The Effect of a Principal’s Grit on Their School’s Culture: A Quantitative Study

Bogusz, Trisha M.

Dissertation

The Effect of a Principal’s Grit on Their School’s Culture: A Quantitative Study

Public Deposited

This quantitative study investigated the relationship between a principal’s grit and the school culture in their building. The research focused on one district in New Jersey with participants from elementary, middle, and high schools. First, principals in each school were surveyed using Duckworth’s Short Grit Survey to determine their self-perceived level of grit. Then educators in each school were surveyed using Gruenert and Valentine’s School Culture Survey to describe the school culture. This study identified factors that contribute to successful leadership, including leadership styles and characteristics such as grit. The study also explored current research about school culture and best practices in supporting professional learning communities, unity of purpose, and promoting learning partnerships. This study aimed to understand the relationship between a school principal’s grit and school culture and provide further recommendations for increasing school culture. The results of this study successfully established that there was a relationship between the two variables, principal’s grit, and school culture. In addition, the study concluded that there were high mean scores for principal grit and school culture for each building. However, the data showed a statistically significant negative correlation between overall principal grit scores and school culture scores, r = –.161, p ≤ .001. Specifically, the school settings would benefit from collaborating with school administrators and colleagues to improve perceptions of collaborative leadership, teacher collaboration, unity of purpose, and collegial support.

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