This dissertation is a qualitative case study on the impact of elections and other alternative selection procedures of secondary school administrators on the school culture in the Brazilian city of Vitoria. The research focused on three urban public secondary schools and the interaction between school principals, students, teachers, parents, and staff development personnel. Much of the recent literature in the United States involving studies of effective schools has dealt with the role of the instructional leader in schoolimprovement. However, the paucity of literature on the role of Brazilian school administrators motivated this study.
Comparison is made between Vitoria, Brazil and Chicago, Illinois, where in some neighborhoods conditions approximate those in developing nations. Attention is focused on the school leader's role in a nation undergoing rapid economic, political, and social change. Conceptual and theoretical significance of the study lies in the fact that it is based on qualitative methodology, and was conducted using inductive, naturalistic techniques. The study attends to the need for theory generation and conceptual definitions as essential precursors to quantitative research designed to test hypotheses.
This study examined early attempts to establish school-based management in Brazil and the influence of such reforms on the larger school communities. The study concluded that these attempts took on different forms and have met with limited success. Furthermore, the author concluded that the cultural and economic dimension of Brazilian public school site administration promise to become more critical to the future evolution of reforms in educational governance.
Some of the study's practical value and application includes, but is not limited to the following: (1) Implications and suggestions for the pre-service training and in-service training of principals in urban settings in both developed and developing countries. (2) A better understanding of the difficulties involved in changing leadership behaviors and identifying standards by which such changes can be measured. (3) An essential awareness of leadership characteristics which will provide knowledge to improve principals' professional development and enhance the professionalization of school-site administrators in developing countries.