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Effects of Principal Professional Orientation Towards Leadership, Professional Teacher Behavior, and School Academic Optimism on School Reading Achievement

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How School Leaders Contribute to Student Success

Part of the book series: Studies in Educational Leadership ((SIEL,volume 23))

Abstract

This chapter reports the results of a study testing the effects of the principal’s professional orientation towards leadership/enabling school structure (ESS) on two mediating variables; school academic optimism (SAO) and professional teacher behavior (PTB) on the outcome variable school reading achievement (RA). Data were drawn from a sample of 54 schools (including 45 elementary schools and 9 middle schools); the school was the unit of analysis. Data analysis supported a path to reading achievement in which Enabling School Structures was the immediate antecedent of School Academic Optimism and Professional Teacher Behavior. Two control variables, school level and SES were included in the model. SES had a significant effect on SAO but not on PTB. School level had a negative effect on both PTB and SAO suggesting that both variables were higher in elementary school and declined in middle school. SES paired with SAO in predicting RA. As expected, SAO had a greater effect on RA than SES. The significance of the findings lies in the confirmation of SAO as an important influence on RA and in demonstrating the importance of ESS in establishing a context in which AO and PTB can flourish.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Educational Leadership, Policy and Technology Studies, The College of Education, University of Alabama, Box 870302 301, Graves Hall, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

    Roxanne Mitchell & John Tarter

Authors
  1. Roxanne Mitchell
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  2. John Tarter
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Correspondence to Roxanne Mitchell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto, Ontario, Ontario, Canada

    Kenneth Leithwood

  2. University of Alabama, The College of Education University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA

    Jingping Sun

  3. Western University, Faculty of Education Western University, London, Ontario, Canada

    Katina Pollock

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Mitchell, R., Tarter, J. (2017). Effects of Principal Professional Orientation Towards Leadership, Professional Teacher Behavior, and School Academic Optimism on School Reading Achievement. In: Leithwood, K., Sun, J., Pollock, K. (eds) How School Leaders Contribute to Student Success. Studies in Educational Leadership, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50980-8_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50980-8_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-50979-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-50980-8

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