Effectiveness of Leadership Role in Taking Accountability Measures for School Improvement in Punjab

Abstract

There is little research on the school principal leadership role for monitoring and evaluating school performance, while Pakistan being the signatory of Sustainable Development Goals, is committed to achieving quality education. Planned changes are undergoing in the governance structures (school accountability) affecting schools in general, particularly school principals. The province of Punjab has excelled in implementing School Reform Roadmap (a whole school improvement program) and conducting a monthly assessment to monitor and evaluate Literacy and Numeracy Drive (LND), an initiative to measure 3rd graders' educational attainment. This research was conducted to review how the leadership role impacts achieving policy-mandated initiatives (LND) for schools' improvement. A case study method was opted for exploring the opinions of school principals from one district of Punjab. A self-constructed questionnaire comprising closed-ended items was used to get opinions from 194 elementary and primary school principals, while were interviewed to get detailed insight into barriers to school improvement and suggestion for better monitoring and evaluation. The case concludes that the participative leadership style is more prevalent among school principals, but the delegative style is more effective for school improvement. Most of the infrastructural facilities are now available in schools, but unfortunately, computer lab and computer teachers are not available in most primary and elementary schools, which is the necessity of LND. The results inform that student attendance is still problematic for schools, and this challenge alone can negatively affect School Sector Reform goals.