This mixed-methods study examined the self-perceived leadership orientation of principals serving Alliance school districts within the state of Connecticut. The Connecticut State Department of Education has classified the 30 lowest performing districts as Alliance school districts. This study expanded the existing body of knowledge pertaining to the Bolman and Deal (2003) multiframe explanation of organizational leaders by applying various leadership frames to identify and effectively respond to organizational situations and by including Alliance school principals in the sample population. The data analysis confirmed that Alliance principals use all four of the Bolman and Deal leadership frames in their decision-making process (i.e., structural, human resource, political, and symbolic). The analysis also found that principals apply reframing as a decision-making strategy as situations evolve. Effective leaders apply one or more of the four leadership frames to determine the best course of action. The 15 interviews conducted for this study revealed that all of the participating principals had experienced the need to make decisions during crisis events such as school evacuations and lockdowns, as well as medical emergencies, and they applied the reframing process. The data also revealed that, contrary to their personal descriptions of themselves, the participating principals are political leaders. Through their descriptions of the manner in which they changed the cultures of their schools or advocated for their schools at the district and community levels, they demonstrated a high level of political acumen. The complexities of the principalship were clearly evident in the data collected for this study. The principals managed challenging crisis situations, during which the school community relied upon them for leadership. Every principal will be called upon to manage a crisis event at some point during his or her career. This study not only confirmed this certainty, but provides recommendations for both aspiring and current administrators as they seek to effectively support all stakeholders through such challenging, and often traumatic, events.

The purpose of this study is to identify the degree of congruence between each director's self-perception of his/her use of the four leadership frames (as measured by the Bolman and Deal Orientations (Self) survey instrument) and the perceptions of the teachers of his/her division regarding the use of those frames (as measured by the Bolman and Deal's Orientations Survey Instrument). The study was done in a Lebanese private school where the self-perceptions of three division directors will be compared respectively to a random sample of twenty teachers from each division. The study also seeked to show whether each of the three directors use one or more frame(s) as he/she interprets events and attempts to understand the situation at hand.--Data analysis of this study was essentially developed from questionnaire analysis, interviews and direct quotations of principals. On the Leadership Orientations (Other and Self), self-perception responses as well as teachers' responses were coded numerically and statistically analyzed through the use of a five point Likert scale.