Distributed Leadership and School Performance
Open AccessThe purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between distributed leadership and school performance. After 20 years of school reform that placed increased demands on the principal's job, the philosophy of the principal as the heroic leader has become obsolete (Lashway, 2003). Increasingly over the last five years, educators are turning to a distributed perspective on leadership (Spillane, 2006).This study provided an examination of the relationship between each of the seven dimensions (school vision, school organization, school culture, instructional program, artifacts, teacher leadership, and principal leadership) of distributed leadership and school performance. The research also sought to find the relationship between each of the three forms (spontaneous collaboration, intuitive working relations, and institutionalized practices) of distributed leadership and school performance. This study utilized a quantitative methodological approach which is an appropriate choice for a study that seeks to test a theory (Creswell, 2003). Data were collected using the Distributed Leadership Survey (DLS) instrument from educators in 34 elementary schools in a large mid Atlantic urban school district. This instrument was developed by the researcher for this investigation. The survey instrument collected teachers' responses on the seven dimensions and three forms of distributed leadership. Average school scores of third grade mathematics and reading student achievement on the Maryland School Assessment were used. The data were analyzed using correlational analysis. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between distributed leadership and school performance. The findings of this quantitative research study indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship between distributed leadership and school performance in the area of mathematics. Findings further determined that the artifact dimension of distributed leadership had a statistically significant relationship on third grade reading performance and the school vision, instructional program, artifact, and teacher leadership dimensions had a statistically significant relationship on third grade mathematics performance. Finally, the study revealed that spontaneous collaboration and intuitive working relations had a statistically significant relationship on third grade mathematics performance.
- All rights reserved
Notice to Authors
If you are the author of this work and you have any questions about the information on this page, please use the Contact form to get in touch with us.