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Organizational servant leadership and its relationship to secondary school effectiveness

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Date Issued:
2003
Summary:
The purpose of this study was to determine if schools where higher degrees of servant leadership were practiced performed better than schools that practiced lower degrees of servant leadership. Servant leadership is the understanding and practice of leadership that places the good of those led over the self-interest of the leader. The characteristics of servant leadership include valuing people, developing people, building community, displaying authenticity, providing leadership, and sharing leadership. Variables utilized to determine the relationship between servant leadership and school effectiveness included the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) test scores in writing, reading, mathematics, annual learning gains in mathematics, annual learning gains in reading, annual learning gains made by the lowest 25th percentile of students, attendance, dropout rates, and critical incidents. Additionally, contextual variables were examined to determine their relationship between servant leadership and school effectiveness. Contextual variables included principal tenure, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and school size. The primary means of data collection for this exploratory quantitative non-experimental study were obtained utilizing the Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA) instrument developed by James Laub (1999). This study gathered data from 24 high schools (N = 24) in Broward County, Florida. Each school was provided with 46 servant leadership surveys for completion by the school principal, 5 assistant principals, 12 department chairpersons, and 28 instructional staff members. A total of 1,104 servant leadership surveys were distributed and 884 were returned resulting in an 80 percent aggregate return rate. The data were subjected to correctional analyses utilizing a .10 level of significance due to the exploratory nature of the study. The major find of this study was that positive relationships were found to exist between servant leadership and student achievement. The study also found a relationship of bipolarity between servant leadership and ethnicity. However, the study did not find any significant relationship between other contextual variables and servant leadership. In general, in schools where greater degrees of servant leadership are being practiced, students are achieving at a higher rate than in schools were lower degrees of servant leadership are being practiced. The findings lend support to the conclusion that principals who embed the characteristics of servant leadership throughout their organizations may expect high levels of student achievement, particularly in mathematics, reading, and annual learning gains.
Title: Organizational servant leadership and its relationship to secondary school effectiveness.
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Name(s): Herbst, Joel David.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Pisapia, John, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2003
Date Issued: 2003
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 139 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The purpose of this study was to determine if schools where higher degrees of servant leadership were practiced performed better than schools that practiced lower degrees of servant leadership. Servant leadership is the understanding and practice of leadership that places the good of those led over the self-interest of the leader. The characteristics of servant leadership include valuing people, developing people, building community, displaying authenticity, providing leadership, and sharing leadership. Variables utilized to determine the relationship between servant leadership and school effectiveness included the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) test scores in writing, reading, mathematics, annual learning gains in mathematics, annual learning gains in reading, annual learning gains made by the lowest 25th percentile of students, attendance, dropout rates, and critical incidents. Additionally, contextual variables were examined to determine their relationship between servant leadership and school effectiveness. Contextual variables included principal tenure, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and school size. The primary means of data collection for this exploratory quantitative non-experimental study were obtained utilizing the Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA) instrument developed by James Laub (1999). This study gathered data from 24 high schools (N = 24) in Broward County, Florida. Each school was provided with 46 servant leadership surveys for completion by the school principal, 5 assistant principals, 12 department chairpersons, and 28 instructional staff members. A total of 1,104 servant leadership surveys were distributed and 884 were returned resulting in an 80 percent aggregate return rate. The data were subjected to correctional analyses utilizing a .10 level of significance due to the exploratory nature of the study. The major find of this study was that positive relationships were found to exist between servant leadership and student achievement. The study also found a relationship of bipolarity between servant leadership and ethnicity. However, the study did not find any significant relationship between other contextual variables and servant leadership. In general, in schools where greater degrees of servant leadership are being practiced, students are achieving at a higher rate than in schools were lower degrees of servant leadership are being practiced. The findings lend support to the conclusion that principals who embed the characteristics of servant leadership throughout their organizations may expect high levels of student achievement, particularly in mathematics, reading, and annual learning gains.
Identifier: 9780496581122 (isbn), 12066 (digitool), FADT12066 (IID), fau:8979 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): College of Education
Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2003.
Subject(s): Educational leadership
School improvement programs
School principals
School management and organization
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12066
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.