The literacy instructional leader : perceptions of the importance of areas, responsibility, and use of literacy knowledge elementary principals need to lead an effective literacy program

The purpose of this study was to discover and compare perceptions of three different groups of Indiana elementary educators concerning the importance of areas of the principal’s literacy knowledge base, as well as responsibility for and use of this knowledge by principals to adequately support effective research-based literacy instruction. The educator groups selected to participate in the study included elementary principals, non-permanent teachers, and literacy curriculum specialists from all Indiana public elementary schools containing grades K – 4. Using a survey specifically designed for this study, data on participants’ perceptions connected to the purposes of the study were collected and analyzed. Twelve different areas of literacy knowledge were identified for investigation. The areas included: Literacy Research and Best Practice, Role of Change Agent in Literacy Curriculum and Instruction, Literacy Instructional Components, District Language Arts Curriculum, Language Arts State Standards and Assessments, School-Based Literacy Assessments, Literacy Data Collection and Analysis, Literacy Classroom Environments and Schedule, Literacy Instructional Resources, Quality Children’s Literature, Meeting Struggling Readers Needs, The School Literacy Curriculum Specialist. The study used quantitative methods of statistical analyses. Results showed a large percentage of participants perceived all twelve identified areas as absolutely essential for the principals’ literacy knowledge base. Some areas were statistically more important than others. The results were similar concerning the principals’ ability to use and share the areas of literacy knowledge. Perceptions of who the principal should be able to share areas of literacy knowledge revealed faculty as being most important when compared with parents and children. Sharing literacy knowledge with parents was considered more important than children. While it was perceived as critical for principals to have a broad literacy knowledge base and have the ability to use this knowledge with various school constituent groups, all literacy areas with a few exceptions were seen as the responsibility of both teacher and principal equally. Finally, a comparison between perceptions of participating principals, non-permanent teachers, and literacy curriculum specialists showed more similarities than differences between groups overall.Department of Educational LeadershipThesis (D. Ed.