No Principal Left Behind: Leadership and Ethical Dilemmas in the Turbulent Era of School Accountability

Abstract

In 2003, Mid-County North High School (pseudonym), a large suburban, rather affluent school did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act. The school's special education population was unable to meet the proficiency requirements of the Mid-County's state, and as such received a "failing" label from the state. The irony in this is that North High School (NHS) and the Mid-County District have a documented legacy of excellence -even on the very assessments upon which the "failing" assessments were based. This single-site, qualitative case study, was designed to investigate the real-life dilemmas, ethical, professional, and personal, that the school leaders at NHS and in the Mid-County School District encountered after the school did not make AYP. The perceived internal pressures caused by the possible competition of a school leader's personal and professional values, as well as the necessity for leaders to guide their school toward making AYP, were investigated. In addition to internal pressures, the study attempted to uncover the perceived pressures faced by the leaders within the organizational structure of the school and school district, from the community, media and government. In addition, the study was designed to unveil school leaders' reactions to these perceived pressures. This study used semi-structured interviews with 12 school leaders, including central office and building level leaders, as well as teachers, a parent, and a school board member. In addition to interviews, pertinent documents, and artifacts were analyzed. The interview and document data were then coded using a qualitative analysis program, TAMSAnalyzer. The constant comparative method (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) was used to analyze the data in terms of the study's two theoretical frameworks: Turbulence Theory (Gross, 1998) and Multiple Ethical Paradigms (Shapiro and Stefkovich, 2001). The data revealed three dominant themes: (a) Turbulence Happens: School Leaders Are Forced to Respond to Externally Imposed Accountability in the Era of NCLB and AYP; (b) Flight School: School Leaders' Ethical Codes and Experience Prepare them to Navigate Through Turbulence; (c) Pilot to Co-Pilot: School Leaders Communicate, Collaborate, and Innovate to manage the Turbulence of Not Making AYP.