Exploratory Study of School Leaders' Perspectives of Performance Management at Selected Urban Public Elementary Schools

Performance Management (PM) has been employed in the business service sector since the early 1990s. There has been extensive research on the effectiveness of PM as a tool to enhance organizational goals such as maximizing profits, reducing costs, and enhancing customer service satisfaction in the business sector. The rationale guiding this study was that there has been little research investigating the effects of PM in the educational settings. The Chicago Public Schools incorporated PM as a management tool in 2009. The purpose of this study was to explore school leader perceptions of and experiences with PM within a phenomenological framework. There were two objectives of this study: (a) to examine the extent of PM perceptional experiences that exist among school leaders, and (b) to capture the essence of PM experiences as it relates to their awareness and response efforts towards PM in student achievement outcomes. Using a combination of surveys and in-depth interviews, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 16 principals and nine assistant principals from CPS Lake Calumet Network elementary schools during the 2011-2012 school years.;The results indicate that there are different degrees of awareness regarding the nature of PM experiences from the perspectives of school leaders in elementary schools. The findings from this study may help school leaders define PM purpose and refine how to implement PM in their schools. This study contributes new knowledge to the field and can help inform school leaders at the local and district level related to the use of PM. In order to further discussion on PM, continued research is necessary.