Applying Leadership Theories to Current School Setting
Christy Fipps
Grand Canyon University: EDA 575
May 23, 2012
Applying Leadership Theories to Current School Setting Each separate school setting in the United States is individually led by an administrator, or administrators, who have their own unique leadership style. Said leadership style will fall under one of six leadership styles proposed by Martin, Wright, and Danzig (2003). These are directive, participative, collaborative, coaching, affiliative, and laissez-faire. Boys & Girls Home School, of Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, is led by one administrator. The school is part of the Columbus County Schools district. The teaching staff is composed of seven full-time teachers, of which three are first year educators. The school’s population, 39 students, is made of the residents of the Boys & Girls Home, which is a non-secular group home for children, up to age 21. Some children are placed privately by their parents, but the majority of the students are placed there by their respective counties Department of Social Services based on a variety of reasons. For some, the Boys & Girls Home is a last chance before incarceration. On a daily basis, the administrator of Boys & Girls Home School utilizes a variety of leadership styles. The staff and principal have to be prepared at all times to deal with a variety of behavioral, social, and/or academic issues that may arise due to the compilation of the student body. No one school day is ever the same. Of the six leadership styles proposed by Martin, Wright, and Danzig, it is directive, collaborative, and coaching styles that apply to the school setting of Boys & Girls Home School. According to Pearce, et al. (2003), directive leadership “describes leadership that primarily relies on position power…[it] includes direction, command, assigned goals, intimidation, and reprimand as