School Leadership, Shared Leadership And Trust - 861 Words

Louis*, Dretzke and Wahlstrom (2010) studied and collected evidence around three specific school leader behaviors to determine their connection to student achievement. The three specific school leadership behaviors emerged from this research study is: instructional leadership, shared leadership and trust (p. 316). This study attempts to collect evidence to help determine the significance and impact school leaders have on student achievement. Previous research indicates that teacher instruction and classroom environments have the greatest impact on student learning, therefore, making school leaders and their decisions an interest of study. The assumption is that evidence will help support and determine that school leaders are capable of†¦show more content†¦This particular research is an attempt to determine how leadership influences teaching and learning in schools. The collection of quantitative data began at the beginning and the end of the 5-year study. The collection of qualitative data was administered with three rounds in between the quantitative data gathering. The quantitative data included teacher surveys, principal surveys, student achievement data and demographic data. The sampling was conducted in nine states that were randomly selected from four quadrants throughout the United States with variation in organization size, socio-economic status (SES), and achievement status. The sampling design was to represent 180 schools in 45 school districts. The actual quantitative sample included teachers and principals in 157 schools and in 43 school districts. The sample represented equal representation from elementary and secondary schools. This study investigated the data from teachers after the first and second rounds the surveys were administered. Louis*, et al. (2010) utilized two surveys that were previously field tested to help improve word clarity and utilized a 6-point Likert scale to measure all attitudinal variables. The final instrument was mailed to individual schools and was completed by teachers in a faculty meeting with each participant having a sealed envelope to return and to ensure confidentiality. The surveys