Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a significant difference between traditional comprehensive high school principals and principals of restructured small learning community (SLC) high schools in their use of instructional leadership behaviors. Methodology. The subjects in the present study were five principals from traditionally structured high schools and five principals from restructured SLC high schools. Additionally, twenty teachers from traditionally structured high schools and twenty teachers from restructured SLC high schools were included in this study. Principals responded to a survey assessing the importance and frequency of use of particular instructional leadership behaviors. Teachers responded to a survey assessing the frequency of use of each instructional leadership behavior of their principal. A two-tailed t-test of the null hypothesis was considered for rejection at the 10 percent (.10) level of significance. The Wilcoxen's Sign test was also used in this analysis. The researcher engaged in an unstructured interview with selected principals and teachers to enhance and include antidotal data to this study. Findings. Examination of quantitative data suggests that there is no significant difference between traditional high school principals and principals of restructured small learning community high schools in their use of instructional leadership behaviors. Conclusions. (1) The structure of a comprehensive high school does not determine if the principal has additional opportunities to be effective with demonstrating instructional leadership behaviors. (2) Traditional high school principals believe they use instructional leadership behaviors more frequently than their SLC counterparts. (3) SLC high school teachers are aligned with their principal in regards to importance and use of instructional leadership behaviors. (4) Traditional high school teachers are not consistent with their principals in regards to frequency of use with instructional leadership behaviors. Recommendations. Further research is advised: (1) A larger sample of high school principals who represent traditional and SLC schools, (2) Different SLC configurations to determine if a particular type of SLC better supports the principal, (3) If there is a difference between teachers of traditional high schools and teachers of SLC structures and their awareness of principal's instructional leadership behaviors, (4) If the responsibilities that inhibit principals exhibiting these behaviors from traditional high schools and SLC high schools demonstrating instructional leadership behaviors are similar.