Instructional leadership and student achievement: school leaders’ perspectives

ABSTRACT

Empirical research suggests that school leaders’ instructional leadership can make a difference in improving student achievement. We explored this issue in a mixed-method study that sought to verify whether or not, from participants’ perspectives, school principals enact this type of leadership and whether or not they feel that it affects student outcomes. The research included a sample of top-level school leaders in a Portuguese region. We analyzed the data with descriptive statistics and content analysis techniques. Participants reported that most of principals’ leadership practices did not focus on student learning, but rather on school administration and management. Many respondents felt that it was not their job to lead in several instruction-related areas. Furthermore, respondents regarded the impact of most of principals’ instructional leadership practices on student achievement as weak. The paper discusses possible reasons for these findings, including the contextualized nature of the exercise of principal leadership roles, and suggests future avenues for research on this issue.

KEYWORDS:

• Instructional leadership
• school principals
• student achievement
• PIMRS

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. For reasons of protection of intellectual property rights, we do not disclose here the precise content of the items used to measure the 50 leadership practices in the PIMRS.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hermínia Pereira Coelho Rodrigues

Hermínia Pereira Coelho Rodrigues holds a Masters’ degree in Education and Training. Her research focuses on school leadership. She is currently a school principal in Portugal.

Jorge Ávila de Lima

Jorge Ávila de Lima is Full Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology of the University of the Azores, Portugal. He has published nationally and internationally on topics such as social networks, teacher collegiality, school leadership and organizational cultures. He is a renowned international expert on the topic of social networks in education.