Four African American Male Principals and Their Leadership in Urban Elementary Schools

This research study was conducted as a qualitative study on four African American male elementary principals. The qualitative research framework was selected to examine and give voice to the life experiences and leadership practices of four African American male administrators of urban elementary schools. The purpose of the study was to expand the limited research base regarding the lived experiences of the principalship from the participants’ point of view as they are able to apprise other administrators on the issues of leadership in diverse school settings. The guiding questions were, (1) what personal characteristics attributed to these African American male principals success in elementary urban education; (2) how did the selected African American male principals exercise and interpret their acts of leadership; and (3) what were these African American male principals’ perceptions about leadership as related to student outcomes in an urban elementary school. The results of this study yielded the following as it related to the voices of four African American male principals and their leadership in urban elementary schools:(1) many forms or ways of leading were practiced by the principals; (2) their upbringing or journeys to the principalship were different, however they wanted to make a difference in the lives of students; (3) the guidance from people around them played an instrumental part in the principal leadership practices; (4) they believed that hiring quality teachers was important to the success of the schools they led; and (5) they viewed acts of caring as essential to building relationships