Transformational Leadership

However, among the overrepresented minorities are non-Hispanic White populations accounting for nearly 71% in STEM jobs and 15% of STEM Asian workers (George et al., 2001; Landivar, 2013, pp. 13-14; Mwenda, 2010, p. 5). As regards underrepresented females in STEM, they refer to “African American, Hispanic, and Native American women because they are represented in STEM occupations and in academia at lower percentages than the entire population” (Towns, 2010, p. 6). Without demographic diversity, equal access to career options in STEM suffers from a lack of diverse perspectives due its impact on global competitiveness in the U. S. and problem solving capacities within communities (Metcalf, 2010, p. 4; Mwenda, 2010, p. 1). The major disparities

According to Balyer (2012), this leadership style posits seven dimensions in schools: “building school vision and establishing school goals, providing intellectual stimulation, providing individualized support, modeling best practices and organizational values, setting high academic standard expectations, creating a productive school culture and fostering participation in decisions”
(p. 582). Cemaloğlu et al. (2012) analyzed transformational leadership in four different dimensions. Idealized influence indicates leaders’ defining schools’ vision and mission by incorporating the teachers into the school process. Inspirational motivation as another dimension explains leaders’ creating team spirit with an aim to reach organizational objectives and to increase the performance. Intellectual stimulation presents leaders’ support of the teachers to be creative and innovative. The fourth dimension is known as individualized consideration as it centers on creating a supportive environment where the teachers’ thoughts are valued (p.

582; Cemaloğlu et al., 2012, p. 54). Transformational leadership behaviors have both direct and indirect effects on teachers’ behavior, psychological states, and organizational performance (Balyer, 2012, p. 582). Such leaders motivate teachers to empower themselves to produce unexpected performance in terms of STEM curriculum. Also, they sharpen teachers’ skills and augment their knowledge from their own experiences (Asgari et al., 2008, p. 228; Balyer, 2012, p. 582; Seyal, 2015, p. 34). Also, transformational leadership builds genuine trust between school leaders and teachers since principals respect the teachers and deal with the difficulties they encounter. In turn teachers trust the principals and provide them with autonomy to increase their performance and efficacy (Asgari et al., 2008, p. 235; Balyer, 2012, p. 587; Cemaloğlu et al., 2012, p. 54). Such an approach explains that school administrators can become exceptional leaders who also qualify as moral leaders (Balyer, 2012, p. 582; Pless & Maak, 2011, p. 8). To add, charisma, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation serve as the main components of leaders addressing underrepresentation in STEM (Seyal, 2015, p.