Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
6-2025
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Program
Urban Education
Advisor
Juan Battle
Committee Members
Rosa Rivera-McCutchen
Deborah Shanley
Subject Categories
Education | Educational Administration and Supervision | Educational Leadership
Keywords
K-12 public school principals; school leadership; educational administration and supervision; African American principals
Abstract
K–12 public school principals are responsible for many daily decisions that affect their student body. Despite their importance, very little is understood about these principals’ experiences, and even less is understood about the experiences of Black principals, who represent less than 10% of all public-school principals. To fill a gap in the literature, this study used organizational management theory and intersectionality as theoretical frameworks. The study used hierarchical regression modeling to analyze the National Center for Educational Statistics’ (NCES) Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) 1999–2000 principal survey data set. The aim was to investigate the impact of various factors, such as the attitudes and behaviors of principals, principal credentials, and school characteristics, on the self-perceived influence of Black male and Black female public-school principals across the nation at the onset of the standards-based accountability era. Further, to understand whether these relationships operate differently for the principals, the analysis was conducted separately for these two groups of principals. This study found that in 1999–2000, principals’ own attitudes and behaviors had the greatest effect on the self-perceived influence of both Black male and Black female principals; however, external factors associated with their prior experiences in schools and their schools’ characteristics were found to have more of a negative impact on Black male principals’ self-perceived influence than on Black female principals at that time.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Drema, "Running Their Own Race: A Quantitative Study of the Relative Self-Perceived Influence of Black Male and Black Female Principals" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6262
