How We Understand and Practice Instructional Leadership: A Lutheran School Principals' Perspective

Lutheran schools transform students, families, congregations, and communities. While effective school leadership is crucial for this potential transformation, the difficulties of school leadership continue to increase. Leaders of Christian schools face challenges unique to the parochial context. The purpose of this study was to explore how principals of LCMS PreK-8 schools understand and practice instructional leadership. Six principals, who were identified through criterion and network sampling as exemplary instructional leaders, from one Midwestern state served as the cases in this qualitative multi-case study. Participants included a male and a female principal from a small school (50-150 students in 4K-8), a male and a female principal from a medium school (151-250 students in 4K-8), and a male and a female principal from a large school (250+ students in 4K-8). Each principal participated in a semi-structured interview. The interview protocol followed the five dimensions of instructional leadership introduced in Robinson et al.'s (2008) meta-analysis. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded thematically. After member checking of the individual themes from the within-case analysis, cross-case analysis was conducted to identify separate themes for understanding instructional leadership and practicing instructional leadership. The results indicated that principals understood instructional leadership to be what they know, how they support others, and how they engage others. Furthermore, the participants practiced instructional leadership with high visibility, emotional intelligence, strategic alignment, and a conversational posture. These themes for the practice of instructional leadership transcended the five dimensions of Robinson et al.'s (2008) framework. The specific ways in which high visibility, emotional intelligence, strategic alignment, and a conversational posture were enacted varied to some extent by school context. These findings are applicable for current LCMS school leaders seeking to improve their practice, for those who support current school leaders in their practice, for groups tasked with assessing potential leadership candidates, for those involved with formal leadership development programs within the LCMS, and for those who identify and nurture future school leaders of LCMS schools. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]