Date of Award

January 2014

Degree Type

Open Access Dissertation

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

James R. Bliss

Department Affiliation

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Second Advisor

Sherwood Thompson

Department Affiliation

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Third Advisor

Roger C. Cleveland

Department Affiliation

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Abstract

Current studies have shown that principal instructional leadership can affect student academic achievement as much as 15% (Hallinger & Murphy, 1982; Hallinger & Heck, 1996; Leithwood & Beatty, 2009). Research studies on collective teacher efficacy have shown that teacher efficacy can significantly affect student academic achievement (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001; Tschannen, Moran &Woolfolk, 2001; Woolfolk; 2004; Goddard, et. al, 2000; Francera, 2009). Previous research has suggested that the effects of socioeconomic status of students can be ameliorated through a combination of principal instructional leadership and collective teacher efficacy (Howley & Howley, 2010; Coleman, 1966). This non-experimental research project developed four hypotheses and three research questions to examine the relationship among principal instructional leadership, collective teacher efficacy and student academic achievement, accounting for socioeconomic status. Teachers provided data for measures of collective teacher efficacy and instructional leadership behaviors by responding to items on the Collective Teacher Efficacy Scale (Goddard, et. al, 2004), and the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (Hallinger and Murphy, 1986). Data was obtained from 449 teachers and aggregated to the school level of 42 individual schools. Archived data from the Kentucky Department of Education Report Card provided data for free and reduced lunch percentages (socioeconomic status) and ACT composite scores (student academic achievement). Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients and multiple regressions were computed to identify the direct and indirect influences of principal instructional leadership, collective teacher efficacy and student academic achievement.

This study revealed two interesting observations: Teacher Perceptions of Classroom Management was highly correlated to Student Motivation to Learning at r = .479, p = .001, indicating that teacher's sense of efficacy regarding classroom management affects student's motivation to engaging in the learning process. Protects Instructional Time (a subscale of Developing the School Learning Climate Program) was highly correlated to Maintains High Visibility, indicating that the principal's physical presence is as important as is his or her ability to manage the instructional program of the school; it was correlated at r =.485, p = .001. Socioeconomic status, as other studies have shown (Lubbers,1998; Francera, 2009; Goddard, et. al. 2004, Tschannen-Moran, M., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. 2001; Coleman, 1966) was a strong predictor of student academic achievement. It was correlated at an inverse r = -.479, p = .001. Implications for future research merit examining the principal's instructional leadership ability to provide professional development in-service workshops to increase teacher's collective efficacy behaviors, using school-based data to improve and sustain student academic achievement.

The goal of finding what predictive measures affect student academic achievement warrants further study.

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