The primary purpose of this collective case study was to respond to the question: What are the leadership understandings that can be generated to assist the work of (a) administrators in public school alternative settings and (b) those charged with the pre-training, hiring, support, evaluation and governance of such leaders? Sub topics included: implications for policy and governance; the particular traits, abilities and characteristics that were perceived to be key for public school alternative leaders; and implications regarding best leadership practices for such settings. Possible relationships to the 15 composite factors in the BarOn EQ-i were posited and its use for training and mentorship purposes discussed.

A clear consensus emerged that leadership for alternative settings at all levels of governance went above and beyond what was required in regular schools settings and could not be understood as identical to leadership in and for typical public schools. School choice inevitably represented change, and thus there was a need for explicit and dedicated planning, policies and practices. Principals in such settings needed to be personally supportive of choice, aligned with the specific program mandate, and aware of the impact on children’s achievement and engagement in learning. The ability to 1) build culture, community and relationships; 2) create shared vision; 3) work as change agent and champion; 4) be entrepreneurial and 5) communicate skillfully emerged from the findings as key principal issues.

Of the 29 principal traits, abilities and characteristics that emerged from the findings of this study, ten aligned directly with specific descriptors of EQ-i factors. Most commonly identified were factors from the Inter-personal scale, followed by factors within Adaptability. Commonly, respondents in this study reported that any or all of the factors from the EQ-i were important for any good leader, and even more important for leaders in alternative public school settings. Overall, it seemed that other factors being equal, a principal with generally strong emotional intelligence and strong inter-personal skills would have a higher probability of success in public school alternative settings.