In this essay, I evaluate the theory that leadership ought to be "paradoxical", meaning that leaders should embrace contradictions and incoherent norms. The idea of a paradoxical practice is trending in both education leadership and policy studies (as well as in business leadership studies), but in fact the literature on education (in…

Given today's crisis-laden context filled with educational challenges, it is critical to understand how principals express hope through their leadership to navigate these challenges. Through an extensive qualitative research study conducted in 2019-2022, I examined how 50 principals expressed and used hope in varying degrees to hinder or…

Five early childhood teacher educators in Aotearoa New Zealand explored a range of literature to respond to the question: What does literature tell us about Maori leadership and how are our findings relevant to leadership in early childhood education (ECE) in Aotearoa? The process of finding and reviewing literature sources about Maori leadership…

Principals matter a great deal in establishing a culture of excellence in schools. It has been known that an "ineffective" principal can create significant problems that impede teachers from carrying out their tasks and poor leadership may eventually affect academic excellence in students. A leader who does not have the skill sets to…

School environments impact student performance, teacher motivation, and teacher retention. As such, exploring the role of principals in shaping a school environment can be useful for understanding the reasons for poor outcomes of persistently low-performing schools, low teacher motivation, and high teacher attrition. Additionally, through this…

This research addresses internal conflicts and challenges through a responsive and adaptive situational leadership approach. The study employs a qualitative descriptive research design, using observations, interviews, and documentation to gather data. The findings focus on the principal's leadership practices, examining whether they are…

Many teachers have become dissatisfied with their jobs, leaving their school district or the field of education to purse other careers outside of education. Recently, teacher attrition has been a problem for schools in Tennessee. The shortage of teachers in Tennessee led to the elimination of the Teacher Performance Assessment by the Tennessee…

The purpose of this quantitative predictive correlation research is to determine if and to what extent perceived principal leadership styles predict teacher job satisfaction for K-12 educators in an education association in a northeastern rural school district in North Carolina. Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs…

Retention of teachers is becoming a complex issue that has been linked to both teacher training requisites and administrative issues. The massive exodus of teachers from their profession has been a worrying trend, and a quicker diagnosis is needed to save the situation. This study aims to explain why teacher retention is becoming more complex and…

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to determine the relationship between leadership styles, conflict caused by dysfunctions in administrative leadership teams, teacher morale, and student performance on the reading and math sections of the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR). A total of 58 elementary school…

Rural students deserve a high-quality literacy education comparable to their non-rural counterparts. As rural teachers and leaders face multiple roles and responsibilities, professional learning focused on instructional improvement can lack priority. This study aimed to examine how leaders within a rural, public elementary school setting supported…

My study asks whether the intent of teachers in independent schools to stay at or leave their school is related to the servant leadership characteristics of their head of school. There are few studies on servant leadership, particularly its influence on teacher retention in independent schools. The servant leadership model has much appeal on face…

This qualitative study examines elementary educators' perceptions of their school principals' impact on school culture and elementary educator retention. A constructivist grounded-theory approach was used to interview 10 volunteers from a purposive sample of elementary educators from Midwest school districts. Participants were asked to describe…

This dissertation examined Culturally Responsive School Leadership (CRSL) within California's educational system using a quantitative approach with qualitative insights (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The study, guided by two research questions, investigated the impacts of school leaders' demographics (race, gender, and experience) on their…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how rural K-12 leaders in Utah describe their leadership practices. The theoretical framework was based on Robert Greenleaf's Servant Leadership Theory. This study explored three research questions pertaining to: How Rural K-12 leadership practices were described, challenges that…