Abstract

In this era of accountability, success as an educator is attainable with the combination of specific leadership skills (knowledge and abilities), leadership styles (behaviors), and personality traits (temperament and character). This study investigated leadership style and personality type differences between principals in high-achieving and low-achieving high-poverty urban secondary-level schools in the state of Florida. The Bolman and Deal Leadership Style Orientation Survey and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter were used for collecting information on leadership style (LS) and personality type (PT). Forty-nine administrators from different school districts statewide participated in the study. Independent samples t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to examine the extent of differences between the LS and PT of school administrators in high-achieving, high-poverty (HAHP) and low-achieving, high poverty (LAHP) school settings. Statistically significant leadership style differences were found between administrators in HAHP and LAHP schools. No significant personality trait differences were found between administrators in HAHP and LAHP school settings, although personality type differences were revealed.