Guidelines for Developing School Administration toward Excellence among Private School Administrators under the Nonthaburi Provincial Education Office

Abstract

The research aimed 1) to study the current and desirable states, and priority needs regarding school administration toward excellence; and 2) to study development guidelines for school administration toward excellence. A mixed-methods research design was employed, comprising two sequential phases. Phase 1 employed quantitative methods to study the current and desirable states, and priority needs for school administration toward excellence. The sample comprised 341 teachers from private schools under the Nonthaburi Provincial Education Office, selected through stratified random sampling proportionate to school size. The research instrument was a questionnaire with item-level content validity indices (IOC) ranging from 0.67 to 1.00 and an overall reliability coefficient of .94. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and the Modified Priority Needs Index (PNI_modified). Phase 2 employed qualitative methods to formulate development guidelines. Five purposively selected key informants participated, comprising three private school administrators and two university faculty members. Data were collected through interviews and analyzed using content analysis.

The findings revealed that 1) Both the current and desirable states of school administration toward excellence were rated at a high level overall. The three                  highest-ranking priority needs were, in descending order of priority: Workforce focus, followed by Operations focus, and Leadership, respectively; 2) the development guidelines corresponding to the three priority needs suggested that administrators should cultivate a psychologically safe and open working climate that empowers teachers to express their perspectives openly, engage in evidence-based dialogue, and participate collaboratively in shared goal-setting. Concurrently, organizational roles, responsibilities, and operational systems should be clearly delineated, redundant procedures streamlined, and centralized data systems leveraged to support institutional functioning. Furthermore, administrators should continuously communicate the institutional vision and policies in clear and accessible language, ensuring explicit alignment with day-to-day practice, while systematically conducting monitoring, providing instructional coaching, and engaging in collaborative performance reviews on a regular basis.