Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Mary Kropiewnicki

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore how elementary and middle school principals perceive their leadership to address the decline in the academic performance of gifted and talented students in their transition from elementary to middle school, addressing a gap in the literature. Transformational leadership served as the conceptual framework to inform the data collection and analysis. The three research questions focused on elementary and middle school principals’ perceptions of their experiences with gifted and talented education, their perceptions of the decline in gifted and talented student academic performance, and their perceived leadership practices to address the decline in academic performance. This multiple case study examined cases of six elementary principals and four middle school principals. The selection criteria consisted of having 1 year of experience as a principal and at least a 3% gifted and talented enrollment in the school. A cross-case synthesis was conducted and revealed that although both elementary and middle school principals implemented transformational leadership practices to support the academic performance of gifted and talented students in their transition from elementary to middle school, there were patterns of similarity and patterns of difference between the two cases. Elementary principals implemented more transformational leadership practices than middle school principals. Positive social change is achieved through the identification of principal leadership practices to support gifted and talented students to be able to experience success and make contributions to their communities.

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