Abstract

Nine middle level schools in Minnesota and their 277 teachers participated in this study of ethical leadership and school culture. Ethical leadership and strong organizational culture are characteristics of successful business organizations. High expectations for student achievement, a clear sense of mission and the leadership of the principal have been consistently associated by effective schools research with student achievement. This combined quantitative and qualitative study, done on a school level of analysis, reduced the threat to validity due to subject response tendencies by having one half of each faculty, randomly assigned, complete the Leadership Practices Inventory , Expectations for High School Completion and the Teacher Efficacy Scale. The other half completed the Integrity Audit, Version 2. The principals were interviewed with the Ethical Leadership/Followership Research Interview protocol. The findings in this study supported the following conclusions: the instruments used in this study were valid for use in public middle schools; within a school, the teachers' expectations for the high school completion of their students, the SES of the parents, and the attendance rate of the students are related to teachers' efficacy beliefs; the principal's ethical leadership philosophy is strongly related to the principal's leadership practices; ethical leadership, defined as transformational leadership, can be defined and identified; and the principal's leadership practices are strongly related to the school's ethical climate