Assessing instructional leadership: a longitudinal study of new principals

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Self Assessment of Leadership of Teaching and Learning (SALTAL) inventory, in conditions of repeated administration.Design/methodology/approachIn 2006 and 2007, nearly all of New Zealand's newly‐appointed school principals participated in an 18 month induction program (First Time Principals). The SALTAL self‐report was administered in three waves (i.e. before FTP, after two residential courses, and at the end of the FTP) to two cohorts. This voluntary survey was completed all three times by 55 per cent (n=86) and 44 per cent (n=85) of 2006 and 2007 participants respectively. Multi‐group confirmatory factor analysis evaluated the stability of the SALTAL factor structure for each of the six administrations. Longitudinal curve modeling evaluated the linear effect of time on SALTAL responses.FindingsResponses to SALTAL were found to be statistically equivalent across all six administrations. The longitudinal model was statistically invariant between cohorts. Initial scores were inversely correlated with changes over time. Increased time had a significant effect on SALTAL scores.Originality/valueThe paper shows that the SALTAL has demonstrable stability in eliciting response in repeated administration and is useful for studying the impact of leadership development programs.

Impact of a Short-Term Professional Development Teacher Training on Students’ Perceptions and Use of Errors in Mathematics Learning

“…The invariance of a model across the measurement occasions is evaluated by establishing whether fixing model parameters (e.g., factor regression weights, covariances, factor intercepts, or residuals) as equivalent results in a statistically significant difference in model fit (Vandenberg and Lance, 2000;Cheung and Rensvold, 2002). Conventionally, as each set of parameters is constrained to be equivalent, the difference in CFI should be ≤0.01 (Brown and Chai, 2012;Brown et al, 2017). Measurement invariance analyses were performed with Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation in Mplus version 7.31.…”

What do we know about novice school principals? A systematic review of existing international literature

“…The third and most recent line of research on NPs is related to NPs’ role in school improvement . In this broad category, most studies are interested in the role of NPs in relation to instructional leadership (Brown & Chai, 2012; Kerrins and Cushing, 2000; Leiva et al, 2016) or teacher development/evaluation (Rigby, 2015; Sackney and Walker, 2006). Other related studies focus on NPs’ understanding of or practices related to school improvement, accountability, and autonomy (Heffernan, 2018; Meyer et al, 2019; Shirrell, 2016; Weiner and Woulfin, 2017).…”

Assessing Instructional Leadership with the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale

“…These include experimental (e.g., , quasi-experimental (e.g., , and longitudinal research designs (e.g., Brown and Chai 2012;Hallinger and Heck 2011a, b;). There has been almost no use of the PIMRS in experimental, quasi-experimental, or longitudinal research designs where researchers were seeking to study leadership and learning.…”