Collaborative school leadership and its impact on student achievement

¶ … School leadership is a critical component in overall school performance. The study by Marks and Printy (2003) examines the potential in collaboration between principals and teachers in making leadership decisions. The study examines the school leadership from the perspectives of two different models: transformational leadership and shared instructional leadership. In the transformational leadership model intellectual direction is given, but teachers are empowered and supported in decision making. In shared instructional leadership the principals and teachers share responsibility for various elements of education. The principal seeks the guidance of teachers when forming policies within the school. However in this model the principal remains the overall leader of the collaboration.

Critique

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to measure the impact on school performance of collaboration by teachers and principals in school leadership.

Literature Review

The literature review predominantly focuses on the formation of the two different models which are to be used in the study. The majority of the literature is quite old, although this may have been necessary in order to trace the original structures of the models used, with information taken from the original sources of the theorists who designed the models. The models are thoroughly explained and analyzed, with justification given for the choice of these two particular models for the study. The original model of 'instructional leadership' has been adapted for the study, using 'shared instructional leadership' although there is a full definition and justification given.

Methods

The study examined performance at grade 8 level in 24 schools across the U.S. The only criteria for inclusion were that the school had made substantial progress in reform efforts, although the study does not elaborate on their definition of 'substantial efforts'. A total of 910 teachers across the samples returned surveys which gathered information relating to teaching practice and perceptions of the school and its development. Researchers also spent a week on site at the school to perform observational analysis, including observation of decisional and managerial meetings. The researchers also evaluated instructional techniques of 144 teachers across the schools and standards of assessment. This would ensure that the study gained a true overall picture rather than relying on self-reporting, which may give inaccurate data.

The dependent measures were pedagogical quality, scores based on assessment quality and academic achievement. The independent measures were leadership, school demographics and control variables. To convert leadership to a measurable variable a framework was given which was constructed from the results of the teacher surveys and observation of the principal and managerial meetings. These outcome measures were suitable for the purpose of the study.

Reflection

The implications for practice from the study apply to every school in the country. The study concluded that there must be a co-existence of the two leadership styles if there is to be a significant rise in school achievement. This shows that it is important for the school to ensure that there is not only one style of leadership used, but that the principal and teachers work collaboratively together using a combination of the two styles.