted autonomy for their teachers, each principal
accomplished the task differently. For Principal Alpha, autonomy was tied to accountability.
The teachers in Alpha’s school were expected to create solutions to their problems, and each
teacher was accountable to every student in his or her classroom. For Principal Beta,
autonomy was more related to each teacher having the freedom to find a better way to teach
children and prove that the new method, procedure, or policy was beneficial to the students.
In school B, responsibility for helping a student pass the state exam was not a burden to one
teacher; everyone was responsible. As Beta stated, “I do not hold anyone responsible when
students don’t pass [the state exam] because I know we know our students …. The students
that didn’t pass in third grade are students that we had concerns about since kinder.”
There is a strong element of shared decision making on both campuses. Both
principals, accordingly, provided leadership opportunities for their teachers; they encouraged
teachers who showed leadership potential to volunteer in various leadership capacities; and
there was active principal-teacher collaboration and collaboration within teacher teams.
With teachers handling classroom matters or solving curricular issues, the principals
were able to focus on organizational, inspirational or transformational issues needed for
developing a high performing school. The two principals had tremendous energy and stamina,
contagious to everyone around them. Alpha and Beta were risk takers who were willing to try
new ways suggested by staffs to help school performance. Both principals had high
performance expectations for their faculty and students, and provided extra effort, “go the
extra miles” to support their teachers and staff with material needs as well as moral care and
encouragement.
Students were comfortable interacting with each principal and seemed to look up to
the principals, approaching them with concerns and updates about their lives trusting that
these women believed in them. Common to the two principals in this study, the sine qua non
of their life’s work, was the core belief that the students are the most important people in their
schools, the reason for principals’ efforts to continue school improvement; both principals
would have no second thoughts about releasing teachers who do not share this belief.
The principals used a variety of means of communication to help build an effective
and cohesive group of educators dedicated to do what it takes to help children in their schools