Effective Instructional Leadership Practices in High Performing Elementary Schools

Authors

  • Jesse Sanchez California Sate University, Fresno, USA
  • Jennifer M. Watson California Sate University, Fresno, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32674/jsard.v6i2.3975

Keywords:

Key Words: instructional leadership practices, Title I school, achievement gap

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the connection between principals’ instructional practices and student achievement. A phenomenological case study examined 13 Title I elementary schools in central California that exhibited a) a high percentage of students from poverty, b) higher than average state assessment results, and c) principals that remained in their schools for 3 years or more during the same time period. The study analyzed instructional leadership practices (ILP) and the monitoring tools used by the principals and its effect on student achievement. The impact of this study provides a model for ILP of principals that can be incorporated into their daily habits that provide opportunities for instructional changes that can lead to increased student achievement.

 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

  • Jesse Sanchez, California Sate University, Fresno, USA

    Jesse Sanchez, EdD, is a district administrator for the Dinuba Unified School District.  His major research interests lie in the areas of instructional leadership, shared leadership, labor management, administrative coaching and multi-tiered systems of support in K12 public school settings.  Email: jesse.sanchez@dinuba.k12.ca.us

  • Jennifer M. Watson , California Sate University, Fresno, USA

    Dr. Jennifer Moradian Watson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Kremen School of Education and Human Development at Fresno State.  She has 25 years of experience working at multiple elementary, middle, and high school campuses, as well as two district offices.  Dr. Watson has taught middle and high school and has extensive high school administrative experience.  Dr. Watson concluded her P-12 career as an elementary principal.  She has taught in higher education for the past eight years in teacher and administrator preparation as well as doctoral preparation for educational leaders in P-12 and higher education.

References

Bhattacharya, K. (2017). Fundamentals of qualitative research: A practical guide. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315231747

Borman, G. D., & D’Agostino, J. V. (1996). Title I and student achievement: A meta-analysis of federal evaluation results. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 18(4), 309-326. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737018004309

California Department of Education (n.d.). Timeline of California Standards-Based Reform. www.cde.ca.gov/nr/re/hd/yr96-10tl.asp

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage.

D’Innocenzo, L., Mathieu, J. E., & Kukenberger, M. R. (2016). A meta-analysis of different

forms of shared leadership–team performance relations. Journal of Management, 42(7),1964-1991.

Edmonds, R. (1979). Effective schools for the urban poor. Educational leadership, 37(1), 15-24.

Flores, A. (2007). Examining disparities in mathematics education: Achievement gap or opportunity gap? The High School Journal, 91(1), 29-42. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/hsj.2007.0022

Glasman, N. S. (1984). Student achievement and the school principal. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 6(3), 283-296. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737006003283

Hallinger, P. (2005). Instructional leadership and the school principal: A passing fancy that refuses to fade away. Leadership and policy in schools, 4(3), 221-239. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15700760500244793

Hallinger, P. (2015). The evolution of instructional leadership. In Assessing instructional leadership with the principal instructional management rating scale (pp. 1-23). Springer, Cham. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15533-3_1

Hallinger, P., & Murphy, J. F. (1986). The social context of effective schools. American journal of education, 94(3), 328-355. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/443853

Heck, R. (1992). Principals’ instructional leadership and school performance: Implications for policy development. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 14(1), 21-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737014001021

Heck, R. H., Larsen, T. J., & Marcoulides, G. A. (1990). Instructional leadership and school achievement: Validation of a causal model. Educational Administration Quarterly, 26(2), 94-125. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X90026002002

Lambert, L. (2002). A framework for shared leadership. Educational Leadership, 59(8), 37-40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/bl.59

Leithwood, K. (2010). Characteristics of school districts that are exceptionally effective in closing the achievement gap. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 9(3), 245-291. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15700761003731500

Lippman, L., Burns, S., & McArthur, E. (1996). Urban schools: The challenge of location and poverty. (NCES Publication No. 96-864). Government Printing Office.

Lunenburg, F. C. (2010). The principal and the school: What do principals do? In National Forum of Educational Administration & Supervision Journal, 27(4): 1-5.

Lyman, L. L., & Villani, C. J. (2004). Best leadership practices for high-poverty schools. The Scarecrow Press.

Marks, H. M., & Printy, S. M. (2003). Principal leadership and school performance: An integration of transformational and instructional leadership. Educational administration quarterly, 39(3), 370-397. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X03253412

Marshall, B., P. Cardon, A. Poddar and R. Fontenot (2013). ‘Does sample size matter in qualitative research: a review of qualitative interviews in IS research’, Journal of Computer Information Systems, 54, pp. 11–22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2013.11645667

Masumoto, M., & Brown-Welty, S. (2009). Case study of leadership practices and school-community interrelationships in high-performing, high-poverty, rural California high schools. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 24(1), 1-18.

McGee, G. W. (2004). Closing the achievement gap: Lessons from Illinois' golden spike high-poverty high-performing schools. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk 9(2), 97-125.k, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327671espr0902_2

Murphy, J. (1983). Instructional leadership: A conceptual framework. Planning and Changing, 14(3), 137-49.

Nettles, S. M., & Herrington, C. (2007). Revisiting the importance of the direct effects of school leadership on student achievement: The implications for school improvement policy. Peabody Journal of Education, 82(4), 724-736. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01619560701603239

Pearce, C. L., Manz, C. C., & Sims, H. P. (2009). Where do we go from here? Is shared leadership the key to team success? Organizational Dynamics, 38(3), 234-238. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2009.04.008

Percy, W. H., Kostere, K., & Kostere, S. (2015). Generic qualitative research in psychology. The Qualitative Report, 20(2), 76-85. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2097

Printy, S. M., & Marks, H. M. (2006). Shared leadership for teacher and student DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4502_4

learning. Theory into Practice, 45(2), 125-132.

Purkey, S. C., & Smith, M. S. (1983). Effective schools: A review. The Elementary School Journal, 83(4), 427-452. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/461325

Quinn, D. M. (2002). The impact of principal leadership behaviors on instructional practice and student engagement. Journal of educational administration, 40(5), 447-467. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230210440294

Raelin, J. A. (2016). Imagine there are no leaders: Reframing leadership as a collaborative agency. Leadership, 12(2), 131-158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715014558076

Reyes, P., Scribner, J. D., & Scribner, A. P. (Eds.). (1999). Lessons from high-performing Hispanic schools: Creating learning communities. Teachers College Press.

Robinson, V. M., Lloyd, C. A., & Rowe, K. J. (2008). The impact of leadership on student outcomes: An analysis of the differential effects of leadership types. Educational administration quarterly, 44(5), 635-674. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X08321509

Saldana, J. (2009). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage.

Sandelowski M. (1993). Rigor or rigor mortis: The problem of rigor in qualitative research revisited. Advances in Nursing Science, 16(2), 1–8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00012272-199312000-00002

Smith, W. F., & Andrews, R. L. (1989). Instructional leadership: How principals make a difference. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Soehner, D., & Ryan, T. (2011). The interdependence of principal school leadership and student achievement. Scholar-Practitioner Quarterly, 5(3), 274-288.

Tilley, T. B., Smith, S. J., & Claxton, R. L. (2012). Success despite socioeconomics: A case study of a high-achieving, high-poverty school. Journal of School Public Relations, 33(4), 292-317. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/jspr.33.4.292

Waters, T., Marzano, R. J., & McNulty, B. (2003). Balanced leadership: What 30 years of research tells us about the effect of leadership on student achievement. Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

Wenglinsky, H. (2004). Closing the racial achievement gap: The role of reforming instructional practices. education policy analysis archives, 12, 64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v12n64.2004

Yin, R. K. (2010). Qualitative research from start to finish. The Guilford Press.

Yoon, K. S., Duncan, T., Lee, S. W. Y., Scarloss, B., & Shapley, K. L. (2007). Reviewing the evidence on how teacher professional development affects student achievement. (Issues & Answers. REL 2007-No. 033). US Department of Education, Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest.

Downloads

Published

2021-11-09

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2021): Fall Issue

Section

Research Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of School Administration Research and Development

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

All published articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 Unported License.