EffEctivE principals skillfully balancE lEadErship stylEs to facilitatE studEnt succEss: a focus for thE rEauthorization of EsEa

The focus of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on accountability created a high stakes educational environment. Although accountability is an important goal, guidance on how schools go about building the capacity to effectively accomplish the goals set in NCLB was not part of the legislation. This article supports the premise that a skillful balance of transformational and transactional leadership styles is needed to meet the expectations for accountability. An exhaustive review and analysis of literature on leadership and leadership styles, particularly focusing on transformational and transactional leadership, was conducted and incorporated into this paper. Research supports both leadership styles; however, transformational and transactional leadership focus on different aspects of the school setting. According to Burns (1978), transformational leadership targets change while transactional leadership targets management functions. Both of these are important to establishing and maintaining an environment conducive to learning. With the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act under President Obama’s administration, the opportunity is upon us to provide principals with the training needed to move schools forward to meet current expectations. The current spotlight on accountability has no doubt changed the focus of education in the United States. Goals of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, enacted in 2002 during the George H. W. Bush administration, were to close the gap that existed between the highand low-achieving students in this nation and to insure that all students met academic proficiency levels. The basic concepts of this legislation—accountability for results, research-based education programs, increased parental options, and expanded local control and flexibility—are fundamental to the improvement of the educational system (U.S. Department of Education, n.d.). However, Popham (2001) posits that mandates targeting accountability in NCLB, which base school performance on student test results, have created paradoxical expectations. Kohn (2004) asserts that instead of improving the education of children, the threat of corrective actions on school districts for poor test results, coupled with increased public scrutiny, have created a high-stakes educational environment. In this environment, principals are faced with the challenge of how best to meet the expectations set forth by NCLB while also maintaining high expectations for quality teaching and individual student learning. Kaye Pepper Planning and Changing Vol. 41, No. 1/2, 2010, pp. 42–56