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.

Decades of research and the unprecedented demands being placed on our nation’s schools have revealed changing conceptions in school leadership. Increasingly, teachers are taking a more central role in the daily functions of their schools and are becoming more involved in important decision-making that was once reserved for principals. While the topic of teacher leadership continues to garner support in the literature, little attention has been given to studying teacher leadership through an organizational lens. Closely related to the idea of teacher leadership is collective efficacy, an organizational concept that has previously been linked to student achievement. This study utilized the 17-item Teacher Leadership Inventory [Angelle, P. S., & DeHart, C. (2010). A four factor model of teacher leadership: Construction and testing of the Teacher Leadership Inventory. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Denver, CO] and the 10-item Teacher Efficacy Belief Scale – Collective Form [Olivier, D. F. (2001). Teacher personal and school culture characteristics in effective schools: Toward a model of a professional learning community (Ph.D.). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (275848775)] to analyze correlations between teacher leadership, collective efficacy, and student achievement as measured by the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP). Findings showed a moderately strong, positive correlation between teachers’ perceptions of teacher leadership and collective efficacy at both the individual and school-level. No significant relationship was found between teacher leadership and student achievement and collective efficacy and student achievement.

Effective principal leadership practices improve school organization, teaching, and student achievement outcomes. These practices include framing and communicating a school's goals and mission, creating shared expectations of high performance, clarifying roles and objectives, and promoting professional development. However, research demonstrates that teachers tend to rate principals lower on important leadership practices than principals rate themselves, and this mismatch in perception could have negative consequences. Numerous studies in the fields of human resources and organizational management reveal that leader self-awareness-when leader self-perception is in agreement with what subordinates perceive-is directly related to leadership effectiveness. The degree to which leaders rate themselves more highly than do subordinates correlates with diminished organizational outcomes, including reduced subordinate job satisfaction and productivity. Specific to education, negative teacher perception of school leadership correlates with teacher burnout and reduced teacher collaboration. We used data from the RAND Corporation's web-based American Educator Panels to gather nationally representative evidence of whether perceptions of school leadership practices vary by educator position. We find that principals almost universally rate themselves as effective, but a minority of teachers disagree.

Author's abstract: State and federal accountability standards for student achievement and school improvement have increased the focus on school leadership, specifically the leadership of school principals and assistant principals. The pressure to lead schools effectively while fulfilling instructional leadership and school management tasks could impact school administrators’ perceptions of their leadership capabilities. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional study was to identify the relationship between the instructional leadership tasks and school management tasks of school administrators and their leadership self-efficacy across multiple demographics. Survey data were collected from 73 school administrators, which quantified the leadership self-efficacy of principals and assistant principals based upon the completion of instructional leadership tasks and school management tasks and their use of time completing instructional leadership tasks and school management tasks. The major findings of the study indicated a positive, linear relationship between leadership self-efficacy and the instructional leadership tasks and school management tasks of school administrators. There was no statistically significant difference between leadership self-efficacy for instructional leadership tasks and school management tasks based upon the role of the school administrator. There was no statistically significant difference between the use of time on instructional leadership tasks and school management tasks based upon the role of the school administrator. The outcomes of this study provide insight into the types of tasks that impact the leadership self-efficacy of principals and assistant principals and could drive the professional learning content of school administrators and the delegation of their tasks. Future research on the leadership self-efficacy of school administrators could involve larger demographic subgroups and extend the study to include additional demographic factors impacting the work of principals and assistant principals.

This book provides insights into the everyday practices of school leaders as told through the real-life stories of principals. The editors and their contributors blend practice with theory, helping aspiring leaders to discover that school leadership is not simply putting prescribed solutions into action, but a constant encounter with quandaries that demand thinking, responding, and adjusting to the situations at hand. Readers build their capacities to view quandaries from multiple lenses, consider a variety of responses, and draw conclusions based on perspectives that may vary from those initially identified. The chapter authors encourage a sharper self-awareness of what scholars value and envision about education, encouraging them to think about how to navigate decision-making through a variety of theoretical frameworks and practices while balancing their own leadership platform development.

Linking Leadership to Student Learning Linking Leadership to Student Learning clearly shows how school leadership improves student achievement. The book is based on an ambitious five-year study on educational leadership that was sponsored by The Wallace Foundation. The authors studied 43 districts, across 9 states and 180 elementary, middle, and secondary schools. In this book, Kenneth Leithwood, Karen Seashore Louis, and their colleagues report on what they found. They examined leadership at each organizational level in the school system—classroom, school, district, community, and state. Their comprehensive approach to investigating school leadership offers a balanced understanding of how the structures within which leaders operate shape what they do. The results within will have significant implications for future policy and practice. Praise for Linking Leadership to Student Learning "Kenneth Leithwood and Karen Seashore Louis offer a seminal new contribution to the leadership field. They provide a rich and authoritative evidence base that demonstrates clearly just why school leadership is so important and how it promotes successful student learning." —PAMELA SAMMONS, Ph.D., Professor of Education, Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford "This ambitious, groundbreaking, and thought provoking treatment of the link between school leadership and student learning is a testament to the outstanding work of these exemplary scholars. This is a 'must read' for academics and practitioners alike." —MARTHA McCARTHY, President's Professor, Loyola Marymount University, and Chancellor's Professor Emeritus, Indiana University "The question is no longer whether school and district leader's impact student learning, but rather how they do it. The authors provide a convincing answer, one that recognizes the crucial interaction between leader and locality." —DANIEL L. DUKE, Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Virginia

This book focuses on the effect of psychological, social and demographic variables on student achievement and summarizes the current research findings in the field. It addresses the need for inclusive and interpretive studies in the field in order to interpret student achievement literature and suggests new pathways for further studies. Appropriately, a meta-analysis approach is used by the contributors to show the big picture to the researchers by analyzing and combining the findings from different independent studies. In particular, the authors compile various studies examining the relationship between student achievement and 21 psychological, social and demographic variables separately. The philosophy behind this book is to direct future research and practices rather than addressing the limits of current studies.