Supporting distributed leadership to institutionalize secondorder change: Key leadership practices as perceived by principals and leadership teams of successful School Improvement Grant elementary schools

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of principals and leadership teams of elementary schools that received School Improvement Grant (SIG) funds for 3 years and demonstrated growth in Academic Performance Index (API) scores for each of the 3 years regarding the leadership practices that support distributed leadership to institutionalize second-order change. The second purpose was to determine if a significant difference exists in the perceptions of principals and leadership teams regarding these leadership practices.;Methodology. The participants in the study were principals and leadership team members from 6 SIG-recipient elementary schools. The participants responded to an online questionnaire regarding the extent to which principals engaged in 8 leadership practices during the 3 years they received the SIG. Three principals were also interviewed by the researcher.;Findings. Examination of the data indicated the schools studied took a distributed leadership approach. Principals and leadership team members reported principals engaged most often in behaviors related to vision, personal awareness, and accountability. Principals indicated they engaged in practices associated with viewing change as a continuous process, maintaining awareness of change impact, and taking a participative approach less often. Leadership team members reported principals engaged in practices associated with supporting innovation and creativity, building capacity, and awareness of change impact. Principals indicated a higher mean score than leadership team members for 7 of the 8 variables. Both samples indicated principals engaged in the leadership practices studied almost always or always, and there was not a significant difference between perceptions of principals and leadership teams.;Conclusions. Data indicated principals and leadership team members perceived the 8 leadership practices studied support distributed leadership to institutionalize second-order change. In addition, practices related to communication were reported as occurring less often than other leadership practices and could hinder the efforts of principals.;Recommendations. Principals implementing second-order changes should ensure the vision for the organization is clearly communicated and reflects personal values. Principals should consider developing teacher leadership teams, reconsider their role in the leadership team, focus efforts on building capacity of followers, and ensure accountability through frequent and open communication.