Development, factor structure, and reliability of the Shared Instructional Leadership Scale in public secondary schools

Shared instructional leadership may support informed decision making on matters of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Given the various organizational processes and outcomes associated with this construct, it is important to be able to measure the degree to which it exists in schools. In this article we propose the Shared Instructional Leadership Scale and report its reliability and the validity of its factor structure. The scale was designed to assess the extent to which faculty perceive that principals, teachers, and school staff collaborate on instructional leadership practices. Drawing from a sample of 422 teachers nested in 107 schools, we generated four sub-samples to examine its psychometric properties. Next, using exploratory factor analysis techniques, we found the Shared Instructional Leadership Scale factor structure to be stable across all four sub-samples. Finally, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis on a second school-level sample ( n = 103) and the results confirmed the Shared Instructional Leadership Scale had a unidimensional structure. We conclude with a discussion of the potential of the Shared Instructional Leadership Scale to inform practice and implications for future research, including directions for further scale validation.

Managing the Ebb and Flow:

This case study explored how a principal in a suburban elementary school in the northeastern United States empowered students and used student voice to develop his own leadership. The researchers collected and analyzed data in the form of observations, principal interviews, and student focus groups. Results and discussion describe and explain how the principal engaged with students’ perspectives to structure his experiences of school and learn- ing. Also, results indicate that the principal’s self- awareness of his instructional leadership actions, particularly regarding the inclusion of student voice and agency, is critical for effective and meaningful leadership. This case provides a new direction for develop- ing and practicing school leaders to consider self- evaluation, and reflection as part of ongoing leadership improvement, framed by the research-based concepts of instructional leadership, student voice, and perceptual congruence. Finally, the case study provides an opportunity for the field of educational research to open meaningful and often-overlooked discussions emphasizing the value of including students in models of shared instructional leadership and empowering youth as learners and leaders in their own right.

Examining US principal perception of multiple leadership styles used to practice shared instructional leadership

Purpose – Decades of research on different leadership styles shows that effective school leadership is the degree of influence or synergy between teachers and principals around the core business of schools, instruction. While various styles, such as transformational, instructional, shared instructional, point to the similar measures of high organizational quality, the inconsistency in how these styles are defined and relate make it unclear how principals systematically improve schools. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This study used the 1999-2000 schools and staffing survey, n=8,524 of US principals, since it includes a nationally representative sample of administrators who responded to a comprehensive set of leadership measures around a time of school restructuring reforms. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to identify different styles, and to measure the extent of their relationship. These factors were used to test a theory about why principals practice each of these styles to a different degree based on levels of shared instructional leadership. Findings – Based on the theoretical framework, principals should have a similar high influence over resources, safety and facilities regardless of degree of shared instructional leadership since these tasks address foundational school needs. However, principal and teacher influence over these resources differed across levels of shared instructional leadership more than principal-directed tasks of facilitating a mission, supervising instruction and building community. Originality/value – Differences in the practice of styles by shared instructional leadership did not fit changing, higher ordered needs as theorized instead seemed to vary by a hierarchy of control, the way in which principals shared influence with teachers.

Integrated Leadership: How Principals and Teachers Share Transformational and Instructional Influence

Transformational leadership by the principal appears to be a precondition of shared instructional leadership in schools, but it does not guarantee that principals and teachers will collaborate on curriculum and instruction. The present study, a content analysis of existing case studies, explores the ways in which teachers respond to transformational leadership by the principal, with attention paid to the influence and conditions that activate interdependent relationships and enhance shared transformational leadership and shared instructional leadership. A contrast school, where shared instructional leadership did not take hold, suggests that structures and processes that organize teachers’ work differently do not automatically result in the kinds of interactions associated with quality teaching and learning.

Assistant Principals: The Case for Shared Instructional Leadership

In today's restructuring secondary schools, principals have new instructional leadership responsibilities on top of already demanding management responsibilities. Not enough time exists for one person to address all these expectations successfully. Assistant principals can effectively share instructional leadership roles to increase a school's success as a learning organization for students and educators.