Teachers\u27 perceptions of principals\u27 leadership practices and of teachers\u27 involvement in decision-making

The purpose for conducting this quantitative study was to determine if there was a relationship between teacher perception of principal leadership behavior and teacher perception of the use of participatory decision-making practices at their schools. A correlational research design was used to determine the degree of association between the variables under study. The sample population for this study included 224 certified regular elementary education staff members from 37 elementary schools in the Lincoln Public Schools. Two survey instruments, the Teacher Involvement and Participation Scale 2 (TIPS 2) and the Change Facilitator Style Questionnaire (CFSQ), were sent to the teachers to examine their perceptions of leadership and decision-making practices occurring at their schools. The correlation between the TIPS 2 and the CFSQ was.6025 which indicated a direct and positive relationship between teacher perception of principal leadership style and of participatory decision-making practices. The TIPS 2 total score correlated with the scaled scores of the CFSQ at the 0.50 level or greater, except for Scale 1. Scale 1 measured the Social/Informal nature of the change facilitator\u27s Concern for People dimension. Scales 3 and 5 of the CFSQ had negative correlations with the total scores of the TIPS 2. High scores in these scales were contraindicative of effective leadership characteristics. Teachers perceived principals as Managers as comprising the largest principal classification (45%), with Responders the next largest classification (27%), and as Initiators the smallest classification (24%). Teachers indicated the highest amount of teacher involvement across all eight aspects of participatory decision making when they perceived their principals as Initiators. Teachers who perceived their principals to be Managers accounted for the second highest amount of teacher involvement. The least amount of teacher involvement in decision making was reported by those teachers who perceived their principals to be Responders