CORRELATED STUDY OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS’ TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
Date
2021-02
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Abstract
The direct relationship between school administrators’ leadership style and student achievement is inconclusive. Some previous research studies suggest a positive influence of transformational leadership on organizational culture and staff motivation (Ahmad, Abbas, Latif, & Rasheed, 2014; Chen & Baron, 2006; Eriksson, By, & Jonsson, 2016; Quin, Deris, Bischoff, & Johnson, 2015). Further study of the assumed correlation between essential factors of transformational leadership and student academic performance growth as evidenced on the newly implemented California state student performance assessment, is important for understanding leadership style impact on student achievement. This study examines whether a significant relationship exists between school administrators’ transformational leadership style and student growth on one required annual set of English Language Arts and Mathematics state assessments. A quantitative correlational study was designed to investigate leadership style using inventory data from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire-Form 6S (Kirkbride, 2006; Ozaralli, 2003; Tejeda, Scandura, & Pillai, 2001) and three years of school assessment results. The researcher surveyed school administrators from a large urban district in California. Both leadership and assessment data were tested utilizing the Spearman correlational analysis.
Findings of the study indicate no or limited correlation between school administrators’ transformational leadership styles and students' academic performance on the California state assessment. The results imply a complexity of school administrators’ work in sufficiently leading to enhancing student academic achievement. The researcher recommends that future studies with more holistic approaches using larger sample groups can strengthen this study's findings and offer a more comprehensive perspective of the school leadership style relationship to student achievement.