Within the Accountability Era: Principals' Instructional Leadership Behaviors and Student Achievement

Abstract

Researchers randomly selected Pennsylvania public middle level schools to identify significant relationships between principals' instructional leadership behaviors and student achievement, with school socioeconomic status (SES) as a secondary variable of interest. For each participant school, four teachers and the principal were asked to complete Hallinger's (1987) Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale. This instrument includes 50 behaviors that have been identified by the research on effective schools. Data analysis includes achievement test data from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment. Findings indicate that teacher perceptions of principal behaviors focused on improving school learning climate were identified as predictors of student achievement. In addition, principals of schools with high SES who believe they frequently exhibit behaviors associated with defining their schools' respective missions are related to higher reading achievement.