Longitudinal Effects of a Professional Development Program on Principals’ Leadership Practices: Results of a Baseline Latent Change Score Model

Abstract

Principal leadership plays an important role in teacher practices and student achievement. Professional development (PD) can help principals to improve their leadership practices—yet few studies to date have examined the effects of formal PD on principals. The present study uses matched data from n = 62 principals and n = 1112 teachers to investigate the longitudinal effects of an 18-month PD program regarding school improvement for principals in Germany. Results from baseline latent change score modelling suggest positive changes in principals’ self-reported leadership practices aimed at improving instructional quality at their schools and promoting teacher development. The positive change in practices is partly reflected in the reports of teachers in the respective schools. We find evidence for characteristics of high-quality PD programs for principals, such as joint participation of leadership pairs, group discussions, internships and coaching, that might help practitioners to design future PD activities for principals. Research should further examine characteristics of effective PD for principals taking control groups and confounding variables into account.