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| School Name ¹ | Barton | LaSalle | Pershing |
| Grades | PreK-8 | 6-8 | PreK-8 |
| Enrollment (n) | 253 | 74 | 204 |
| Student Ethnicity (%) | |||
| African-American | 81.4 | 90.1 | 21.1 |
| Hispanic | 6.3 | 2.8 | 59.8 |
| White | 8.3 | 1.4 | 15.7 |
| Other | 4.0 | 5.6 | 3.4 |
| Low Income Students (%) | 96.0 | 85.6 | 87.8 |
| Limited English Proficient (%) | 12.3 | 0.0 | 48.6 |
¹ Pseudonyms
Student achievement in each of the schools showed both improvement and excellence during the selected five year period. Both Barton and Pershing showed dramatic gains in both reading and mathematics during this time, and both outperformed the district in the percentage of students at the proficiency and advanced levels. Similar results were found at LaSalle in reading, language arts and mathematics on nationally-normed assessments.
As shown in Table 2, the principals from the three schools offer a diverse demographic sample in terms of both personal demographics and professional preparation and experience.
| Barton | LaSalle | Pershing | |
| Name of Principal 2 | Dr. Anne Banks | Matthew Thomas | Ethan Flynn |
| Gender | Female | Male | Male |
| Age | 60 | 32 | 42 |
| Ethnicity | African-American | White | White |
| Highest Degree | Ed.D. | M.A. | M.Ed. |
| Years in Education | 38 | 10 | 20 |
| Years in Present School | 5 | 5 | 6 |
² Pseudonyms
A total of 48 teachers (80%) from the three schools completed the survey and 41 teachers (68.3%) participated in an interview or focus-group session. Principals from each of the schools participated in both the survey and interview.
Results from the surveys show that, of the five exemplary leadership practices, Inspiring a Shared Vision , was rated highest by both principals and teachers from the three schools, as shown in Table 3.
| Challenging the Process | Modeling the Way | Enabling Others to Act | Inspiring a Shared Vision | Encouraging the Heart | |
| Principal Self-Rating (n=3) | 48.00 | 50.03 | 51.30 | 54.30 | 49.70 |
| Teachers' Rating (n=48) | 47.04 | 49.02 | 49.81 | 51.38 | 47.82 |
Principals did rate themselves higher than the teachers did for each of the practices, but this is consistent with the literature regarding differences in self-ratings and observer ratings (Hazucha, Hezlett&Schneider, 1993; Sala&Dwight, 2002). Teacher ratings placed each of the principals in the “high” percentile ranking in the practices of Inspiring a Shared Vision , and in “high moderate” range for Enabling Others to Act and Challenging the Process (Kouzes&Posner, 2001).
Similar results were found in the qualitative portion of the study, suggesting that, of the five exemplary leadership practices, Inspiring a Shared Vision was a most critical practice used by the principal for school success. Both principals and teachers referred to visionary leadership in terms of phrases such as, “ journey”, “big picture”, “the direction”, and “ a vision of high expectations”. Teachers, in particular, suggested that while the other leadership practices were critical to the principal’s role in the success of the school, having the “big picture” [vision] first and foremost allowed the principal to use the other four practices to support this vision. In terms of the context in which each of the schools operate, teachers felt strongly that visionary leadership allows a focus on very high expectations and achievement for students. As one teacher said,
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