Perceived Impact of Democratic Leadership Style of Principals on Students’ Academic Achievement

Abstract

This study investigated how principals’ democratic leadership style impacted on students’ academic achievement. The study was guided by three research questions and one null hypothesis. The design of the study was correlational research design. A total of 6,900 students formed the population for the study. Similarly, a total of 345 SSII students representing 10% of the population was the sample for the study. The students’ academic achievement was determined using their third term English Language results as collected from the sample schools while “Democratic Leadership Style Questionnaire” (DLSQ), developed by the researcher was used in collecting data on the principals’ democratic leadership style. DLSQ was duly validated by three experts. Its reliability was also established. The Cronbach alpha was used and reliability coefficient of 0.81 was obtained. The researcher used on-the-spot approach to collect data for the study. The data were analyzed using range of scores and Pearson’s Product Moment. Findings indicate that Principals’ democratic leadership style has significant impact on students’ achievements scores