Leadership and Literacy Processes in School Improvement Creating and Supporting a Community of Success: A Case Study Examining the Principal's Role in the Reconstitution of a Campus to Transform Literacy and Learning

Abstract

Any number of school districts in the U.S. are having to improve schools that have been underperforming by state and federal measures. Research has indicated that one of the ways to effectively improve school performance is by reconstituting the school (i.e. change the principal and the teachers in the particular school organization). This case study investigates the improvement effort of an urban elementary school in the greater Houston, Texas area. A principal with a track record of improving student achievement was brought in to change the performance of an elementary school that had spent several years on the federal improvement needed list and the state list of schools that had not met standard. The study investigates the actions of leadership taken by the new principal, the organizational vision cast by the principal, and the instructional support provided to the teachers toward improved student achievement. The study also investigates the perceptions of the teachers regarding the leadership and support provided by the principal, and the instructional expectations that school leadership and the teaching faculty have for literacy development. The study notes the improvements made by the school in the two years after the school was reconstituted, especially the growth for the Hispanic and English Language Learner subgroups. Also noted is the additional work that still needs to be done for other subgroups particularly the African American subgroup. The results of the efforts of the school in this case study support over 30 years of research that demonstrates the importance of school leadership in improving teacher efficacy and leading the instructional direction of the school.

Keywords

• school improvement
• teacher-empowerment
• literacy
• leadership
• school reconstitution