Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, EDU Policy and Leadership
The goal of this research was to explore the construct of academic optimism at the principal level and examine possible explanatory variables for the factors that emerged from the principal academic optimism scale. Academic optimism contains efficacy, trust and academic emphasis (Hoy, Tarter & Woolfolk Hoy, 2006). It has been studied at the individual and collective level and has been shown to predict academic achievement, even after controlling for socio-economic status and prior student achievement (Hoy, Tarter and Woolfolk Hoy, 2006; McGuigan & Hoy, 2006; Hoy & Smith, 2007). Academic optimism is also associated with a number of positive organizational behaviors, including professional success (Lee, Dedrick, & Smith, 1991), and a more humanistic (Woolfolk & Hoy, 1990) and student-centered approach (Czerniak & Schriver, 1994).
In its 2011 report on school principal effectiveness, the Wallace Foundation noted that principal leadership is among the most pressing matters on a list of public school issues, coming in second after teacher quality. Because of academic optimism's relationship to positive outcomes and behaviors at the teacher level, and because the principal plays a vital role in establishing school climate and trust (Aelterman, Engels, Verhaeghe, Sys, Van Petegem, & Panagiotou, 2002), this dissertation study explored principal academic optimism.
Human resource literature has also connected hope, resilience, and optimism to positive organizational behaviors (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007). This research investigated these variables as possible predictors of the factors that emerged from the principal academic optimism scale. I added view of intelligence as a possible predictor, because the impact one's view of intelligence has on motivation and resilience has been noted in the literature (Burns & Isbell, 2007; Dweck, 1999).
Much of the literature on principal leadership also notes the importance of context. When considering possible explanatory variables (open full item for complete abstract)
Committee: Ann Allen (Advisor); Ann O'Connell PhD (Committee Member); Belinda Gimbert PhD (Committee Member)
Subjects: Educational Leadership