Chris KohanFollow

Date

8-2018

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

Ralph Marino

Keywords

Charter Schools, Magnet Schools, Principal Leadership, School Choice, School Leadership, School Marketing

Disciplines

Education | Educational Administration and Supervision | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Leadership | Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative, explanatory case study was to describe how traditional, magnet, and charter school principals in one Delaware school district responded to an environment of total school choice and how they made sense of their roles as a principal in the era of school choice. Hess’s (2010) organizational theory was the theoretical foundation for this study as selective enrollment schools, such as magnet and charter schools, would have direct and indirect effects on traditional schools The research questions for this study were: (a) How do traditional, magnet, and charter school principals make sense of the competition generated by school choice options; (b) how do traditional, magnet, and charter school principals perceive the competition of how school choice impacts their responsibilities as school leaders; and (c) how do traditional, magnet, and charter school principals perceive the competition of how school choice impacts the long-term operations of the school? The results were from 11 individual principal semi-structured interviews, 11 administrative questionnaires, 11 school choice event observations, and artifact analysis were used as gathered data and were analyzed through hand coding and recoding. The participants universally felt that school choice had a nearly immeasurable impact on their job responsibilities. Principals expressed they had distant vision of what school choice policy meant for them and the school they would lead in the future, but they were uncertain if that vision would be attained.

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