Snyder, E. (2018). Principal Efficacy of Alternative Secondary and Traditional Secondary Principals. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
Serving in North Carolina’s public alternative secondary schools can be a challenge for principals. Self-efficacy is the perceived judgment that one has the ability to execute a course of action to bring about a desired result. Using Albert Bandera’s Social Cognitive Theory, researchers, Dr. Tschannen-Moran and Dr. Gareis, seeking to assess principals’ self-efficacy, developed the Principal Self-Efficacy Scale to judge principals’ leadership ability to structure a course of action and produce an intended outcome. In this current quantitative research, traditional and alternative secondary principals in North Carolina took a 24-question Principal Self-Efficacy survey responding to the responsibilities of a principal as a managerial, instructional, and moral leader. Although there was no statistical significance between the two types of principals either in demographic characteristics, or in the 18 responsibilities, this research serves an introduction to a much deeper look into the effectiveness of principals. New variables and in-depth discussions surrounding the survey can offer superintendents a gateway to a more substantial level of understanding the different personalities, styles, and attitudes that lead to principal efficacy.
