ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION
Becoming a High School Principal in a Context of Externally Mandated Reform: An Examination of Educational Leadership at the Begirming of the 21st Century
by
Cheryl Lynn Peil
Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Education University of California, Riverside, Jime 2004 Dr. Flora Ida Ortiz, Chairperson
A qualitative case study analysis was conducted in order to examine the process of
professional role formation, within a context of externally mandated reform, at a
California comprehensive high school. The focal person is Ms. Annabelle Adams,
appointed Principal of Lakeview High School (LHS) in August 1999. The research time
frame was four academic years (1999-2000 through 2002-2003). California’s Public
School Accountability Act (PSAA) defined the outer boundary of the contextual terrain
within which the study was nested. The effects of PSAA quickly led to the search for a
new high school principal. The formal processes of principal search and appointment
resulted in the selection of a candidate with a non-traditional eareer background. As
California’s implementation of PSAA rapidly expanded and created a local crisis, Ms.
Adams immediately leveraged the demands of PSAA into a platform of legitimacy and
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thereby established herself as the principal of Lakeview High School. Her personal
variables, led to significant organizational changes as she demonstrated her educational
leadership toward the valued ends of schooling, which are; School improvement,
democratic community, and social justice.