There has been extensive research done on varying leadership styles as well as how school leaders employ these styles in order to improve students’ academic achievement. However, little literature exists that discusses how leadership style affects a principal or assistant principal’s approach to managing student discipline. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine how school leaders perceive their leadership style and how their style affects the way they address student discipline in their school buildings. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 principals and assistant principals from an urban, public school district in northern New Jersey who served students in grades four through eight to answer the following research questions:
RQ1: How do principals and assistant principals’ perceived leadership styles impact their leadership practices and approach to student discipline?
RQ2: How are student discipline outcomes affected by the perceived leadership styles of principals and assistant principals?
This dissertation shares the thematically coded data gathered through the interviews. Participants discussed demonstrating care for students, staff, and families, even when they did not specifically identify Caring Leadership as their individual style. This caring approach was critical to building positive relationships and determining disciplinary consequences for students that served as alternatives to suspension and other forms of exclusion from schools. This was especially important to the school leaders who participated as they and their staff continue to navigate providing high-quality education to all students in this post-pandemic world.
This qualitative study analyzed how five middle-school Language Arts teachers from an elementary school in the Northeastern United States implemented Critical Race practices to meet the curricular, social, emotions, cultural and educational needs of urban students. This research examines how critical race theory practices were used to meet the curricular, social, etc. needs of K-6 students. The pathway which led the researcher to this study began with a question, as in the case of all research: How are teachers using small group instruction to target Critical Race Theory practices (CRT) within the theoretical framework? Participants in this study include five middle-school English Language Arts teachers in an urban school. This research is developed from data acquired through five interviews. Interview transcriptions were analyzed, organized, coded by the NVivo software, and the researcher also cross-checked for accuracy. The emerging themes were building relationships, social and emotional learning, district policy, small group instruction, and student engagement.
More research is needed to focus on how teachers are currently implementing the Critical Race Theory practices into the curriculum and how it can inform and drive student teaching and learning. The recordings were then transcribed using WebEx transcription software. Transcriptions from interviews were analyzed, organized, and validated by the NVivo software. Five themes emerged from this study.
Building relationships surfaced early as a theme, supported by teachers knowing their students, by establishing well-balanced relationships before teaching the content and placing an inference on students' interest and motivation.
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) surfaced as the second theme providing planning time for the students to work collaboratively to address students' individual needs. The other themes focused on district policy, student engagement, and small group instruction.