Although the is little disagreement conquering the belief that principals have an impact on the lives of teachers and students, both the nature and degree of this effect continues to be open to debate. The relationship is complex and not easily subject to empirical verification. This article reviews the empirical literature on the relationship between the principal's role and school effectiveness during the period from 1980 to 1995. We specifically focus on the conceptual underpinnings of several theoretical models to study the role, the relationship between models and methods of investigation, an4 consequently, to what has been learned about the nature of the principal impact. We conclude by framing a possible research agenda for the next generation of studies on the effects of school administration.

This article reviews research from 1980-1995 exploring the relationship between principal leadership and student achievement. The focuses is on the substantive findings that emerged from the review. Earlier reports focused on conceptual and methodological issues. The general pattern of results drawn from this review supports the belief that principals exercise a measurable, though indirect effect on school effectiveness and student achievement. While this indirect effect is relatively small, it is statistically significant and supports the general belief among educators that principals contribute to school effectiveness and improvement. Moreover, the review suggests that previously described discrepancies in research results may be explained by the conceptual and methodological tools employed by researchers. We also emphasize the limitations of these studies. Even taken as a group they do not resolve the most important theoretical and practical issues concerning the means by which principals achieve an impact on school outcomes and how contextual forces influence the exercise of leadership in the schoolhouse. It is concluded that while substantial progress has been made over the past 15 years in understanding the principal's contribution to school effectiveness, the most important scholarly and practical work lies ahead. In addition to this qualified, we assert that scholars are better equipped conceptually and methodologically to address these challenges than in 1980.

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Although there has been sizable growth in the number of empirical studies of shared forms of leadership over the past decade, the bulk of this research has been descriptive. Relatively few published studies have investigated the impact of shared leadership on school improvement. This longitudinal study examines the effects of distributed leadership on school improvement and growth in student math achievement in 195 elementary schools in one state over a 4-year period. Using multilevel latent change analysis, the research found significant direct effects of distributed leadership on change in the schools’ academic capacity and indirect effects on student growth rates in math. The study supports a perspective on distributed leadership that aims at building the academic capacity of schools as a means of improving student learning outcomes.

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