The session will present the findings from new case studies from the countries that have recently joined the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). The case studies focus on defining what is success in each country and identify the characteristics, processes and impact of successful school principalship on the school community. The countries represented in the symposium are USA, Portugal, Kenya and Puerto Rico. The cases studies have been conducted over the past year and build on earlier research findings from the ISSPP.

The ISSPP is a large and important project which over the past ten years has produced more than 100 multi-perspective case studies across sixteen countries, an international principal leadership survey distributed in seven countries, and yearly symposiums presentations at numerous international conferences and numerous individual papers. The project was originally formed in 2001 as an eight country (four European) international study of successful school principals. Currently there are now 16 countries involved in the project.

The presenters in this symposium will each present their findings. The chair of the  symposium will outline how these new findings fit into the previous research findings in the project and how they contributes to our understanding of successful school principalship from an international perspective.

Methodology

The symposium will add new international perspectives in successful school principalship in four countries by contributing to the body of knowledge accumulated in the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP).

The case studies are based on an agreed protocol that uses a qualitative case study methodology using multi perspective interviews, observation and document search. Data were collected at each school using multiple sources including documents illustrating school achievements and student attainment, and interviews with a variety of people typically including the principal, school board members (where appropriate), assistant principal, heads of departments, teachers, parents and students. The focus of the interviews was the exploration of perceptions of the success of the school, and particularly the principal’s contribution to the success.

Outcomes

The symposium will identify the characteristics, processes and effects of successful school principalship in four countries. The findings will add the body of knowlwedge that has accumulated through the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). Many European countries have been involved in the project and comparisons with other countries provides an international perspective.

 How the new findings fit into the earlier findings

The results from the research of case studies of the previous research in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, Canada, the United States, Australia and Hong Kong from research conducted from 2002 has been published in Journal of Educational Administration Vol. 43 No 6, 2005. Research findings from four new countries Cyprus, Israel, New Zealand and USA (Texas), were be published in Leadership and Policy in Schools, Special Issue on Successful School Leadership 10(4) 2011. Publication of these current new case studies are expected to be published 2013.