The Teacher Working Conditions Survey

As with the importance of selecting a highly qualified principal to help raise test scores and closing achievement gaps, the selection and support of staff is also critical. Gregory F. Branch, Eric A. Hanushek, and Steven G. Rivkin’s 2013 study “School Leaders Matter” examined the effectiveness of many principles’ leadership and the effect they had on student achievement ratings. “A primary channel through which principals can be expected to improve the quality of education is by raising the quality of teachers, either by improving the instruction provided by existing teachers or through teacher transitions that improve the caliber of the school’s workforce” (Branch, pg.4). A principal must be able to continually seek out professional development, to research best practices and new educational theories to support their staff and students. If principals are to close the achievement gap, they must be willing to inform and instruct their staff on new teaching strategies. Mr. Canada, from his TED talk, “Our failing schools. Enough is enough!”, states: “You go into a place that has failed kids for fifty years and say: ‘so what’s the plan?’ And they say: ‘Well, we are going to do what we did last year, this year’. What kind of business model is that?” (TED, 2013). The principal willing to venture into new, uncharted waters may succeed or fail, but at least they

As American educators continue to disagree on the “best practices” for educating students, we are experiencing difficulty retaining effective teachers in high school classrooms. The failure to retain effective high school teachers contributes to the poor performance of American schools. As a result, high school students trail behind foreign students academically in Korea, China, and Finland. Retaining effective high school teachers should improve the academic performance of students and prepare them for success beyond high school.

Additionally, the mean was determined for both elementary and secondary survey responses. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to compare differences among means (Spatz, 2008). The variance between and within samples was measured by the ANOVA. Independent t-tests were conducted to determine in which groups the differences occurred if a statistically significant difference existed. Research compared principal and teacher perceptions of leadership styles among elementary and secondary school settings.

The Kentucky Leadership Framework defines teacher leaders as those who “transform their classrooms, schools, and profession, activating teacher growth and achieving equity and excellence for students” (Kentucky Teacher Leadership Work Team, 2015, p. 4). Therefore, the definition of what it means to be a teacher leader can be found in a review of relevant literature; yet, their roles can be unclear within the schools (Angelle and Schmid, 2007). Jacobs, Gordon, and Solis (2016) point out that when “teacher-leaders’ roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined, misunderstanding, conflict, and resentment can result” (p. 399). In addition, a study of 672 participants revealed that teacher perceptions regarding teacher leadership can vary based on school grade configurations—elementary, middle, and high (Angelle and DeHart, 2011). According to Angelle and Schmidt (2007), “As we work to provide precision to the term teacher leadership, we look to widen the level of understanding of this critical component of school reform at all levels” (p.

Today, teachers strive for the creation of positive and influential learning environments for all students. Moreover, they aim at increasing children’s chances of succeeding. They constantly re-evaluate their teaching strategies for educational improvement of students. Teachers create supportive and respectful school environment that makes students strive for more prosperous and eventually rewarding lives. According to Deborah Tannen, the teacher’s encouraging and

Carlos L. Mckinney, Myron B. Labat Jr., and Cherie A. Labat (for the remainder of this paper referred to as “the researchers”) set out to determine if there were common specific personal and professional traits/strategies associated with successful building principals of identified Blue Ribbon Schools and teacher morale. This study enlisted a number of teachers, counselors, principals and assistant principals from identified Blue Ribbon Schools in a southern state to participate in the study. During this study, the researchers used specific survey questions designed to identify behavioral leadership traits and the resulting staff/teacher morale. These survey questions were asked to educational professionals employed in the identified Blue Ribbon schools to determine whether there was a correlation between the principal’s behavioral leadership and the overall school culture as related to the resulting teacher/staff morale.

Initially and still relatively concrete in thought, I sincerely felt that the leadership within the school hierarchy started with the principal and branched down all the way to the core teachers, specialists, and support staff, establishing that whatever the aims and jurisdictions set forth by the principal overtly shaped the nature of a school’s approach to reform and learning expectations. Additionally, teachers were expected to operate in their specific roles to advance those expectations set forth in large school staff meetings that planned

High poverty and low poverty schools are different in many ways. From student backgrounds to location, the socioeconomic makeup of a school affects everything. The one place where differences would seem to be minimal would in the professionals that work in these schools. This study sought to determine if teachers perceived significant differences in the behaviors of the leaders in their schools. Furthermore, the study expected to determine if there was a significant difference in how teachers perceived school climate by type of school. The answers to these questions could provide a basis for an examination of leadership behaviors that could cause teachers to leave schools or at the very least be less satisfied. This section includes

Leadership is an essential component of a schools’ success or failure. Learning By Heart, by Ronald S. Barth provokes teachers and administrators to reflect on their practices and contributions to their school. Roland Barth offers us different viewpoints on educational reform from his own experiences in education from being a public school teacher and principal to being a Harvard University faculty member. He mentions how school improvement and restructuring will come from within every teacher and administrator not from any program because “schools are not capable of improving themselves”.

Palmer Lake Elementary School refers to a public elementary school located in Brooklyn Park. The school has 678 students with majority being Whites and non-Hispanics. The teachers; population is between 40 and 50 teachers: 6 speech teacher, two reading teacher, 3 gym physical, two music teachers, 28 for regular classes, one media. Accordingly, the ratio of students to teachers is approximately 15:1. Each class has varying number of students ranging from 19 to 28 students. Approximately 54 percent of the students are male and 46 percent are female. The percentage of students eligible for subsidized lunch is 65. This essay examines the leadership skills and styles of Dr. Tim Brown after an interview in his office. Dr. Tim is the principal of Palmer Lake Elementary School and plays the following roles. First, he shapes the vision of academic success and instructional competence for all students and teachers respectively. Second, he plays the role of creating a climate and environment that is hospitable for learning. Third, he cultivates leadership in other teachers. Fourth, he is answerable to external stakeholders such as parents and state education authorities concerning the school’s performances and use of resources. Effective educational leadership is a continuous process that involves self-examination, learning from others, collaboration and sustainable use of resources to accomplish the goals and

The study will observe the effectiveness of school leadership and its relationship to teacher retention. The study will also examine the effects of quality teacher mentorship and professional development impact on teacher

“The effective schools research has been a driving force behind political efforts to improve public education, suggesting that improved student outcomes can be attained through strategic school organization and strong principal leadership” (Heck,1992).While analyzing the school progress through Gunotsav it was found that the school principal played an important role in the school’s progress as the school saw sharp transition after 2012 i.e the year when the current Principal joined.

North Carolina schools administer the Teacher Working Condition Survey (TWCS) every two years. This survey is used to help provide goals for School Districts and School Improvement Team at each school. It is an anonymous survey that asked questions about teacher empowerment, leadership, facilities and resources, and more.

The school is tightly coupled on paper but loosely coupled in practice. Management realizes from past experience that employees tend to hold back or dodge attempts to supervise them too closely. At the school many employees have specialized skills that the principal and heads of department doesn't understand well enough to supervise in detail so it is much more convenient for them to allow a structure to operate loosely in practice in order to keep the organization working.

METHOD The study is descriptive, qualitative research on teachers as they attempted to meet new standards. Specifically it is a case study of an elementary school faculty, done in an attempt to