(In)effective leadership? Exploring the interplay of challenges, goals and measures in the context of school improvement

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to explore the extent to which schools principals serving disadvantaged communities in Germany are able to set appropriate goals and choose suitable measures for improving their schools according to the specific challenges they face. The authors determine whether principals are able to identify their schools' challenges or whether they merely follow “universal recipes” of the school effectiveness research paradigm regardless of their particular school context. This effectiveness-driven accountability approach requires an in-depth evaluation of the school and its stakeholders and might lead to a new attitude toward failure that sees it as an essential part of developing effective school improvement plans.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted descriptive and correlative analyses as well as exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using longitudinal data of 164 school principals. Through cross-sectional analyses, the authors investigated the connection among challenges, goals and measures and how they correlated with (self-reported) improvements.FindingsFrom a leadership perspective, priorities for school improvement should be aligned with the school-specific challenges they identify and the goals they set to address them.Research limitations/implicationsThe extent to which legislation concerning individual school quality development programs can translate into feasible and effective actions is unclear. Caution should be taken when interpreting the findings of this study, as they reflect school principals' self-selected evaluation measures and therefore might be biased.Practical implicationsIn future research, emphasis should be placed on school management processes, in particular, the development of strategic decision-making, structuring of target perspectives and derivation of steps in school improvement and instructional development. The authors recommend the government offer school principals appropriate and adequate training and support services to prevent them from overburdening their staff.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to a deeper understanding of processes concerning strategic leadership, as opposed to operative management, of schools by revealing context-sensitive considerations.

Contextual imperatives for effective shared instructional leadership: a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

“…School autonomy gives administrators flexibility and allows teachers to participate or not participate in decision-making as needed. The school deals with the specific challenge and develops its effective leadership frame in the policy context (Böse and Brauckmann-Sajkiewicz, 2021; Jacob et al. , 2015).…”

Promises and pitfalls: principals using short-cycle school improvement plans to optimize organizational change

“…In many countries, school improvement planning has been coupled with school accountability policies—such as Ofsted in the United Kingdom (Broadhead et al ., 1998), No Child Left Behind in the US States (VanGronigen and Meyers, 2019) and whole-school evaluations in Ireland (McNamara et al ., 2002)—that both legitimize SIPs and mandate their content. These mandates can result in limited budget flexibility (Adil et al ., 2018), inadequate consideration of the causes of low school performance (Böse and Brauckmann-Sajkiewicz, 2021) and insufficient staff investment in the school improvement planning process (VanGronigen and Meyers, 2019).…”

“…Elsewhere, researchers have reported on the importance of using data to inform SIP development, including measures to record successes and shortcomings, and strategically designing responses to address causes of low school performance (e.g. Böse and Brauckmann-Sajkiewicz, 2021). In Italy, for example, Caputo and Rastellli (2014) reported that higher-quality SIPs correlated with better school organizational outcomes, including staff ability to analyze their school's context and prioritize the right aspects to improve their schools.…”