High School Principals and School Reform: Lessons Learned from a Statewide Study of Project Re:Learning

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to answer a single question: What is the roe of the school principal in providing the leadership needed for the proper exploration and implemenation of Project Re:Learning? A conceptual framework was developed to guide the study. “Principals' strategies” was the centerpiece of the framework being influenced by “external factors” and “community and district factors” and, in turn, influencing “school-related factors” and “classroom-related factors.” The influence of the principal on “success or failure of innovations” was hypothesized to be indirect rather than direct. The study was conducted in four phases, initially included fifteen schools, and involved questionnaires completed by teachers and principals, interviews with teachers and principals, and whole-day shadows of principals. Based on the results of the study six types of school administrators were identified: the absent administrator, the pawn, the pragmatic principal the enthusiastic buffer, the principal as catalyst, and the implementer. Three of these typologies were believed to be consistent with the conceptualization of the principal advocated by the Coalition of Essential Schools: the enthusiastic buffer, the principal as catalyst, and the implementer. A set of generalizations derived from the results completes the study.