UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEIVED EFFECT OF A MASTER OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION (MSA) PROGRAM ON INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

Abstract

The role of leaders in schools has changed over the last thirty years from managers to instructional facilitators (Leithwood & Rhiel, 2003; The Wallace Foundation, 2013). The move away from an industrial assembly line economy has made a quality education of paramount importance. President Barack Obama stated that reforming U.S. nation's schools will require more than developing teachers; it requires that school administrators focus their efforts on instructional leadership (U.S. Department of Education, 2010, p. 1). The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 2010 included preparation of effective principals as the part of the second goal (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). As one measure of success, states were required to report on the performance of principal preparation programs (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). The language in the reauthorization challenged faculty of colleges and universities to examine the methods in which they prepare school leaders for service. Session Law in 2007 under House Bill 536 required, "all currently licensed MSA programs in NC to revision existing programs to meet 2006 NC School Executive Standards" (East Carolina University, LEED Department, 2013). This study followed up with ECU MSA graduates to gain their perceptions about their preparation in instructional leadership under the revised MSA program. This study was a mixed methods design in order to identify trends in responses and the institutional factors that impact graduates instructional leadership after graduation from the revised ECU MSA program that started with the graduating class of 2012. These data provided a better understanding of the perceptions of ECU MSA graduates about their preparation to be instructional leaders. A longitudinal analysis of the survey was conducted by analyzing graduates responses prior to beginning their internship, at the completion of their internship, and as graduates. A descriptive analysis of the twelve NCSSE Instructional Leadership practices were analyzed by their mean and standard deviations for the pre-internship, post internship and post-graduation. T-tests using Microsoft Excel 2010 software were also conducted for each set of data in each of the twelve NCSSE Instructional Leadership practices.