Kenneth Leithwood

Seven strong claims about successful school leadership

This article provides an overview of the literature concerning successful school leadership. It draws on the international literature and is derived from a more extensive review of the literature completed in the early stage of the authors’ project. The prime purpose of this review is to summarise the main findings from the wealth of empirical studies undertaken in the leadership field.

Leadership for School Restructuring

School restructuring creates new expectations of those who offer leadership to schools, expectations not well captured in images of instructional leadership. This article describes a 4-year program of research about transformational forms of leadership in schools responding to a variety of restructuring initiatives. Evidence is summarized about transformational leadership practices and behaviors in schools, their effects on a variety of school and teacher variables, and thought processes that give rise to such leadership practices. On the basis of this evidence, the author argues for the promise of transformational leadership in school-restructuring contexts.

The Effects of Transformational Leadership on Organizational Conditions and Student Engagement with School.

Most school restucturing initiatives assume significant capacity development on the part of individuals, as well as whole organizations; they also depend on high levels of motivation and commitment to solving the substantial problems associated with the implementation of restructuring initiatives. Transformational approaches to leadership have long been advocated as productive under these conditions, and evidence suggests that transformational practices do contribute to the development of capacity and commitment. Much less evidence is available, however, about whether these socio‐psychological effects actually result in organizational change and enhanced organizational outcomes. Survey data from an achieved sample of 1,762 teachers and 9,941 students in one large school district were used to explore the relative effects of transformational leadership practices on selected organizational conditions and student engagement with school. Results demonstrated strong significant effects of such leadership on organizational conditions, and moderate but still significant total effects on student engagement.

Transformational Leadership: How Principals Can Help Reform School Cultures

ABSTRACT Collaborative school cultures have been associated with the achievement of a number of school reform objectives for both teachers and students. Little is known, however, about how such cultures develop and whether or how school administrators can facilitate that process. This study examined the practices of administrators in each of 12 schools which had developed highly collaborative professional relationships over a three year period in the context of school improvement initiatives. Results suggest the feasibility of developing more collaborative school cultures in a relatively brief period of time and clarify the role played by the larger context of school improvement for fostering collaboration. Specific strategies used by the administrators are described. These strategies are associated with a concept of leadership termed “transformational”.

A Review of Transformational School Leadership Research 1996–2005

This paper uses evidence about transformational forms of leadership in schools provided by 32 empirical studies published between 1996 and 2005 to answer questions about the nature of such leadership, its antecedents, and the variables that both moderate and mediate its effects on students. Results indicate significant, primarily indirect effects of this form of leadership on both student achievement and engagement in school. These effects are mediated by school culture, teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction, and a small number of other variables. Few studies have examined the antecedents or moderators of transformational school leadership.

Collective Leadership Effects on Student Achievement

Purpose: This study aimed to estimate the impact of collective, or shared, leadership on key teacher variables and on student achievement. As well, it inquired about the relative contribution of different sources of such leadership and whether differences among patterns of collective leadership were related to differences in student achievement. Methods: Evidence included 2,570 teacher responses from 90 elementary and secondary schools in which four or more teachers completed usable surveys. Student achievement data in language and math averaged over 3 years were acquired through school Web sites. Data were analyzed using path-analytic techniques. Findings: Collective leadership explained a significant proportion of variation in student achievement across schools. Higher-achieving schools awarded leadership influence to all school members and other stakeholders to a greater degree than that of lower-achieving schools. These differences were most significant in relation to the leadership exercised by school teams, parents, and students. Principals were awarded the highest levels of influence in schools at all levels of achievement. Implications: Influence seems to be an infinite resource in schools. The more those in formal leadership roles give it away, the more they acquire.

The Relative Effects of Principal and Teacher Sources of Leadership on Student Engagement with School

Survey data from an achieved sample of 1,762 teachers and 9,941 students in one large Canadian school district were used to explore the relative effects of principal and teacher leadership on student engagement with school. Results demonstrated greater effects of principal as compared to teacher sources of leadership on student engagement. The effects of principal leadership were weak but significant, whereas the effects of teacher leadership were not significant. Both forms of leadership were mediated by many of the same elements of the school organization.

Conditions Fostering Organizational Learning in Schools

This article reports the results of synthesizing evidence from three independent studies of conditions that foster organizational learning in schools carried out in different contexts but with comparable methods. Its purpose was to identify such conditions from state, district, and school sources and to assess the context sensitivity of each of the conditions. Qualitative data were provided by a total sample of 111 teachers in 14 schools. Results identified a large number of conditions that fostered organizational learning in all schools. Among the most important of these conditions was transformational forms of principal leadership.

Testing a Conception of How School Leadership Influences Student Learning

Purpose: This article describes and reports the results of testing a new conception of how leadership influences student learning (“The Four Paths”). Framework: Leadership influence is conceptualized as flowing along four paths (Rational, Emotions, Organizational, and Family) toward student learning. Each path is populated by multiple variables with more or less powerful effects on student learning. Leaders increase student learning by improving the condition or status of selected variables on the Paths. Research Methods: Evidence includes teacher responses to an online survey (1,445 responses) measuring distributed leadership practices in their schools (N = 199) and variables mediating leaders’ effects on students. Grade 3 and 6 math and literacy achievement data were provided by the province’s annual testing program. The 2006 Canadian Census data provided a composite measure of school socioeconomic status. Path modeling techniques were used to test six hypotheses. Results: The Four Paths model as a whole explains 43% of the variation in student achievement. Variables on the Rational, Emotions, and Family Paths explain similarly significant amounts of that variation. Variables on the Organizational Path were unrelated to student achievement. Leadership had its greatest influence on the Organizational Path and least influence on the Family Path. Implications: School leaders and leadership researchers should be guided much more directly by existing evidence about school, classroom, and family variables with powerful effects on student learning as they make their school improvement and research design decisions.

Current Empirical Research on Evaluation Utilization

This paper reviews empirical research conducted during the past 15 years on the use of evaluation results. Sixty-five studies in education, mental health, and social services are described in terms of their methodological characteristics, their orientation toward dependent and independent variables, and the relationships between such variables. A conceptual framework is developed that lists 12 factors that influence use; six of these factors are associated with characteristics of evaluation implementation and six with characteristics of decision or policy setting. The factors are discussed in terms of their influence on evaluation utilization, and their relative influence on various types of use is compared. The paper concludes with a statement about implications for research and practice.