Divergent Angry Voices

Written by Ashworth, P., Pemberly, K., MacAndrew, C, & Netherby, R. (October 2012). Principal Preparation; Effective Schools

Summary

In 2004, The U.S. Department of Education stated, “Great schools have great leaders” (p.1). Research supported their declaration as our nation actively pursued educational reform. School systems across the country searched for good school principals to lead, believing they were the “cornerstones of good schools” (DiPaola & Tschannen-Moran, 2003, p. 43). In 2004, the U. S. Department of Education published national statistics, which summarized that there was a shortage of top-notch principals to meet the demands of No Child Left Behind. As schools struggled, they realized the problem did not lie in the quantity of school principals but in the quality of the principal and learning environments (2004). However, the real challenge became finding effective leaders to facilitate successful learning environments for teachers and students to learn. In the meantime, teachers became frustrated and angry with weak leadership and promised changes with no results. Schools experienced declining assessment scores, an increasing number of students who were experiencing school failure, dropping out, and in trouble with the law because of involvement in crime and violence. Therefore, research continues to be necessary to find what makes an effective leader and successful learning environment in high schools to quiet the “Angry Voices” (Brown, 2009).