Date of Award

Spring 3-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Dr. Lynda Leavitt

Second Advisor

Dr. Chryssa Sharp

Third Advisor

Dr. Sherrie Wisdom

Abstract

In this mixed methods study, the researcher investigated whether or not Missouri school administrators were prepared to meet the creative leadership demands of the 21st century by measuring their creative capacity, creative styles, and their current creative leadership practices. A convenience sample of Missouri K-12 public school administrators and teachers completed the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults, the Creativity Styles Questionnaire – Revisited and an original Organizational Creativity Survey; two homogenous small focus groups discussed their experiences regarding creativity and creative leadership within school organizations. Whereas teachers were statistically significantly more creative than the normed adult population, administrators did not stand out from the normed adult population in this study; the weak sample size and mortality effect suggested that they may have even been less creative than the data suggested. The researcher noted administrator trends toward low risk propensity, high conformity, and a deficit of creative leadership. Findings further suggested that demographic factors and career attributes such as age, gender, school level, job level, job embeddedness, and work experience were not significantly related to creative capacity. Researchers should expand upon these findings with longitudinal mixed-methods studies of larger random samples of administrators. Teachers were a wealthy source of creative performance and leadership while school administrators tended to daily managerial tasks and the political constraints of their positions. The researcher recommends that schools further investigate the creative leadership potential of teacher leaders.

Rights

Copyright 2015

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