A principal\u27s freshman year: The complexity and intensity of a principal\u27s transition experience

This study explores the first year of three new Jesuit high school principals in the United States, and seeks to present a clear picture concerning this transitional experience. I build on the literature that concentrates on the first year of the new school leader by widening my focus to include the new principal as well as the contextual variables that interact with his or her characteristics (Graen, 2007). Glatter (1997) explains that we in `mainstream\u27 educational management have become too preoccupied with what might be called the institutional side of leadership and management, to the extent of disregarding or at least underemphasizing... contextual factors (p. 182). I highlight some of these contextual factors by exploring and investigating the interaction between the new school leader and the student and faculty community of three institutions as well as considering the context of the institutions. I present a picture of what the principal\u27s transitional experience looks like. The following research questions guided this study: 1. How does the interaction of a new principal and his/her faculty and student community influence the new leader\u27s first year? a. From multiple stakeholders\u27 perspectives, which include the principal and his/her faculty and students, what does a principal\u27s first year of transition look like? b. By exploring the interaction between the new principal and his/her faculty and students, what do we learn about his/her values and leadership skills and how they are shaped by context? c. What role did the institution\u27s situational and contextual variables (such as people, culture, history, and traditions) play in the transition? Although Jesuit high schools in the United States have existed for over 200 years, there is no academic literature on the transition year of Jesuit high school principals. In collecting the data, I conducted two phone interviews with each of the three new Jesuit high school principals of this study. I then visited each school and gathered artifacts as well as facilitated two focus groups of faculty members and two focus groups of students. I also interviewed the principal a third time