▼ The purpose of this study was to explore the possible relationships between school principals' educational and professional experiences and perceived self-efficacy on Ohio's principalship instructional standard two. The instructional standard has increased the job responsibilities of Ohio's principals and led to criticisms of educational leadership programs. Regression analysis revealed relationships between several principal characteristics and curricular and instruction self-efficacy, including gender (female), years of principal experience, prior teaching experience, and school-wide committee service. Twenty-first century skills and curriculum have brought an even greater emphasis for principals to be proficient curriculum and instructional leaders. Findings suggest that school districts need to recruit, prepare, and retain school principals, generally, but may want to recruit females, who tend to have longer careers as teachers, and are historically under-represented in the principal ranks. Colleges, universities and credentialing organizations may need to add additional courses or modify courses to more adequately prepare principals as instructional leaders. Advisors/Committee Members: Ingle, William Kyle.

▼ In a search of educational leadership literature for models of school leadership that consider personality type, this researcher found that most scholars have avoided the topic of personality in favor of a focus on leadership skills (Richard, 2000; Shibley, 2002); or issues of certification and professional training (Holloway, 2001); or a focus on the office of the superintendency, rather than on the type of person who is most effective in that office (Keedy and Bjork, 2001; Muffs, Sullivan, and Fried, 2003). Three research questions were developed to guide this correlational study where one statistically significant relationship was found between the MBTI® preference type Sensing and the FIRO-B™ leadership style Expressed Control. Superintendent respondents with the Sensing preference expressed a greater need to be influential and responsible in their districts than other preference types. Three instruments were used to collect the data about the 44 participants: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) Form M, the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior ™ (FIRO-B™), and a brief demographic questionnaire. The findings include the following: 96% of the Michigan superintendent respondents were Caucasian; 88.6% were male. Forty and nine-tenths percent were aged 56 or older. Close to half (47.7%) had been in their positions for five or fewer years. All (100%) of the respondents had advanced degrees beyond the bachelor’s. Forty-six percent held a master’s degree and 30% held an earned doctoral degree. One fourth of the respondents held specialist degrees. Twenty-three percent fit the MBTI® profile of ISTJ (Introvert-Sensing-Thinking-Judging) followed by ESTJ (Extravert-Sensing-Thinking-Judging), describing 21% of the superintendents. On the FIRO-B™, 41% of the participants exhibited low Expressed Control characteristics and an identical proportion exhibited medium Expressed Control attributes. On the dimension of low Expressed Control and low Wanted Control, 23% of the superintendents exhibited the aspects. No respondent scored high on Wanted Control for any of the Expressed Control categories. The quality of district leadership would benefit by systematic research on the interaction of superintendents’ behavior and educational outcomes. It would follow, then, that there is also a definite need for exploring the attributes of educational leaders and their relation to situational factors and educational outcomes. Advisors/Committee Members: Chiarelott, Leigh R.

▼ The ability to have an alternative method of taxation via the school district income tax gives school boards in Ohio an approach toward remedying financial woes in addition to traditional property tax levies. However, making the determination of whether to select property tax, school district income tax, or a combination of both types of taxes can leave school officials and board members at a loss. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the school district income tax on the ability of rural Ohio school districts to maintain financial stability. The researcher investigated rural (as defined by the Ohio Department of Education) school districts in Ohio that have implemented a school district income tax and compared their need to return to the voters for new operational levy support (indicating a lack of financial stability at that point) with those districts who rely solely on property taxation. The results indicate that rural districts which utilized a combination of both school district income taxes and property taxes were able to stay “off the ballot” significantly longer before returning for new operational tax dollars than those districts which utilized only voted property taxation. It may be that this “balanced portfolio” approach of utilizing both types of taxation helps to provide strengthened economical support to school districts in the long run and, consequently, strengthened community support of local schools. Advisors/Committee Members: Pauken, Patrick D.

▼ The rationale for this study was to discover the peer leadership effect Division I football captains had on the remainder of their team by examining the phenomenological experiences of the captains and their teammates. Through interviews and a focus group, leadership practices were connected to the captains and their formal roles within the structure of the team, but were not limited to these title-bearing leaders. Dependent upon factors such as age, playing experience and personality of a student-athlete, peer leadership extended beyond the verbal and visible demonstrations by the captains and was exhibited by various members of the team. Attributes relating to consistency and work ethic were more highly valued than sheer athletic talent. Additionally, misuse of talent was a key area where respect was lost. These values moved beyond the field and into the world of academics. Those who worked in the classroom for their marks, whatever they may be, were more likely to earn respect than those who did not apply their efforts away from the field. Furthermore, the study suggests, the title ‘captain’ serves more of an external purpose of prestige and tradition than an internal end-all leadership function in this setting. A suggestion of the research findings is the formal role may not have the same importance within the team structure that it once had. If this is true, the role of captain serves a public function of team representation and gives leadership accessibility to those who have earned it, whether or not they bear the title of captain. Advisors/Committee Members: Pauken, Patrick D.

▼ The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any statistically significant differences in the effectiveness of board governance activities of traditional public school boards and charter (known as community) public school boards in the state of Ohio. The six categories of school board activities were defined by Smoley’s model for school board effectiveness (Smoley, 1999). The six areas of focus are (1) Making Decisions, (2) Functioning as a Group, (3) Exercising Authority, (4) Connecting to the Community, (5) Working Toward Board Improvement, and (6) Acting Strategically. The literature review explored the historical role of the traditional public school board, the emerging role of the charter school board and the board effectiveness studies of Eugene R. Smoley, Jr., the work of Richard P.Chait, Thomas P. Holland and Barbara E. Taylor, and the work of the Institute for Educational Leadership under the direction of Jacqueline P. Danzberger. A 73 item survey was sent to superintendents of Ohio’s community/charter schools and of the traditional public school district within which they are geographically located. The overall MANOVA test of differences in effectiveness of board governance activities across types of board revealed a significant relationship between the two types (p = .0015). Since there was a significant difference, univariate tests were run for each of the six subgroup activities. Community/charter school boards were found to be more effective than traditional public school boards in which they are geographically located in the areas of Making Decisions, Functioning as a Group, and Acting Strategically. Only the community/charter public school boards were perceived as “effective” in Smoley’s model for school board effectiveness. They were “effective” in two of six areas, Making Decisions and Acting Strategically. The results suggest that public school boards in both traditional and community/charter school settings need to be committed to building an effective governance board. Boards need to develop their capacity to govern by reflecting on areas of weakness and developing strengths to provide the necessary leadership for public education in a democratic society. Advisors/Committee Members: Pauken, Patrick D.