EDSI 9901
Project 3 Annotated Bibliography
Donna Elder
The relationship between effective leadership practices and student outcomes:
What leadership characteristics positively impact student performance?
Leadership and school reform:
Barker, B. (2007). The leadership paradox: Can school leaders transform student outcomes?
School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 18(1), 21-43.
doi:10.1080/09243450601058618
The leadership paradox study questions current research that suggests
transformational leadership has an impact on student achievement. This research
was completed by Bernard Barker at the Centre for Educational Leadership and
Management in the United Kingdom. He asserts government policies are created on
a limited research base. Empirical research suggests leadership has an indirect,
minimal effect on student achievement. This study references much of the current
research on how leadership impacts student outcomes; this review includes studies
spanning from leadership having no significant effects to leadership having a
significant indirect effect on student achievement. This study goes on to challenge
the methodology used in current research. It questions the way in which student
performance is measured. If student performance data is not consistent across
schools and end of term tests are changing, Barker questions how any measurement
of effects on student achievement can be reliable? In this study, Barker completed a
case study on an exceptional school. He examined a school with a record of
improved success, allowing for a better analysis of the correlation between
leadership and student outcomes. The school had leaders that embodied the
transformational leadership qualities, dedicated teachers who were instructionally
EDSI 9901
Project 3 Annotated Bibliography
Donna Elder
sound, and students who were focused and eager to learn. The findings of this study
were consistent with other research that indicates leadership has limited impact on
student achievement. Other variables such as improved community support, higher
socio-economic status of the student population and the attraction of better teachers
seem to have a much stronger relationship to student achievement than the
leadership variable. Barker’s research encourages me to use caution as I review the
research that claims strong relationships between leadership and student outcomes.
It also encourages school governance to carefully examine policies and resources
that are based on the transformational theory of leadership.
McDougall, D., Saunders, W., & Goldenberg, C. (2007). Inside the black box of school reform:
Explaining the how and why of change at getting results schools. International Journal of
Disability, Development and Education, 54(1), 51-89. doi:10.1080/10349120601149755
This article highlights the school reform model, Getting Results (GR), a school
wide reform project conducted in nine California elementary schools. The GR
model has five specific categories of reform: Goals, indicators, assistance,
leadership and setting. Each element is reliant on the other for this model’s success.
The title of the study labels school reform as the black box. This label is
representative of the research question that has limited empirical evidence.
Specifically, the authors asked, “how do schools change from being less to more
effective?” And why do school reform efforts obtain the results they do? After
reviewing the importance of all elements, the study focuses on the fifth element,
setting, which is considered to be the overarching element that allows goals,
indicators, assistance and leadership elements to function effectively. Although the
EDSI 9901
Project 3 Annotated Bibliography
Donna Elder
study was limited, as it was only performed in elementary schools, it is pertinent to
my research because of the relationship between leadership and student outcomes.
It places the role of leadership as a piece of a larger group of factors that must be
present to engage in meaningful school reform.
Moore, B. (2009). Emotional intelligence for school administrators: A priority for school reform.
American Secondary Education, 37(3), 20-28.
This article highlights the importance of emotional intelligence as a characteristic
of an effective leader in school reform. The author describes the impact a school
leader has on creating a successful culture of change. In a review of the research,
Moore justifies the need for leaders to demonstrate emotional intelligence.
Specifically, the author describes the change process as one that creates many
emotions in teachers and staff in a school. Understanding the emotions educators
experience during a reform process better prepares an administrator to lead and
coach those educators through systemic change. The author claims emotional
intelligence is arguably one of the most important characteristics of a successful
school leader. This claim was supported by Marzano’s meta-analysis of 2800
schools, 14,000 teachers and one million students that identified 21 categories of
leadership behaviors that had a statistically significant impact on student
achievement. Moore went on to describe data he collected about school
administrators effectiveness after several weeks of emotional intelligence
coaching. The data showed improved ratings from responders. This article
effectively summarizes the latest research examining emotional intelligence as a
EDSI 9901
Project 3 Annotated Bibliography
Donna Elder
leadership quality that impact student achievement. I will refer to this study and
its set of references as I continue my literature review on educational leadership.
Thornton, B., Peltier, G., & Perreault, G. (2004). Systems thinking: A skill to improve student
achievement. The Clearing House, 77(5), 222-230. doi:10.3200/TCHS.77.5.222-230
This article highlights the importance of system thinking when educators approach
school reform. Because schools are part of a larger district, state and federal
system, many educational leaders have been conditioned to address the symptoms
of a problem yielding a short-term solution, rather than taking a systems approach
to problem-solving. A systems-thinker recognizes that schools are complex,
organizational structures. By studying the research to identify high-leverage
solutions, leaders can engage in true school reform. This article is important to my
research as it references the body of educational leadership research to offer
practical, effective solutions to educational leaders. Grounded in the research, it
proposes leaders identify the problems, engage in root cause analysis, and
collaborate with teachers. This leads to finding high-leverage activities that impact
student achievement. This model protects leaders from the pitfall of the blame
game, and provides staff the opportunity to develop new skills needed to set clear
goals that align directly with improved student outcomes.
Leadership impacts on student achievement
Leithwood, K., & Jantzi, D. (2008). Linking leadership to student learning: The contributions of
leader efficacy. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44, 496-528.
doi:10.1177/0013161X08321501
EDSI 9901
Project 3 Annotated Bibliography
Donna Elder
Appropriately named, this study attempts to find links between effective district
leadership, school leadership, and student achievement. The study examines how
district leadership influences the collective and individual efficacy of school-based
leaders. Efficacy is described as self-confidence of a leader. The
socio-psychological theorist, Bandura, was referenced to explain the concept of self
and collective efficacy. Part of a larger study, Leithwood and Jantzi studied the
antecedents to leader efficacy. This research design is in contrast to most research
on leadership efficacy which highlights the outcomes of leadership efficacy. The
large sample selected in this study included 180 schools within 45 districts across
ten states. The results of the study demonstrate a strong relationship between
district leadership providing positive organizational conditions that school based
leaders feel support and enhance their work. District leadership was found to have
strong effects on collective efficacy of school leaders. This points to the practice of
collaborative leadership structures. Interestingly, the study showed a weak
relationship between district leader’s investment in instructional leadership and
school leader efficacy, so professional learning opportunities for school based
leaders did not promote self or collective efficacy. The study demonstrates limited
but significant impact of leadership efficacy to student achievement, primarily
through collective efficacy. This research is important to the overall body of
research on the role leadership plays in student achievement because it attempts to
connect-the-dots using leadership qualities at both the district and school level to
impact student achievement. It weakly connected these variables, but admits
further study is needed.
EDSI 9901
Project 3 Annotated Bibliography
Donna Elder
Leithwood, K., & Mascall, B. (2008). Collective leadership effects on student achievement.
Educational Administration Quarterly, 44(4), 529-561. doi: 10.1177/0013161X08321221
This study questions the excitement over distributive leadership. Contrary to the
current literature that places distributive leadership as the style of choice for school
improvement efforts, this study cautions the research base to focus on empirical
outcomes which have not demonstrated strong relationships between this form of
leadership and improved student performance. It is particularly interesting that this
research is one of several studies that question the validity of the shared approach to
leadership. It is a popular view that organizations can be productive by allowing a
large sphere of influence; however, it is not supported by a strong research base.
This study attempts to connect collective leadership to specific teacher variables,
which in turn influences student outcomes. Using a subset of data from a larger
study, Leithwood and Mascall sampled 180 schools within 45 districts across ten
states. The sample was comprised of teachers and principals. The results from this
study were mixed. The study did find that collective leadership did show a small
but significant indirect impact on student achievement. This indirect impact was
linked through teacher motivation and work setting. Although the results
demonstrated a strong relationship between collective leadership and teacher
capacity, teacher capacity was not correlated with higher student achievement.
Caution was given to future research designs. Since leadership is related to student
achievement indirectly, it is advised that mediating variables be chosen carefully.
Finally, a strong correlation was found between student achievement and
socio-economic status of the school, which showed a strong positive relationship
EDSI 9901
Project 3 Annotated Bibliography
Donna Elder
with distributive forms of leadership. Higher performing schools seem to
acknowledge a larger scope of influence in the leadership decision making
function.
Robinson, V. J., 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: 10.1177/0013161X08321509
This study found 27 pieces of research conducted between 1978 and 2006 that examined
the relationships between leadership and student outcomes. Specifically, this research
conducts two separate meta-analyses to examine the impact of leadership on student
outcomes. The first analysis compared the impact of transformational leadership verses
instructional leadership on student performance. Its findings indicate instructional
leadership has a much stronger relationship, or effect size, on student outcomes than
transformational leadership. The second meta-analysis examined five leadership
practices for their effect on student outcomes. The leadership practices were categorized
into five leadership dimensions: Establishing goals and expectations, strategic
resourcing, planning, coordinating, and evaluating teacher and the curriculum,
promoting and participating in teacher learning and development, and ensuring an
orderly and supportive environment. Of the five dimensions, promoting and participating
in teacher learning and development showed the largest effect size (0.84) followed by
two dimensions with equal effect sizes of (0.42). These were (a) planning, coordinating,
and evaluating teaching and the curriculum and (b) establishing goals and expectations.
Particularly interesting, this study has provided the most comprehensive set of research.
The bibliography presents a challenge for my continued literature review. This study has
EDSI 9901
Project 3 Annotated Bibliography
Donna Elder
also offered me direction on narrowing the focus of my research to examine instructional
leadership rather than transformational research.
Leadership impacts teacher capacity
Zepeda, S. (2006). High stakes supervision: We must do more. International Journal of
Leadership in Education, 9(1), 61-73. doi: 10.1080/13603120500448154
Zepeda examines how effectively supervising teachers is a long-term solution to
recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers. The study suggests the missing link to
school reform efforts is providing a comprehensive teacher support program that
includes instructional supervision, professional development, action research,
mentoring, peer coaching and portfolio development. The author stresses the need for
supervision and evaluation plans that provide intensive on-the-job training and
professional development to meet the increasing accountability demands of the No Child
Left Behind law. The study asserts the need for differentiated supervision that addresses
the unique needs of individual teachers. The author states that evaluating teachers
without first providing individualized supervision and support equates to professional
malpractice, thus the call for leaders to do more. This study is important to articulate the
full picture of school improvement; one that includes teacher supervision as a way of
increasing effective instruction and retention. This research was appropriate as this
professor is working closely with the Clarke County School District’s Superintendent to
create a new teacher evaluation system that is performance based and will ultimately lead
to performance-based pay. I look forward to reviewing the statistical formula that is used
to eliminate mediating variables and directly tie teachers’ pay to a set of student
performance outcomes.
EDSI 9901
Project 3 Annotated Bibliography
Donna Elder
Leaders as Learners:
Cooper, L. (2007). Why closing the research-practice gap is critical to closing student achievement
gaps. Theory Into Practice, 46, 317-324. doi:10.1080/00405840701593907
This report highlights the importance of bridging research and practice if educators
are to bridge the achievement gap. It summarizes the ongoing commitment of the
Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) to improve the achievement of
African American and Latino students. It reviews the history of the network which
was founded in 1999 by superintendents from five states who came together to
address the achievement gaps that were not being closed independently. They
recognized the importance of research guiding practice. They had a common belief
that sound research could help solve some of the most difficult issues in education.
The commitment to applied research was demonstrated in a project named Algebra
Allies. It was a summer program that targeted minority students entering the ninth
grade. The program attempted to create a positive classroom culture that taught
students about the flexibility of their own intelligence. It offered lessons on how to
reduce anxiety in the math classroom. Finally, it examined shared beliefs and
attitudes of successful math students. The project brought together psychological
research and math education research to create a socially focused algebra
classroom where students felt part of the community of mathematicians. This led to
minority students claiming sense of belonging to a larger math community. The
projects illustrates the importance of bringing a multidisciplinary team of
researcher and practitioners to address the unfortunate gap that still exists between
minority students and their white peers. This article is important evidence to
EDSI 9901
Project 3 Annotated Bibliography
Donna Elder
support action research in schools. As a school leader, this short article is a
compelling piece of literature to present to teachers as they grow as research based
instructors.
Strategic Leadership:
Archibald, S. (2006). Narrowing in on educational resources that do affect student achievement.
Peabody Journal of Education, 81(4), 23-42. doi:10.1207/s15327930pje8104_2
This study examines the correlation between a schools increased access to educational
resources and increased levels of student performance. Specifically, the study examined
school-based, per pupil spending by sorting allocations into four categories: Instruction,
instructional support, leadership, and operational-maintenance costs. The study
examined whether the amount of money spent on resources was positively correlated to
higher student achievement in reading and math. The results of this study support
previous research that demonstrates a positive relationship between school-based
resource spending and increased student outcomes. The results also point to the well
documented effects of wide-spread poverty on student performance. Schools that are
spending less per pupil see a significant relationship to negative student outcomes.
Schools can impact student achievement by allocating funds to improve teacher capacity.
It is particularly important to my research, as it promotes further research questions to the
types of resource allocations school leaders can extend to impact student learning.