This qualitative study explored possible connections between school principals' leadership styles and behaviors and closing the student achievement gap at three schools serving high poverty student populations. Two of the three schools were high schools designated as Priority Schools in 2012 as a result of student achievement that ranked in the bottom 5% of all Michigan schools. The two schools managed to exit the Priority designation in 2017 after implementing school culture and instruction reforms that improved student achievement. The third school was a K-8, which was not designated as a Priority School. It had the same student demographics as the Priority Schools, and it is located in the same district as one of them. It was added to the study to reinforce the data. The researcher conducted 17 interviews. A bottom-up inductive coding approach was adopted for the qualitative data analysis. The researcher assigned emerging themes specific and meaningful codes relevant to the topic and purpose of the study. Based on the data from the three schools, a possible connection between school leadership and closing the student achievement gap was found. The three principals adopted practices and behaviors relevant to multiple leadership styles. They did not limit themselves to only one leadership style or a set of behaviors. The two Priority School principals had to undo the negative impact of the former toxic culture. The three principals instituted a positive school culture based on trust, respect, collaboration, and accountability. They indirectly impacted student achievement by improving the schools' culture and climate and enhancing the curriculum, instruction, assessment, and data-driven interventions. They worked with all the stakeholders to align and streamline all the efforts and programs into well-coordinated plans and established common language and practices regarding teaching and learning. They involved all the teachers in the decision making about teaching and learning.

Principals who understand and nurture positive school culture often experience academic and career success. This dissertation focuses on leadership styles and their relationship to school culture in a small rural school district in Southeast Missouri. The study answers the following questions : 1. What are the critical functions of effective leaders as perceived by both teachers and leaders? 2. As perceived by leaders and teachers, what impact does the leader have on the culture of the school? There is a great deal of literature regarding leaders and school culture in large school districts. This study fills in the gaps in literature regarding leadership and culture in small, rural school districts. This study focused on a small rural school district in Southeast Missouri. The district has a K-12 enrollment of 330 students. There are 18 teachers and one building principal in the elementary school. The junior high and high school share 19 teachers. Data for this qualitative case study was collected using semi-structured interviews. Four teachers from each building were interviewed. The building principals from both buildings were also interviewed. The results of this study show that there is a significant relationship between the leadership style of the principals and the culture of each building. The findings indicate that the elementary principal is primarily an authentic leader. According to the data, her authenticity has led to a positive school culture. The staff also stated that the personal relationships sometimes interfere with student discipline. The junior high/high school principal is primarily a transactional leader. His focus was managing the school as a business. His staff attributed his business mentality to positive changes within the school and culture and success in achieving goals. While they appreciated his attention to professionalism, they would like to get to know their administrator on a personal level.

What are the direct and indirect influences of principals on student achievement? How do successful principals motivate others? What kinds of relationships do they have with parents, students, and staff? Principals and Student Achievement identifies 26 essential traits and behaviors of effective principals to show how they achieve success as instructional leaders. Based on a review of 81 key research articles from the last 20 years, this concise book examines how certain practices can affect student achievement, including: * Communication and interaction * Classroom observation and feedback to teachers * Recognition of student and staff achievement * Dedication to a safe and orderly school environment * Support of professional development of staff * Role modeling The book also reviews differences in instructional leadership between elementary and secondary principals, male and female principals, principals in high- and low-socioeconomic-status schools, and more. We all know that principals are important to student success, but few people have pinpointed exactly how they make a positive difference. At a time when principals are being asked to do more for school reform and accountability, Principals and Student Achievement provides a valuable resource for identifying what it takes to be an effective principal and, in turn, an effective school. Note: This product listing is for the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version of the book.

Expanding a principal's formal education and training, The Principal as Learning-Leader is a administrator's guide to improving student achievement, showing practitioners how to focus on the individual academic performance of each and every student and to work with the school staff and community to develop a learning culture that supports student success. Norton and Kelly show current principals how to assess their present behaviors relative to learning leadership. Providing a clear definition of learning leadership and identifying successful practices most commonly implemented by true learning leaders, this book features the administrative tools and accountability strategies that will allow principals to create a culture of learning leadership among all school personnel, which is key to engaging students, and the community, in the learning process.

This edited volume examines innovative ways of preparing, supervising, and evaluating principals and explores factors that promote effective leadership practices. Chapter authors consider how principals’ leadership practices affect teachers’ instruction, satisfaction, commitment, retention, and effectiveness, and present evidence that principals can influence key student outcomes as well. Covering topics such as school leaders’ use of time, their efforts to reduce implicit bias, how leadership practices are associated with teachers’ workplace attitudes, leadership and student achievement, and how school leaders can best be supported under new federal legislation, this volume is a “must read” for educational leadership and policy faculty, school and district administrators, and researchers committed to promoting effective principal leadership.

Assistant Principals’ Perceptions of Value Added to School Success Anna Sun and Alan R. Shoho “The click-clack of her heels and the jingle of her keys”: Exploring the Tensions in the Leadership of a Successful Turnaround Principal Ulrich C. Reitzug and Kimberly Kappler Hewitt Central District Office Leadership for Diversity and Equity: Constraints and Opportunities for Policy Intermediaries Allison Mattheis Leadership Performance Model for the Effective School Principal Disraeli M. Hutton Talking About Race: Overcoming Fear in the Process of Change Emily Lilja Palmer and Karen Seashore Louis