New York City Principals’ Satisfaction with the Public School Network Support at One At-Risk Network Over a Three-Year Period, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, and 2011-2012

摘要

This study investigated New York City (NYC) principals’ satisfaction with network school support provided by School Support Organizations (SSOs) in one network in the NYC public school system over a three-year period from 2009 through 2012. The SSOs or networks were created in New York City for the purpose of increasing student performance, enhancing graduation/promotion rates, and improving teacher pedagogy. This quantitative study analyzed trend data in network principals’ satisfaction ratings, as measured by the annual Principal Satisfaction Survey (PSS), within one at-risk network from the perspective of 17 principals regarding network school support in three functional areas: 1) operations, 2) instructional/professional development, and 3) student achievement. Using independent t-tests with repeated measures, the present study examined whether there were differences in principal satisfaction ratings with network school support across the three major functional areas. The independent, repeated-measures t-tests revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in principal satisfaction ratings with network support related to all of the three functional areas from one year to the next. The Excel principals reported they were consistently satisfied with the network support with regard to instructional/professional development and student achievement during the falls of 2009 and 2010, and they were consistently very satisfied with the network support with regard to operations both during the falls of 2009 and 2010. The results of this study signal to practitioners that the network structure reform supports NYC schools toward improvement in the areas mentioned.