| Purpose. This study examined the relationship between principals' leadership styles, school ratings, and the time principals spent on instructional leadership and management tasks.;Methods. A stratified random sample of schools was selected based on data retrieved from the Internet through the Texas Education Agency (TEA). One hundred seventy principals and 277 teachers completed the Leader and Rater forms, respectively, of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (Avolio, Bass, & Jung, 1995b), Participating principals also supplied demographic data and completed the Instructional Leadership/Management Tasks Questionnaire (IL/MTQ) (Lunenburg, 2000). Analyses of variance and Pearson correlations were computed to test the research questions.;Findings. The first research question sought to determine differences in principals' leadership styles and student achievement as evidenced by Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) school ratings of Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable, and Low-Performing. Twelve analyses of variance were computed for each of the subscales of the MLQ to determine differences in principals' leadership styles among the four campus ratings. Based on the analyses of variance, significant statistical differences were found for the two transformational factors Intellectual Stimulation and Individual Consideration, as well as for the three outcome variables of Extra Effort, Effectiveness, and Satisfaction.;The second research question examined the relationship between principals' leadership styles and the amount of time principals spend on instructional leadership and management tasks as measured by the IL/MTQ. Based on the correlation computed, the three transactional leadership factors Contingent Reward, Management-by-Exception (Active), and Management-by-Exception (Passive), were significantly related to the time principals spend on instructional leadership and management tasks.;The third research question explored the relationship between the amount of time principals spend on instructional leadership and management tasks and their AEIS school ratings. Significant correlations were found between the amount of time principals spend on instructional leadership and management tasks for the three rating categories of Exemplary, Recognized, and Acceptable.;The fourth research question examined the differences in the amount of time principals spend on instructional leadership tasks and management tasks. Two analyses of variance were computed to determine if there was a significant difference in the amount of time principals at Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable, or Low-Performing campuses spend on instructional leadership tasks and management tasks. No significant differences were found. Also, when school level was included, data indicated elementary, middle, and high school principals spend more time on instructional leadership tasks than management tasks. |
