A study of social and political acumen in dynamic educational  (Page 6/15)

The quantitative component of the analysis investigated whether there was any relationship between these leaders’understanding of the significance of the role of social and political acumen in effective leadership and their exercise of social and political acumen. In addition, the analysis investigated the relevance of these principals’experiences in leadership development and their exercise of social and political acumen.

Selection of the Participants

Two school districts from Alberta, Canada that included schools in rural and urban areas agreed to participate in the research and collection of data. After fulfilling each school district’s research application process, I requested nominations for identified dynamic leaders from the three hundred school communities in these two districts. School staffs and parents from the two selected school districts were invited to nominate a principal who fulfilled one or more of the following descriptors of a dynamic leader. These criteria included:

• Principals who had successfully implemented a change or initiative.
• Principals whose style of leadership had increased the capacity of those with whom they work.
• Principals whose communication and interpersonal skills had improved the culture of the school environment.
• Principals who had effectively created an environment in which others were successful.
• Principals who were dynamic for other reasons.

Survey

I communicated with the thirty-five nominees, explained the purpose of my research, and requested that they respond to a survey. The questions in the survey focused on their leadership experience, their understanding of the role of social and political acumen in their leadership, their ideas about the role of social and political acumen in leadership in general, and their participation in leadership development. The questions were grouped according to subject of content. Responses to the survey involved a Likert scale. A pretest to test for internal consistency was carried out with five principals from another school district. The pretest indicated the need to group questions under number and then letter, rather than in a long series of numbers. Also, the pretest indicated the need to use bold lettering for emphasis. These revisions were included in the final survey that was distributed to the thirty-five nominated principals. Follow-up communication with the nominated principals was used to ensure maximum level of participation. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was used in completing the report on the data from the surveys.

Face-to-Face Interviews

Eight nominated leaders from each of the school districts were randomly selected for face-to-face interviews. Two additional senior high principals were randomly chosen from the group of junior high and senior high principals to provide a better balance of elementary, junior high, and senior high principals’involvement in the interview part of the research. The final total of 10 principals represented:

• three senior high school principals,
• two junior high school principals,
• five elementary school principals,
• five male principals,
• five female principals.