Leading for Excellence

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study is to determine the degree of importance for the 12 step principles of leadership proposed by Harvey, Drolet, and DeVore (2014) to create a K-12 school environment that fosters high student achievement as perceived by public middle school principals. A secondary purpose is to explore and describe the leadership strategies for implementing the 12 step principles of leadership proposed by Harvey, Drolet, and DeVore (2014) to create a K-12 school environment that fosters high student achievement as perceived by public middle school principals. Methodology: This explanatory mixed-methods study was completed to examine the degree of importance each of the 12 leadership principles of leadership proposed by Harvey et al. (2014) had toward developing a highly effective school environment focused on increased student achievement. The survey was administered online, and the quantitative results guided the qualitative interviews. The population for the study included public middle school principals in Napa, Sonoma, and Solano counties. Findings: Based on quantitative research findings, the 12-step principles perceived to be the most critical by public middle school principals are as follows: strong leadership, high expectations, strength of teams, and vision and values. Based on the qualitative findings, the researcher found that codes related to the following principles were reported by leaders at the highest percentage: strong leadership, academic achievement and assessment, collaboration and shared decision-making, culture of high achievement, and vision and values. Conclusions: The conclusions reached from an analysis of survey and interview data included that while there is strong evidence of the importance of all the 12-Step principles, strong leadership is an essential element. It was found that an alignment of vision and values along with establishing a culture of high achievement and recognizing that data drives all decision-making are critical behaviors for fostering a highly effective school environment focused on increased student achievement. Recommendations: Recommendations for action include reflection, professional development and coaching, prioritizing learning and rigor, and establishing strong teams. Recommendations for future research include completing a meta-analysis, a replication study, a case study, a correlational study, a longitudinal study, or a phenomenological study