Assessing School Leader Effectiveness

Despite years of criticism aimed at university-based principal preparation programs, most of these programs continue to be judged less than successful in producing effective school leaders. Furthermore, there is also little rigorous and systemic research about principal preparation in general; there is even less work focused on understanding how preparation programs might assist emerging school leaders in developing the sorts of intellectual capacities needed to be successful in an era when principals are expected to be instructional leaders and work with teachers to improve student achievement. Consequently, little is known about how principal preparation programs can help individuals (a) incorporate theory on leadership and instruction into their own belief systems and (b) link these belief systems to their on-the-job behavior. This study examined how one innovative program, resulting from a university/school district collaboration, impacted the belief systems of the aspiring principals who participated in the program. The study also examined how participants' espoused beliefs aligned with their on-the-job activity and which program components appeared to have the greatest impact on participants whose beliefs were altered in significant ways. Interviewing, participant observation and document analysis techniques were used to explore the above issues. The findings suggest that: (a) principal preparation programs can impact participants' beliefs in rather dramatic ways; (b) participants' on-the-job behaviors frequently were consistent with the beliefs they espoused; (c) certain contextual factors—most notably the role-related constraints experienced by those program participants who became vice principals rather than principals—kept some participants from acting in ways that are consistent with both their espoused beliefs and the theory of action promoted by the program that prepared them to be school administrators; and (d) the problem-based learning strategy appeared to have the greatest impact on participants whose beliefs had changed in significant ways and whose on-the-job actions were consistent with their newly developed belief systems.

Critics complain that the educational leadership researchers have not produced evidence that demonstrates that principal preparation programs affect student achievement. This study addressed this complaint by focusing on the impact of one exemplary program on graduates and the schools they led. The preponderance-of-evidence strategy used in this qualitatively driven mixed-methods study uncovered apparent linkages between student achievement, principal behavior, and the principals’ preparation program. One finding suggested that the program’s cohort design produced lagged-socialization effects after the actual program ended. The study also demonstrated that, because of inevitable selection effects, answering impact questions is much more difficult than critics assume.

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study is to explore how the characteristics of the principal preparation programs of newly hired elementary school principals might influence school achievement through the development of well-qualified teams of teachers by the school. Of primary interest is whether elementary school principals from preparation programs with certain types of characteristics are more or less likely to build teams of well-qualified teachers who, in turn, positively affect overall student achievement. A secondary purpose is to establish a relationship between the overall school-level qualifications of teams of teachers and school-level student achievement on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) to underscore the importance of the first relationship. Research Design: This quantitative study utilizes ordinary least squares regression to analyze seven extracts of data from the Texas Education Agency, merged together to create a data set that matched teachers, principals, school characteristics, and student achievement to individual schools. First, the authors establish the relationship between school-level teacher-team quality and school-level student outcomes on the TAKS. Second, they examine the relationship between principal preparation program characteristics and the measures of teacher-team quality after controlling for principal characteristics, school characteristics, and student achievement. Furthermore, because the authors hypothesize that principals cannot quickly alter the quality of teams of teachers in schools, they examine school achievement and teacher-team quality over four years.

School leaders can facilitate the development of students’ educational competence to face challenges. Farr (2011) asserted that when school leadership is strategically examined, factors such as classroom management; school environment (i.e., internal and external to the school); and academic performance emerge. School leadership practices (i.e., those of principals and teachers) can change the academic trajectory of a school. Danielson (2010) emphasized that change itself comes from the collective efforts of teachers, schools, and communities. The school is an organization of learning and knowledge development within the community. School performance centers on academic achievement, and teachers are the core component of such achievement. School leadership assists in managing and shaping the flow of cultural information to support students’ academic progress. Good leadership may help children learn by encouraging them and boosting teacher participation and coordination. The study examines how school leadership approaches affect classroom management, school climate, and student achievement. The key results of this study will help principals/School Heads and teachers to develop and improve leadership skills and practices. A proposed training program was also crafted to help principals/administrators and teachers to enhance the classroom management, school environment, and academic performance of the students. In an era of higher standards and greater accountability, it is critical that schools have leaders who are prepared to do everything necessary to improve teaching and learning. Done right, principal preparation programs can help states put a quality principal in every school who knows how to lead changes in school and classroom practices that result in higher student achievement.

In the current era of accountability for achievement, school principals play the pivotal role of instructional leader. In a high-stakes testing environment, leadership preparation programs in universities and school districts need to be positively related to academic outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school leadership preparation programs and student achievement in urban settings. Because leadership is contingent on the setting, school contextual factors and their impact on student achievement framed this study. Regression techniques were employed to construct a conceptual model with predictors of criterion and norm-referenced student achievement scores. Confirming previous research findings, student poverty, teacher experience, and previous achievement were the strongest predictors and accounted for a significant amount of variance in student achievement; however, university and district preparation programs were not significant predictors. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed.

ABSTRACTPolicy makers increasingly acknowledge that problems and challenges arising at the school level should be resolved on site. At the same time, the political expectation to delegate more responsibility to the individual school is rather heavily contrasted with the weak knowledge about how this new public management approach can be translated into successful leadership practices. Thus, considering that there is a close relationship between context and leadership, principal preparation programmes should be guided by a deeper examination of contextual factors. Against this background, we aim to critically examine existing views of practitioners and researchers on the challenge of establishing more context-sensitive school leadership preparation programmes in an era of New Public Management in Education. In doing so, we introduce the Swedish Model of principal preparation as an example for a more context-sensitive leadership preparation program. To that end, we argue that a differentiated perspective about contextual conditions and their role as facilitators or obstacles to effective leadership must be further explored. Moreover, school leaders should be encouraged to consider the relevance of such approaches to their own needs.

Inadequate sleep impairs cognitive function and has been associated with worse academic achievement in higher education students; however, studies that control for relevant background factors and include knowledge on sleep hygiene are scarce. This study examined the association of chronic sleep reduction (i.e. symptoms of chronic sleep reduction such as shortness of sleep, sleepiness and irritation), subjective sleep quality and sleep hygiene knowledge with academic achievement (grades and study credits) and study concentration among 1378 higher education students (71% female, mean age 21.73years, SD=3.22) in the Netherlands. Demographic, health, lifestyle and study behaviour characteristics were included as covariates in hierarchical regression analyses. After controlling for significant covariates, only chronic sleep reduction remained a significant predictor of lower grades (last exam, average in current academic year). Better sleep quality and sleep hygiene knowledge were associated with better academic achievement, but significance was lost after controlling for covariates, except for a remaining positive association between sleep hygiene beliefs and grades in the current academic year. Moreover, better sleep quality and lower scores on chronic sleep reduction were associated with better study concentration after controlling for significant covariates. To conclude, chronic sleep reduction is associated with academic achievement and study concentration in higher education students. Inadequate sleep hygiene knowledge is moderately associated with worse academic achievement. Future research should investigate whether sleep hygiene interventions improve academic achievement in students of higher education.

The rise in tuition fees has become a prominent issue in Indonesian education, especially as of 2024. It is still a concern whether the increase in UKT has a relationship with student achievement. This study aimed to determine the differences in student academic achievement based on the single tuition fee (UKT) category and the impact of UKT on student academic achievement. The sample in the study comprised 3643 samples of data on single tuition fees and student cumulative grade point averages from 2021 to 2023. Employing one sample test, ANOVA test, and linear regression analysis, the results showed that students across all UKT categories, from UKT 1 to UKT 6, surpassed the quality target standard GPA of 3.60 at UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta. Second, the average GPA varied significantly across each category, indicating differing academic achievements among the UKT categories. Third, the UKT categories ranked from the highest to lowest score value are UKT Category 6, UKT Category 2, UKT Category 3, UKT Category 1, UKT Category 4, and UKT Category 5. Fourth, the study reveals that UKT does not impact the academic performance of students at UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta, suggesting that other external factors not included in the study variables influence student academic achievement. Thus, increasing or decreasing UKT does not affect students’ academic achievement; instead, other external factors play a significant role in this.

Purpose: Concerns about variation in the quality of preservice preparation provided by many university-based principal preparation programs (PPPs) has led to calls to use outcomes of program graduates to hold PPPs accountable. Little research, however, has assessed the degree to which different outcomes for PPP graduates in fact vary systematically by program. Research Methods: Using administrative data from Tennessee, we link approximately a decade’s worth of PPP graduates to their schools, licensure examination scores, and multiple measures of job performance in their first 3 years as principals, including supervisors’ practice ratings on the state evaluation system, teacher and assistant principal ratings of school leadership on a statewide survey, and measures of student achievement growth. We use which PPP a principal completed to predict these outcomes using a regression approach with different sets of covariates. Findings: Although we are able to associate PPPs with high and low principal performance, we find that programs’ rankings vary by outcome measure, and we are unable to identify PPPs that perform consistently well or poorly across outcomes. Moreover, we find that Tennessee PPPs vary substantially in the characteristics of the schools into which their principals are hired and that taking these characteristics into account is important in ordering PPPs based on outcomes. In addition, even over a fairly long time frame, some programs produce too few graduates who later become school leaders to allow for reliable estimates. Implications: Although the use of graduates’ outcomes to differentiate PPPs holds promise, the methodological challenges to drawing valid and reliable conclusions about PPPs from graduates’ job outcomes are substantial. Policymakers and researchers may arrive at very different assessments of which PPPs are successful depending on which outcomes are chosen and what modeling approaches are employed.

Education is one of the important transformation and effective input for nation building. One of the main purpose of the Education is to develop the students through providing proper conditions for them so to reach the highest levels of Academic Achievement .The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of Self-concept and Problem Solving Ability on Academic Achievement of Higher Secondary School Students. The objective of the study was to study the effect of Self- Concept, Problem Solving Ability and their interaction on Academic Achievement of students. Hypothesis was ”There is no significant effect of Self-Concept, Problem Solving Ability and their interaction on Academic Achievement of students”. The students of class XI and XII standard studying in higher secondary schools of Indore District constitute the population of the study. The sample consists of 104 students of Class XI and standard from 2 different C.B.S.E. higher secondary schools of Indore District. The Self-Concept Rating Scale developed by R. Saraswat and The Problem Solving Ability Test (PSAT) developed by L. N. Dubey were used as a tool for data collection for the study. The marks obtained in the previous examination were considered as academic achievement of the selected students. Data was analyzed with the help of TWO WAY ANOVA. The finding of the study reveals that the Academic Achievement of Higher Secondary School Students was not effected with the interaction of Self-Concept and Problem Solving Ability of male and female students. The researcher found that students with high Problem Solving Ability were found to be superior to students with low Problem Solving Ability. The Academic Achievement of students with high and low Self-Concept to be on the same extent. The Academic Achievement of Higher Secondary School Students was not effected with the interaction of Self-Concept.

The education sector, in general, faces challenges that suffer quite a lot in terms of quality of education services, curriculum, teacher motivation, and government role that influences school performance and student achievement. One important factor that influences school performance is how teachers get incentives, which makes them motivated and satisfied with their jobs and organization. Performance-based incentives for teachers have considerably attracted attention as a policy tool to improve student outcomes. Education departments intend to allocate large amounts of money as incentives for the teachers based on their performance. This paper evaluates the influence of teacher incentives on student achievement in public secondary schools. Specifically, the study examines the influence of monetary incentives for teachers on student academic achievement in public secondary schools. In addition, it establishes the effect of tangible non-monetary incentives for teachers on student academic achievement in public secondary schools. Moreover, it investigates the influence of intangible non-monetary incentives for teachers on student academic achievement in public secondary schools. The study will revise past literature related to this research topic to obtain all information necessary for the research. The researcher will gather findings and results obtained by the former authors, which are related to the main purpose and objectives of the study. Based on the literature reviewed by the researcher, the study expects that individual incentives will have more effect on the student’s achievements. Literature also shows that merit pay systems have very little influence on student achievement. Lastly, the teacher’s monetary incentives are a function of students’ achievements in their final year of high school.

While principals play critical roles in mediating inequitable teaching and learning conditions in their schools, scholars have long argued that some remain unprepared for this responsibility. However, these arguments are often supported by qualitative studies of school leaders, years after their pre-service preparation. Using survey data on two cohorts of Master of School Administration (MSA) graduates, also pre-service principals, across North Carolina, this study analyzes their perceptions about their preparedness to engage in equity-oriented leadership. The study leverages the new Principal Fellows policy in North Carolina, a competitive grant program that awards state funds to principal preparation programs demonstrating exemplary principal program features and a focus on preparing school leaders for equity, as the basis of its evaluation. Overall, MSA graduates reported being very well prepared to enact equity-oriented leadership practices, though this preparedness was significantly higher for graduates across Principal Fellows preparation programs. The main finding from this study is that principal preparation program quality is the most significant predictor of graduates’ preparedness to engage in equity-oriented leadership. The findings from this study offer implications for principal preparation programs, policy, and future research.

This study aims to conduct a meta-analysis of previous research studies to identify the effect of hybrid learning on student academic success and achievement. Data was collected using secondary sources from previous research studies. Fifty research findings were analyzed from 55 quantitative studies published between 2015 and 2021. The sample of relevant research studies was selected from a database of peer-reviewed and scholarly articles and examined using Meta-analysis. Variables such as discipline, education level, and publication type were used as the mediating variables. The results obtained in the random effect model show an indicative effect of hybrid learning on student academic success and achievement. The study found that hybrid learning significantly impacted student academic success and achievement, with sciences indicating the most significant effect size on student achievement. The analysis of the current research is based on previous studies and was limited to fifty articles published between 2015 and 2021. The research findings will inform the MoE within the UAE on the role of hybrid learning on student academic achievement and the future direction of hybrid learning.

The role of the administrator has evolved over the past 30 years from manager to instructional leader. As instructional leaders, administrators are now responsible for student achievement on high-stakes state-mandated assessments. Therefore, it is imperative principal preparation programs provide the necessary training instructional leaders need to analyze and interpret assessment data and make informed decisions toward school improvement. This descriptive study analyzes four syllabi components to determine the extent to which testing and measurement are covered in each course: objectives, classroom sessions, resources, and activities. Based on responses from 30 universities across the United States, less than 30% of principal preparation programs are preparing candidates to be data-driven decision-makers. The most frequently adopted textbooks provided practical applications, and respondents used a wide variety of activities that provided relevant data-driven experiences; however, less than 50% of respondents spent at least 19 hours on testing and measurement in a 45-hour semester. The researchers make recommendations principal preparation programs may include to increase data-driven decision-making experiences. Keywords: principal preparation, data-driven decisions, assessment, school leaders

<p>The problem of studying the factors influencing students’ academic achievement does not lose its relevance in modern psychological and pedagogical science. Such interest arises due to current development of ideas about education as a way of developing human capital, increasing well-being and quality of life of people in modern society. The academic achievement of schoolchildren is largely determined by non-cognitive factors, including personality characteristics, motivational indicators and the development of self-regulation. The present work aims to analyze the relationships between non-cognitive predictors of academic achievement of middle and high school students using the network modeling method. Primary data was obtained using the following methods: V.I. Morosanova’s “The Self-Regulation Profile of Learning Activity Questionnaire (SRPLAQ)”, “Academic Motivation Scale - School (AMS-S)”, “Attitude towards learning in middle and high school”, “Big Five Questionnaire — Children version, BFQ-C”. The average score in Russian language and mathematics was used as an indicator of academic achievement. The sample consisted of 307 secondary school students (37.1% boys, age: 10-18 years). The statistical analysis included calculation of descriptive statistics for 28 indicators, and analyses of partial correlation networks, describing the relationships between regulatory and personality variables, as well as the academic achievement of students in grades 5-6, 7-9 and 10-11. The results revealed significant relationships between variables regardless of the period of education, and differences in the structure of partial correlation networks in grades 5-6, 7-8 and 9-11. It was found that the nature of the relationships between non-cognitive predictors and academic achievement varies depending on the period of study. The result showed that the achievement of students in grades 5-6 is significantly and directly correlated to the indicator of openness to new experience, while in grades 7-9 a direct correlation is also found with the general level of attitude towards learning, and in grades 10-11 - with cognitive motivation, neuroticism and conscious self-regulation. The results confirm the known relationships, and also reveal new ones that were not previously discovered in existing research: for example, a negative relationship between academic performance and cognitive motivation. The article concludes with directions for further research of moderator-mediator interactions between non-cognitive variables in their impact on students’ academic achievement.</p>