Linking Leadership to Student Learning: The Contributions of Leader Efficacy

Purposes: This study aimed to improve our understanding of the nature, causes and consequence of school leader efficacy, including indirect influences on student learn-ing. We asked about district contributions to school leader efficacy, whether leader self- and collective efficacy responded to the same or different district conditions and the effects of leader efficacy on conditions in the school and the learning of students. Methods: Evidence for the study was provided by 96 principal and 2,764 teacher respondents to two separate surveys, along with student achievement data in language and math averaged over 3 years. Path analytic techniques were used to address the objectives for the study. Findings: In this study, school leaders ’ collective efficacy was an important link between district conditions and both the conditions found in schools and their effects on student achievement. School leaders ’ sense of collective efficacy also had a strong, positive, relationship with leadership practices found to be effective in earlier studies. Implications: These results suggest that district leaders are most likely to build the confidence and sense of collective efficacy among principals by emphasizing the pri-ority they attach to achievement and instruction, providing targeted and phased focus for school improvement efforts and by building cooperative working relationships with schools