The influence of the principals' leadership styles, attitudes, and beliefs on program diffusion

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that the principals' leadership styles, attitudes, and beliefs, and school district leadership had on the successful implementation of a new innovation in elementary schools such as the Comprehensive Competency Based Guidance (CCBG) program. This study was conducted in a small, fast growing rural district in southwestern United States during the spring of 2003. Subjects interviewed in this study were five elementary principals, three elementary counselors, one governing board member, one assistant superintendent, and one student services director. When the elementary CCBG program was first implemented in the Mountain Vista School District (MVSD) in 1991, three counselors worked part-time at each of seven schools. District leadership, not site leadership, proved to be the most important factor in the diffusion of the CCBG program. District leadership provided strong direction to principals to implement a CCBG program where counselors would work in the classroom with all students. One high school counselor took the impetus to improve the high school counseling program in 1986 and created a personal vision which grew into a district vision. District leadership in the MVSD came to share a common vision to increase the number of counselors in the district to fully implement the CCBG program. A governing board member, an assistant superintendent, and the student services director were the influential district leaders. This study confirms that successful implementation of an innovation must have the advocacy of the governing board and district administrators to successfully implement an innovation. Principals provided the site support for the implementation of the CCBG program while district leaders keep the focus on using counselors to implement the CCBG program and working to fund additional elementary counselors. Results of the interviews also revealed that an innovation champion and change agent is needed to diffuse a program and take it from the agenda setting stage of the innovation process to the routinizing stage. The student services director was the innovation champion and her work for 17 years was essential in routinizing the CCBG program.