The relationship between school leadership and third-grade student test scores

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between leadership factors and third grade student test scores in math and reading. The leadership factors were General Leadership and Collaborative Leadership. Principal tenure at the site was another leadership variable examined in this study. The 41 schools included in the study had a principal who had served in that capacity at the site for a minimum of four years. The study included 41 elementary schools in a large urban district located in the southwestern United States. The study, was based on the responses of 741 teachers to a district wide survey on leadership, district statistics on principal tenure, and on the SAT-9 reading and math test scores of 2,164 third grade students. A Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple linear regression were used to test the four hypotheses. No significant relationship or predictive power was found between the General Leadership or Collaborative Leadership Factors and the math and reading test scores of the third grade students. No significant relationship or predictive power was found between principal tenure at a site and the math and reading test scores of third grade students. However, principal tenure did have a stronger correlational relationship with third grade math and reading test scores than General Leadership of Collaborative Leadership Factors. This study confirms the importance of the need to continue studying the relationship between leadership variables and student test scores and to further examine the instruments that districts use to assess and inform school leadership about their practice. The statistical results confirm that staff satisfaction is not necessarily a predictor of student test scores. However, the data supports a pattern of high achieving schools also having high staff satisfaction.