Catholic Secondary School Principals\u27 Perceptions of the Qualities of Effective Catholic Secondary School Teachers

Church documents and scholars have affirmed that the success of Catholic schools is largely dependent on the effectiveness of their teachers. Teacher effectiveness in general has also been correlated with various aspects of school life such as student learning and achievement, teacher leadership, and school effectiveness. However, there is little research of what constitutes effective teaching in a Catholic school. The purpose of this study was to explore the degree of importance that Catholic secondary school principals of the Archdioceses of Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York (N=166) attribute to the five qualities comprising Shimabukuro’s (1993, 1998) typology of the ideal Catholic school teacher and to the six qualities of effective teachers identified by Stronge (2002, 2007). This study investigated the qualities of effective teachers through the lens of secondary school administrators because by their role or position, they are responsible for all aspects of a Catholic school’s mission and purpose. Seventy-three Catholic secondary schools principals participated in this study, representing the archdioceses of Boston (n = 31), Chicago (n = 37), Los Angeles (n = 51), and New York (n = 47). This study utilized survey methodology. The researcher created an online survey instrument, which used and adapted, with permission, Shimabukuro’s (1993, 1998) typology of the qualities of the ideal Catholic school teacher and Stronge’s (2002, 2007) qualities of the effective teacher. The researcher combined both frameworks to serve as the conceptual framework of this study and categorized their combined qualities into four dimensions of the Catholic secondary school teacher’s vocation: (a) faith, (b) profession, (c) self and others, and (d) student learning. Principals who participated in this study perceived all of the qualities of the ideal Catholic school teacher (Shimabukuro, 1993, 1998) and the qualities of effective teachers (Stronge, 2002, 2007) as “important,” rating the affective qualities of a teacher to show the most relative importance with regard to teacher effectiveness. Principals’ ratings and rankings of the affective qualities the frameworks affirm the teachings of the Church and research within Catholic education regarding the centrality of relationships and community in Catholic education