Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze those elements of the California School Leadership Academy which, through the successful use of identified areas of content and process, support the implementation of the variations of effective peer coaching among principals and other school site administrators. The study also examined the perceived effectiveness of peer coaching among principals and assistant principals. Procedure. Descriptive research was used in this study. A questionnaire was sent to 150 principals and assistant principals identified as California School Leadership Academy participants and a response of 106, a rate of 71 percent, was obtained. Frequency data analysis and a t-test to the.05 level of significance were the statistical analyses used to determine differences in effectiveness among the training components studied and to identify major impediments to peer coaching. Findings. The following major findings were elicited by this study: (1) The California School Leadership Academy promoted peer coaching in 57 percent of respondents; (2) no content area modules offered by the academy were more effective than were others in promoting peer coaching; (3) specific, identified workshop activities were significantly more conducive in promoting peer coaching than were others; (4) peer coaching increased the perceived leadership skills of all school administrators who engaged in the process; (5) two-thirds of all responding academy participants who did not engage in peer coaching desired such a relationship; (6) program design factors were most often cited as the pivotal agents in participants' forming or declining peer coaching relationships. Conclusions. Peer coaching has been incorporated successfully into the training of principals as effective instructional leaders by the California School Leadership Academy. It has been found to be a potent force in the transfer of leadership skills from a training setting to the school site, especially in the areas of principals' working with staff and students, improving school climate, and establishing a shared vision, mission and goals in their schools. Among those who did not participate in peer coaching, a substantial number, sixty-six percent, desired such a relationship. The implications of these findings are important for school districts as well as principals' academies and institutions of higher learning: if the training of school administrators is to be effectively applied to the work setting, then the inclusion of a peer coaching component in these programs is essential.