| This study explored reports of public high school principals regarding how they incorporated the efforts of informal teacher leaders to respond to building level school reform mandates. The problem persists that despite the multiple, sometimes ineffective reform efforts that teachers have endured since the publication of the landmark 1983 Nation at Risk report, many more school reform mandates have been enacted to solve perceived shortcomings in the United States' educational system. The reform mandates from district, state, and federal levels have changed the expectations and accountability standards for schools causing principals to seek new ways to meet their myriad responsibilities, while implementing and sustaining new changes.;Two research questions were adopted to study the problem based on the Bass and Riggio (2006) model of transformational leadership. The first was: What do high school principals report regarding their reliance on individualized consideration to influence informal teacher leaders to respond to building level school reform mandates? The second was: What do high school principals report regarding their reliance on intellectual stimulation to influence informal teacher leaders to respond to building level school reform mandates?;The researcher incorporated intensive, one-on-one interviews of ten highly regarded high school principals as the primary research method in this exploratory qualitative study. Using an open-coding method to examine the transcripts, the researcher organized data by emergent themes to convey the findings. Based on the findings, a principal's successful reliance on individualized consideration to implement reform mandates was based on developing positive relationships, communicating and listening well, and providing appropriate resources for faculty. A principal's successful reliance on intellectual stimulation was based on establishing a power structure between principal and teachers that encourages teaming practices, expands teacher-directed professional learning, develops a culture of trust, and provides opportunities for teacher leadership. The conclusions may be viewed as plausible hypotheses to guide further research into solving high school principals' dilemmas of finding additional time and resources to implement and sustain reform mandates in their buildings. |
