Abstract
This quasi-experiment tested whether or not a statewide professional development program for principals yielded measurable changes in self-reported attitudes and practices. The two-year program combined training events at central and regional locations with on-site coaching. The program attempted (1) to change attitudes toward inclusion, broadly understood and grounded in social justice, and (2) to cultivate practices constituting inclusive instructional leadership. The program positions the practices as efforts to serve all students well (i.e., including students of color, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities). This quasi-experiment used a post-only nonequivalent group design with propensity score matching to equate treatment and control groups. Dependent measures were principals’ attitudes towards inclusion and self-reported use of inclusive instructional leadership practices. Treatment group members included 56 participating principals; control group members were 56 non-participating principals matched (one-to-one matching) via the R optimal match routine. Comparison of attitude scores exhibited a statistically significant effect favoring the treatment group (ES=0.47). Also observed was a statistically significant effect (ES=.38) for one of the nine practice items—principals’ work with teachers on collaborative problem solving and professional learning. None of the observed values for the 21 items (i.e., across both scales, attitudes and practices) favored the control group.
Recommended Citation
Howley, Craig; Howley, Aimee; Yahn, Jacqueline; VanHorn, Pamela; and Telfer, Deborah
(2019)
"Inclusive Instructional Leadership: A Quasi-Experimental Study of a Professional Development Program for Principals,"
Mid-Western Educational Researcher: Vol. 31:
Iss.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/mwer/vol31/iss1/2
