Announcing the Final Examination of Casey Waugh for the degree of Doctor of Education
The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived value of leadership experiences in preparation for the principal role within a large school district’s Level II principal preparation program. A general trend in the research regarded the need for principal preparedness experiences, related to the realities of the role and the ability to impact the larger scope of student achievement, to be studied (Grissom et al., 2021, p. 45). The study analyzed if there were statistically significant differences in perception of preparation for the role of principal from novice principals. The Perceptions of Principal Preparation Learning Experiences survey was sent to novice principals in the school district who obtained a principal appointment in the years 2019-2023. Survey results were analyzed to identify specific leadership learning experiences within four constructs of job-embedded, mentoring, powerful learning, and professional learning that were perceived as most valuable to impact potential revision of the Level II district preparation program. Study results found that the Level II district principal preparation program supported learning experiences in preparation for the role of principal within the four constructs. However, the constructs of powerful learning and professional learning experiences were lower in perceived value than job-embedded learning and mentoring experiences. The results of the study showed similar results of perceived value across all demographic characteristic analysis resulting in statistically significant differences only in value of principal preparation learning experiences and gender. No statistically significant differences were found in previous leadership roles, age, ethnicity, school level assignment, or socioeconomic status of the schools. Recommendations were made for future applications using the learning experiences for examination of perceived value in other large urban school districts as well as examination of recruitment and retention practices for principal preparation pipeline.
Committee in Charge: William Gordon, Marjorie Ceballos, Daniel Eadens, Leigh Ann Bradshaw
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