This volume provides a succinct up-to-date summary of global research on principal instructional leadership as it has evolved over the past 50 years. The book’s particular focus is on the development and use of the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS). The PIMRS is the most widely used survey instrument designed for assessing instructional leadership for research and practice. It has been used in more than 250 studies in more than 30 countries around the world. The authors provide a detailed conceptual and data-based description of the rationale and development of the instrument as well as the ways in which it has been used in practice. The book also provides, for the first time, a comprehensive assessment of the scale’s measurement properties. This represents essential information for future users of the instrument across different national contexts. Finally, the volume outlines an agenda for improving future research on the role of principal instructional leadership in student learning and school effectiveness.

In public schools, the principal's role is of paramount importance in influencing teachers to excel and to keep their job satisfaction high. The self-efficacy of leaders is an important characteristic of leadership, but this issue has not been extensively explored in school principals. Using internet-based questionnaires, this study obtained scores on the self-report Principal Sense of Efficacy Scale, including areas of management, instructional, and moral leadership, of 50 elementary, middle, and high school principals in Arizona. These scores were compared to their teachers' perceptions of their leadership (N = 1403 across the 50 schools), using the Leadership Behavior Survey, including subscales on human relations, trust/decision making, instructional leadership, control, and conflict. Teachers reported intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction on the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. As hypothesized, teacher job satisfaction was strongly related to perceptions of their principal's leadership in all areas (total satisfaction ©7 overall perception: r = .645, p

The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between the perception of self-efficacy by elementary school principals and student achievement. One hundred twenty-three Missouri elementary principals completed the Principal Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Gareis, 2004). MAP scores from spring 2009 testing were used to determine if a relationship existed between those scores and the perceived self-efficacy of principals. The self-efficacy scores were placed in three groups, low scores, moderate scores, and high scores based on the nine-point range for answers. Likewise, MAP scores were placed in two groups, based on the percentages of students scoring in the Advanced/Proficient levels on the MAP. The chi-square test of significance was used to compare frequencies occurring in each of the groups to determine if a relationship existed between the communication arts and math MAP scores and the perceived efficacy scores. There was no indication of a relationship between the MAP scores and the perceived efficacy scores of elementary principals. Eighty-six principals participated in instructional leadership professional development topics, however, no significant differences in the mean scores of perceived self-efficacy existed between this group filtered by professional development topics and the whole survey sample.

The single most important factor for the success of a student in school is the teacher, yet many factors impact the teacher’s ability to do the job as effectively as possible. Data exists regarding the multiple influences that affect the teacher’s sense of self-efficacy, however, specific data regarding leadership behaviors is limited. Research shows that student achievement is affected by the teacher, therefore it is imperative to determine what leadership behaviors impact teacher efficacy the most. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the impact of principal behaviors on teacher efficacy. Also, the study sought to compare the derived results from elementary school data with that of middle school data to determine if a difference exists between principal behaviors and teacher efficacy at both levels. A multivariate multiple regression was used to analyze the findings. This method was used due to the multiple independent, as well as multiple dependent variables that exist within both measures; the Teacher Sense of Self Efficacy Scale Long Form and the Leadership Practices Inventory. The study found that there was no significant impact of principal behaviors on teacher efficacy for the participating school district. There was, however, a significant difference in the self-efficacy of elementary school and middle school teachers with regard to student engagement. While elementary teachers rated themselves relatively high in student engagement, middle school teachers rated themselves lower in their ability to engage students in learning. District leaders should consider professional development in building middle school efficacy in student engagement.