1. A STUDY OF TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP
AMONG ELEMENTARY PRINCIPALS IN A
SUBURBAN TEXAS INDEPENDENT SCHOOL
DISTRICT
Cynthia Cummings, Ed.D.
Jason Mixon, Ed.D.
Kenneth Young, Ph.D.

2. Background of the Problem
• Preparing students with the skills, knowledge and expertise they
need to function in a global society requires a school leader who is
prepared to lead technological changes in their schools
(McLeod, 2011)
• Principals must promote, demonstrate, and evaluate the integration
of teaching, learning, and technology to develop higher-level
thinking and problem-solving skills for students (TSSA, 2001).
• A technology leader must embrace technology to enhance their
professional practice and to increase their own productivity in order
to move beyond the traditional school leader's role (Bonk, 2009 &
Wagner, 2008).

3. Problem Statements
• The absence of leadership obstructed the integration
of teaching, learning, and technology.
• Most principals struggled with their role as technology
leaders due to a lack of pedagogical vision, inability to
guide teachers in effective technology uses, and limited
experiences with meaningful uses of technology in
teaching and learning.
• Principals needed technology training and knowledge
about technology standards, budgets, and plans in
order to lead effective integration of teaching, learning,
and technology in classrooms

4. Theoretical Framework
• Transformational leadership
• 2002 ISTE National Educational Technology
Standards for Administrators (NETS-A)
– Leadership and Vision
– Learning and Teaching
– Productivity and Professional Practice
– Support, Management, and Operations
– Assessment and Evaluation
– Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues

5. Research Questions
The following research questions were investigated in the
research process:
1. What are the self-reported proficiency levels of a Texas
suburban school district’s elementary school principals
in technology leadership?
2. To what degree do the Texas suburban school district’s
elementary school principals value technology
leadership?
3. Are the self-reported proficiency levels associated with
the Texas suburban district’s elementary school
principals’ training in technology leadership (i.e., the
number of graduate courses or in-service workshops)?

6. Research Questions
4.Is the degree to which principals value
technology leadership associated with their
training in technology leadership (i.e., the
number of graduate courses or in-service
workshops)?
5.What are the professional development needs
in technology leadership identified by the
Texas suburban school district’s elementary
school principals?

7. Methodology
• Inferential statistics including t-tests and one-way
ANOVA tests were used to determine if there were any
main effects among the key variables on the outcome
variable.
• A Kruskal-Wallis test, a non-parametric alternative to a
one-way between-groups analysis of variance was used
after a failed Levene Test of Homogeneity of Variances.
• In addition, for the analysis that used the ANOVA, an
omega squared (Ω2) was calculated to determine the
effect size and to compare results from the replicated
study.

8. Population
• Elementary school principals in a suburban
Texas school district

9. Instrumentation
• Educational Technology for Principal’s Survey
(Allen, 2003)
• Using a Likert scale, respondents self-reported
their proficiency level (ranging from very weak
to very strong) and level of importance
(ranging from very unimportant to very
important) of the ISTE NETS-A performance
indicators.

10. Data Collection
• IRB
• School District Permission
• Email to principals with link to Survey Monkey
• Survey Monkey

11. Data Analysis
• Descriptive statistical methods to generate the
mean, median, standard deviations, frequencies,
and percentage of respondents for each
performance indicator.
• Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), paired sample t-
tests, and Kruskal-Wallis Test were used to test
the relationships between the outcome variables
(technology leadership proficiency and degree of
value of technology leadership) and the predictor
variables of number of graduate courses or
number of in-service workshops attended.

12. Research Question 1 Findings
What are the self-reported proficiency levels of
elementary public school principals’ technology
leadership in a Texas School District?
• Productivity and Professional Practice- ranked
1st
• Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues and
Assessment and Evaluation- ranked lowest

13. Research Question 2 Findings
To what degree do the suburban Texas school
district’s elementary school principals value
technology leadership?
• Leadership and Vision – most important
• Social, Legal and Ethical Issues- least
important

14. Research Question 3 Findings
Are the self-reported proficiency levels
associated with the suburban Texas district’s
elementary school principals’ training in
technology leadership (i.e., the number of
graduate courses or in-service workshops)?
• significant difference in self-reported proficiency and
graduate technology courses
• no significant difference between in-service
workshops and self-reported proficiency

15. Research Question 4 Findings
Is the degree to which principals value technology
leadership associated with their training in technology
leadership (i.e., the number of graduate courses or in
service workshops)?
• No significant difference between graduate courses
or in-service and the value of technology

16. Research Question 5 Findings
What are the professional development needs in
technology leadership identified by the
suburban Texas school district’s elementary
school principals?
• paired-sample t-test revealed significant differences
between Importance and Actual Proficiency ratings
on all six areas of the standard, indicating a need for
further training in all six areas of the NETS-A.

17. Conclusion and Implications
• University principal preparation programs
• Professional development in educational
technology leadership
• State certification programs

18. Recommendations
• Revised ISTE NETS-A standards and
performance indicators be used to develop
the survey
• Include elementary and secondary principals
• A mixed-method design be used.
• Use demographic information such as
gender, race, and years of administrative
experience as an predictor variable

19. Contact Information
• Dr. Cynthia Cummings-
cdcummings@lamar.edu
• Dr. Jason Mixon - jason.mixon@lamar.edu
• Dr. Kenneth Young – ken.young@lamar.edu
Presentation URL
http://tinyurl.com/9pbog9j