The Vannsimpco Leadership Survey: The School Culture Triage Survey

A review of the literature will show that managers practice a variety of leadership styles. Most scholars focus on delineating between transformational, transactional, democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire leadership. “While not abundantly clear in the literature, logic suggests that some managers may embrace a blend of leadership styles” (Vann et al., 2014, p. 32). As an example, a school principal may practice more of an autocratic leadership style in one situation and more of a democratic leadership style in another situation. Thus, “real-world leadership application employs a hybridization of the various forms of leadership” (Vann et al., 2014, p. 33). Therefore, it will be important to evaluate and analyze leaders and leadership practices using leadership style

Therefore, this study will utilize the Vannsimpco Leadership Survey (VLS). The Vannsimpco Leadership Survey is a 27 question, self-administered leadership assessment instrument. It “combines various leadership traits into multiple categories. It assumes that most leaders cannot be described in monolithic terms of transformational, transactional, democratic, autocratic, or laissez-faire. Rather, leaders employ a hybrid of various styles based on their contextual situation” (Vann et al., 2014, p. 30). The School Culture Triage Survey will be utilized to evaluate school culture. The School Culture Triage Survey is a commonly used school climate and culture evaluation tool. It contains 17 Likert scale questions divided into the following three categories: Professional Collaboration (do teachers work together to solve professional issues), Afilliative Collegiality (do people enjoy working together, support one another and feel valued and included), and Self-determination/Efficacy (are people in the school because they want to be). The School Culture Triage Survey is scored in the following