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A model of school success: instructional leadership, academic press, and student achievement

Alig-Mielcarek, Jana Michelle
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1054144000

Abstract Details

2003, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Educational Policy and Leadership.
The accountability and standards movements in education have intensified pressure on school administrators to raise the achievement levels of their students. The purpose of this inquiry was to develop a path model to explain the connections among key organizational variables and student achievement. One of the difficulties in predicting student achievement is that the socioeconomic status generally overwhelms all other organizational variables in explaining the variance. Thus, it is important to find school properties that can explain student achievement controlling for socioeconomic status. Two characteristics of elementary schools were proposed as key candidates—the instructional leadership of the principal and academic press of the school defined in terms to the extent to which school climate emphasizes high student expectations and intellectual accomplishments. After reviewing and synthesizing the literature on instructional leadership, a framework and measure of instructional leadership was developed and tested. Three aspects of principal behavior—promoting school-wide professional development, monitoring and providing feedback on the teaching and learning process, and developing and communicating shared goals—defined a general measure of instructional leadership. Then a theoretical path model to explain achievement was developed with instructional leadership, academic press, and socioeconomic status as the key variables. Using structural equation modeling the hypothesized relationships were tested with data collected from 146 elementary schools in Ohio, as well as student achievement and socioeconomic data obtained from the Ohio Department of Education. The findings provided substantial support for the model. Although the instructional leadership of the principal was not directly related to student achievement, it did have an indirect positive effect on achievement through the academic press of the school, which had a direct effect on student achievement in both mathematics and reading, controlling for socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status had both a direct effect and indirect effect, through academic press, on student achievement. In sum, this study adds to the understanding of the social dynamics within the school that influence student achievement. Principals can affect the student achievement of their students indirectly using their leadership to develop an organizational climate in which academic and intellectual pursuits are central to the school.
Wayne Hoy (Advisor)
161 p.
Education, Administration
Instructional Leadership; Academic Press; Student Achievement; Principal; Academic Rigor; Structural Equation Modeling; Student success; school success

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Alig-Mielcarek, J. M. (2003). A model of school success: instructional leadership, academic press, and student achievement [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1054144000

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Alig-Mielcarek, Jana. A model of school success: instructional leadership, academic press, and student achievement. 2003. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1054144000.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Alig-Mielcarek, Jana. "A model of school success: instructional leadership, academic press, and student achievement." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1054144000

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2003, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.