| This qualitative descriptive study explored the perceptions of principals, instructional coaches, and teachers to determine in what ways they perceived the work of instructional coaches to be congruent with the characteristics of servant leadership. It was not known how principals, instructional coaches, and teachers perceived the work of instructional coaches to be congruent with the characteristics of servant leadership. The theoretical foundations for this study included an interpretivist worldview, coaching theory, including Knight's partnership principles, and servant leadership theory. The sample consisted of 12 participants, four middle school principals, four instructional coaches, and four teachers employed by a public school district in southeast Tennessee. The research questions explored the perceptions of each group and compared responses of principals, instructional coaches, and teachers. Critical incident interviews were conducted with each group, and a hybrid thematic analysis of the interview data revealed themes that are congruent with the behaviors and characteristics associated with servant leadership. The overarching theme in the perceptions from principals, instructional coaches, and teachers was that instructional coaches exhibited servant leadership behaviors by maintaining a focus on student outcomes in their work with principals and teachers. Conclusions from this study found that principals, instructional coaches, and teachers perceived the work of instructional coaches to be congruent with the 10 characteristics of servant leadership. |
