lly, it was noted that lack of program and administrative continuity can negatively affect instruction and student learning and that district-level or school-level changes can operate to interrupted whatever improvements have occurred.
In an interesting study of leadership style, Cammalleri, Hendrick and Pittman (1973) had a group of subjects make individual estimates of the rank order merit of survival items; subjects were subsequently placed in 48 groups of four or five in order to arrive at consensual estimates. Each person designated to be leader in the groups was contacted privately, given the solution, and told to assume one of the following leadership roles: Type I (high accuracy/authoritarian); Type II (high accuracy/democratic); Type III (low accuracy/authoritarian); Type IV (low accuracy/democratic). Findings of the study indicated that the Type I leaders produced the highest accuracy, Types II and IV had intermediate and comparable accuracy, and Type III produced the lowest accuracy.
It was noted that these findings argue for an authoritarian style of leadership in settings where the task can involves accuracy. There are some indications that the democratic style of principal leadership may be effective even in non-American schools. In this regard, Shechtman (1994) examined principal leadership style for its contribution to student achievement in Arab schools in Israel. Subjects in the study were randomly selected Arab students (n=800) and teachers (n=160) from 20 schools in northern Israel. Based on the study, it was concluded that democratic leadership was a central factor in promoting student achievement and a positive school climate in Arab schools in Israel. It was further noted that the social and professional mobility of students graduating from democratic schools is more open than for graduates of more authoritarian schools.
On the other hand, it is possible that the autocratic style may be the corre...