Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Jerry D. Collins

Abstract

K-12 school principals, as instructional leaders, are critical to supporting music teachers. The problem addressed in this project study was that principals have been inconsistently applying instructional leadership to support music teachers to remain in the teaching profession. The purpose of this basic qualitative research design study was to understand how principals applied instructional leadership practices to support music teachers in order to retain them. The conceptual framework was the instructional leadership model of Hallinger and Murphy, which defines three main dimensions of instructional leadership: (a) the school mission, (b) the instructional program, and (c) the school climate. The research question was what instructionalleadershippracticesdoK-12schoolprincipalsimplementregardingthe retention of music teachers. The participants were 10 principals who were purposefully selected because they were state certified and employed by the school district for at least 2 years. Data were collected via semistructured interviews via Zoom using an interview protocol. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The main theme revealed that principals can benefit from professional development (PD) embedded in the job functions within instructional leadership's three dimensions regarding best instructional leadership practices to support music teachers.A3-day PD training was developed for principals to learn about the challenges of music teachers and how to support them to stay at the school district. The key recommendation was that a district-wide new teacher program could support music teachers. Implications for positive social change include strategies, found in the 3-day PD training, on how principals can implement instructional leadership practices to better support music teachers. These efforts may help principals to retain music teachers in the school district.

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