A systematic review of research on the relationship between school leadership and student achievement: An updated framework and future direction

Abstract

This systematic review sought to expand our knowledge of the increasing research studies focusing on the empirical link between school leadership and student achievement. Using five different data sources (Scopus, WoS, ERIC, Google Scholar, and Retrospective Reference Harvesting Procedure), we created a data set of 144 journal articles. Descriptive analysis of bibliographic data and content analysis of full texts were employed in the review process. The results revealed instructional leadership as the most frequently used school leadership model in the relevant research. There has been a growing tendency to use the direct effect model with the increase in the studies from non-English speaking western societies. Indeed, the use of rational and organizational variables has dominated the mediating effect studies, while moderating effect studies as well as exploratory and explanatory type of studies have not received much attention. Based on these results, a framework representing the broader picture of the current research on the relationship between school leadership and student learning is provided. In addition, several recommendations were made, aiming to build the research capacity in furthering our understanding of how school leadership practices impact student learning and achievement.

School leadership and teaching practice: a systematic review of studies of the indirect effects

“…We applied narrative synthesis, which represents "a method of synthesis that primarily uses words and text to summarise the findings of multiple studies" (Booth et al, 2012, p. 183). This type of analysis is common in review studies in the educational leadership and management field (Oplatka and Arar, 2017;Toprak et al, 2023) that strive to provide practically meaningful implications. The process of narrative synthesis was differentiated into two basic phases.…”

“…The main purpose of content analysis is to quantitatively summarize the units of analysis through the application of the corresponding coding scheme (Neuendorf, 2019). This research technique is commonly used in research reviews in the field of educational leadership and management (Kılınç and G€ um€ us ¸, 2021;€ Ozdemir et al, 2022a). The content analysis was focused on several questions: (1) how often different models of educational leadership were examined as predictor variables, (2) which constructs were most often examined as mediators of the effects of school leadership on teaching practice and (3) what are the methodological characteristics of previous studies in this domain.…”

“…It was observed that effective school leadership and teacher community are school conditions that lead to the improvement of teacher work, which consequently has a positive effect on student performance. The insight that the effects of school leadership on student outcomes are mostly indirect (Hallinger and Heck, 1996;Leithwood et al, 2020a) has put the question of what are the mediators of the impact of school leadership on student achievement in the focus of researchers' attention (Leithwood et al, 2020b;€ Ozdemir et al, 2022a). Classroom instruction was identified as one of the central mediators of the distal effects of school leadership on student achievement (Leithwood et al, 2020b).…”

School Leadership Transformation: Improving Teacher Performance through Strategic Decision-Making

“…The role of school leadership has become the main focus in efforts to improve the quality of education (Farhurohman, 2018;Muhaemin & Umar, 2022;Mustajab et al, 2021;Perez & Banayo, 2023;Ghamrawi, 2023). School leadership not only plays a role in managing administrative and organizational aspects but also plays a key role in motivating and guiding the performance of teachers and school staff (Özdemir et al, 2022;McCutcheon & Haynes, 2022;Reis-Andersson, 2023). However, school leadership is only considered to be related to administrative and organizational management (Sebastian & Park, 2023), even though the role of school leadership is more complex because school leadership can be a catalyst for significant change in overall school performance.…”

Expert Teams in Instructional Leadership Practices Based on Collaboration and Their Transference to Local Teaching Improvement Networks

“…International evidence shows that instructional leadership is critical in explaining teaching practices, student learning improvement and teachers' professional learning. From its origins to the present, and in different contexts, this approach has focused on the quality of teaching to achieve learning (Hallinger & Murphy, 1985;Hou, Cui & Zhang, 2019;Özdemir, Gümüş, Kılınç, & Bellibaş, 2022). Instructional leaders pays attention to the school mission, curriculum management and instruction to bolster teacher performance, monitor student progress and establish a harmonious instructional environment (Robinson, Lloyd & Rowe, 2008).…”