Date

12-2019

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)

Chair

Sharon Michael-Chadwell

Keywords

Distributed Leadership, Distributed Leadership Readiness Scale, Middle School Concept

Disciplines

Education | Educational Leadership

Abstract

Distributed leadership provides school leaders with an opportunity to engage teachers in the leadership process. Sharing leadership in the middle school setting engages teachers in the decision-making process while allowing them to utilize their leadership skills. Creating a culture of shared leadership through distributed leadership, provides school leaders and teachers an opportunity to achieve school related goals together as a team. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between middle school principals use of the dimensions of distributed leadership and teacher engagement in the shared decision-making process. The research questions guiding this study are: 1) What is the relationship, if any, between middle school principals use of distributed leadership practices and teacher engagement in the decision-making process? 2) Is there a difference between middle school teachers’ perceptions of teacher engagement and principal’s use of distributed leadership practices? This research study sample involved middle school teachers from a local school district in South Carolina. The instrument used in this study was the Distributed Leadership Readiness Scale (DLRS). A correlational analysis found a significant positive relationship between teacher engagement and the principal’s use of distributed leadership practices. An analysis of variance revealed no differences among teachers at grade levels 6 through 8 regarding mean scores on any of the four dimensions measured by the DLRS.

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