Graduation Rate in WV and Principal's Leadership Dissertation

Graduation Rate in WV and Principal's Leadership - Dissertation Example Principals with good leadership practices focus on the welfare of their students. Leadership is an important component of a school’s performance. It is the set of behavioral patterns exhibited by the principal in attainment of the school’s goals. Good leadership can bring about a positive response from teachers as well as students. Many scholars have established the relationship between principal’s effective leadership and its impact on the student’s performance. The trends in educational leadership have changed. In the past the principal had an administrative role whereas these days he is more involved in improving learning of students. A principal with a good leadership style will encourage teachers to employ different techniques to make students learn rather than let students drop out thereby increasing the graduation rate. Graduation Rate in West Virginia Graduation rate is defined by â€Å"the percentage of students who graduate from high school each year with a regular high school diploma† (Gulbin, 2008. pp.84). The graduation rates are a means to measure how a school is performing. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act passed in 2002 aims at achieving 100% results in reading and mathematics on a national level by the year 2014. According to the Alliance for Excellent Education (2009), 1.3 million High school students in the US drop out of school each year. This has dire consequences on the society in the long run. High dropout rate means that lesser number of people will be qualified to do good jobs and this will reduce the number of Americans in key political as well as professional positions. It also has a lasting impact on economy as High school dropouts eventually become a burden on the society. The average income of a family headed by a dropout has decreased by one third from 1974 to 2004 (Postsecondary Education Opportunity, 2010). In the long run more people will live below poverty line if the current trends contin ue. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2010) published the Digest of education statistics: 2009 according to which the 8% of teenagers across the US were dropping out of school. The results in terms of races paint a shocking picture as about 15% of Native American Indians are either dropping out of schools or not enrolled in schools at all. The dropout rates have a correlation with family income, locality of the school, negative school climate and the leadership of the school. Graduation rate has implications on overall society as students who drop out find it harder to make a living and become a burden n the society. In West Virginia, 72% students graduated with a regular high school diploma in the year 2010-2011 as reported by Alliance for Excellent Education (Understanding High School Graduation Rates in West Virginia, n.d). The America’s Health Rankings, 2011 edition describes the high school graduation rate for the period 1990-2011 (see Figure 1). Figur e 1: West Virginia High School Graduation Rate (1990-2011) (America’s Health Rankings, 2011) As pointed out by the Institute for Educational Leadership (2000), learning is dependent upon leadership. Effective leadership in schools can bring down the dropout rates by improving the performance of students. The principal plays a mediating role between the teachers and students and has a direct as well as indirect effect on their achievements. The leadership