Date of Award

Spring 2-23-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Organizational Leadership

First Advisor

Patricia Clark White, Ed.D.

Second Advisor

Jeffrey Lee, Ed.D.

Third Advisor

Patricia Mark, Ed.D.

Abstract

School principals are expected to lead the major changes and intense curricular work of implementing Common Core State Standards at their school sites. In addition to existing administrative duties and instructional responsibilities, this calls for site administrators to possess transformational leadership skills and attributes in order to lead effectively and purposefully through change in the 21st century. Since education has begun to value leadership coaching for school administrators, this study examined the coaching model as a viable means of support for novice administrators in their development as transformational leaders. The purpose of this ethnographic research was to study the culture and experiences of secondary administrators (principals and assistant principals) who had been coached in the blended coaching model in a job-embedded coaching program. This study explored the context and processes of the coaching experience of secondary administrators that enhanced transformational leadership skills through the lens of the 10 domains of transformational leadership. The methodology consisted of a qualitative approach utilizing an ethnographic design. The qualitative protocols included individual interviews consisting of open-ended questions, observations, and artifact analysis. The results of the Transformational Leadership Skills Inventory (TLSi) were utilized to triangulate the data. Analysis of the data revealed that secondary administrators who participated in the blended coaching model focused on the development of transformational leadership skills. Coachees perceive these domain areas as most important to address within the coaching process. The secondary administrators who participated in the blended coaching model focused on the development of transformational leadership skills that harness the potential of others to seek solutions and build a vision of change for the future. In addition, because the coaching experience was responsive to each administrator’s job-related challenges and responsibilities at his or her school site, the coaching experience focused on real-time, job-embedded problem solving and decision making. Recommendations for future research to deepen the knowledge of leadership coaching and the development of transformational leadership skills are offered.

Download

Share

COinS