Elementary school principals and mathematics: Self-efficacy, leadership content knowledge, and instructional leadership practices

Elementary school principals' experiences with mathematics are often limited. However, innovations and policy shifts in mathematics education have increased the pressure for them to act as instructional leaders of this content area, specifically. even if they do not feel confident in their capacity to do so. This study examines the relationship between elementary principals' educational and professional experiences in mathematics and their levels of self-efficacy as instructional leaders in mathematics, their leadership content knowledge for math (LCK), and the frequency of the mathematics instructional leadership tasks in which they engage. The modes of leadership content knowledge they utilize are also investigated.;Elementary principals in Massachusetts were surveyed to identify key aspects of their educational and professional backgrounds, uncover their beliefs about mathematics and mathematics instruction, measure their self-efficacy as instructional leaders of mathematics, and ascertain information about the type and frequency of instructional leadership activities related to mathematics in which they engage. Open-ended survey items were also included in order to investigate the modalities of leadership content knowledge that principals utilize. The survey also included questions about school characteristics in order to examine the relationships between these characteristics and the previously mentioned principal factors. Relationships among these factors were investigated through the use of non-experimental data analysis techniques.;An exploratory factor analysis yielded factors representing the dependent variables of: principals' self-efficacy as instructional leaders of mathematics, principals' LCK, principals' self-efficacy as instructional leaders of other disciplines, and their instructional leadership actions. One-way multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVAs) indicate that principals with little mathematics educational/professional experience ("math experience") have significantly lower levels of self-efficacy as instructional leaders of mathematics than principals with higher levels of math experience. While principals' math experience is important in mathematics instructional leadership self-efficacy, it is not related to their self-efficacy as instructional leaders in other content areas. Math experience also does not appear to be related to LCK for mathematics or to instructional leadership actions. Furthermore, principals' instructional leadership self-efficacy in any subject area, their LCK for mathematics, or the frequency of their instructional leadership actions for mathematics do not differ significantly between principals from schools of different sizes, types, or SES levels. However, a significant regression equation explains 14.9% of the variance in principals' self-efficacy as instructional leaders of mathematics scores with their math experience, school's size, and the overall SES of the students at their schools as predictors. Qualitative analyses of open-ended questions suggest principals alter school day structures or routines to support math teaching and learning.;Recommendations for research include determining specific experiences which may most bolster principals' self-efficacy, as well as whether experiences in other disciplines are also related to instructional leadership self-efficacy in those disciplines. In addition, it is recommended that follow-up qualitative research methods be utilized to gain a deeper understanding of how the alteration of school day structures or routines are working within schools. Further quantitative analysis should investigate whether these modes yield improved student achievement scores in mathematics.