Kenneth Leithwood’s research while affiliated with University of Toronto and other places


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Publications (185)


Academic Culture: Its Meaning, Measure and Contribution to Student Learning
  • Article

July 2024

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52 Reads

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1 Citation

Journal of School Leadership

Kenneth Leithwood

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This study had two objectives. One objective was to assess the psychometric properties of a survey instrument measuring a new latent variable, Academic Culture (AC), combining three observed variables academic press, disciplinary climate and teachers’ uses of instructional time. The second objective was to replicate the results of an earlier study identifying AC as a significant mediator of school leadership’s influence on student learning. Data for the study were provided from 2068 teachers located in 49 schools in 14 Texas school districts, as well as student achievement data from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) and student socioeconomic (SES) data available from school websites. Second order Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Many-Facet Rasch (MFR) models were used to examine the survey instrument’s construct validity and its measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling was used to identify the extent to which AC mediated the effects of school leadership on student achievement controlling for student SES. Rasch analysis and CFA confirmed the measurement invariance and several forms of validity of the survey instrument. Replicating the results of an earlier study, results of structural equation modeling demonstrated significant effects of AC on student achievement and identified AC as a significant mediator of school leadership effects on student achievement. The study contributes to the quality of instruments available to school leaders for their school improvement work and to researchers inquiring about the most promising variables mediating the indirect effects of school leadership on student success.


The Intellectual Evolution of Educational Leadership Research: A Combined Bibliometric and Thematic Analysis Using SciMAT
  • Article
  • Full-text available

April 2024

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548 Reads

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7 Citations

Education Sciences

This study aims to describe the century-long trajectory of educational leadership research (ELR), including changes over time in its main and subsidiary themes, as well as its most influential authors, papers, and journals. The study combines the bibliometric performance and science mapping analysis of 7282 articles retrieved from the Scopus and WoS databases. SciMAT software (version 1.1.04) was used to analyze changes over four sequential time periods and to exhibit the thematic evolution of the field—Period 1 (1907 to 2004), Period 2 (2005 to 2012), Period 3 (2013 to 2019), and Period 4 (2020–2023). Research during Period 1 focused on principals and included efforts to distinguish between their administrative functions and forms of ‘strong’ leadership contributing to school improvement. Period 2 included research aimed at understanding what strong principal leadership entailed, including the development and testing of more coherent models of such leadership. While instructional and transformational leadership models were prominent during Periods 1 and 2, Period 3 research invested heavily in conceptions of leadership distribution. Early research about ‘social justice leadership’ appeared during this period and eventually flourished during Period 4. While principals were an active focus through all Periods, the leadership of others gradually dominated ELR and accounted for the broader leadership theme found in all four periods. The results point to the evolutionary nature of ELR development, which eventually produced a relatively robust knowledge base. Experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic suggest that crises such as this might prompt more revolutionary orientations in the ELR field.

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The Personal Resources of Successful Leaders: A Narrative Review

September 2023

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304 Reads

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8 Citations

Education Sciences

Leaders’ practices or overt behaviors are the proximal causes of leaders’ effects on their organizations; they also dominate the research about successful leadership and often the content of leadership development programs, as well. But knowledge about those practices is, at best, a necessary but insufficient explanation for successful leadership and how it can be developed. This paper explores three categories of “personal leadership resources” that help explain why especially successful leaders behave as they do. These resources are often referred to as “dispositions”, a term sometimes considered synonymous with traits, abilities, personal leadership resources and elements of a leader’s personal “capital”. The focus of this chapter is on three categories of resources (social, psychological and ethical) identified primarily through systematic research methods. For each category, the paper identifies the conceptual lens through which its dispositions are viewed and provides an explanation for how each of the specific dispositions within the category contributes to leaders’ success. The paper also reviews a sample of evidence about contributions each disposition makes to leaders’ success in achieving valued organizational outcomes. Implications for research and leader development are discussed in the concluding section of the paper.


SSLS second order factor
Effects of the four dimensions of SSL on student learning through the four paths
Psychometric properties of the successful school leadership survey

April 2023

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146 Reads

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9 Citations

Journal of Educational Administration

Purpose This study extends research on one of the most frequently cited school leadership frameworks by examining the psychometric properties of the instrument designed to assess many of the practices included in that framework. Design/methodology/approach Using data collected from 1,401 teachers the study examined the instrument’s measurement invariance, score reliabilities, as well as construct and predictive validities. Polytomous latent trait models (Many-Facet Rasch model), scale and principal component analysis using second-order Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)-Path modelling were used for these purposes. Findings Findings report levels of score reliability and valid score inferences. Results concerning the predictive validity of the instrument indicate a complex set of relations among the domains of leadership practices measured by the instrument, variables selected as mediators of leaders’ influence, and their direct and indirect effects on student learning. Research limitations/implications This study provides researchers with a reliable and valid instrument for use in their future research. Data for the study were provided by elementary teachers in one US state. The extent to which results of the instrument are valid across different cultural and organizational settings remains to be determined. Practical implications Leadership developers may find the instrument useful for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of those participating in their programs while leaders themselves many find the instrument useful for self-diagnosis. Originality/value This study contributes to the development of school leadership measures by including Rasch modeling among the methods used for examining the instrument’s psychometric properties.




A Review of Evidence about Equitable School Leadership

July 2021

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641 Reads

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103 Citations

Education Sciences

This paper reviews the results of 63 empirical studies and reviews of research in order to identify those school leadership practices and dispositions likely to help improve equitable school conditions and outcomes for diverse and traditionally underserved students. Guided by a well-developed framework of successful school leadership, results indicate that most of the practices and dispositions in the framework can be enacted in ways that contribute to more equitable conditions and outcomes for students. A handful of these practices and dispositions appear to make an especially significant contribution to the development of more equitable schools as well as several additional practices and dispositions associated with equitable leadership merit mastery by equitably-oriented leaders. Among the especially significant practices are building productive partnerships among parents, schools, and the larger community as well as encouraging teachers to engage in forms of instruction with all students that are both ambitious and culturally responsive. Leaders are likely to be more effective when they adopt a critical perspective on the policies, practices, and procedures in their schools and develop a deep understanding of the cultures, norms, values, and expectations of the students’ families. The paper concludes with implications for practice and future research.



How School Leadership Influences Student Learning: A Test of “The Four Paths Model”

October 2019

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1,058 Reads

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225 Citations

Educational Administration Quarterly

Purpose: This study tested a set of variables mediating school leadership’s influence on students referred to as “The four paths model.” Each path in the model includes variables with significant direct effects on student learning and which are malleable to practices included in an integrated model of effective school leadership. Research Design: Evidence for the study were responses to a survey by 1,779 teachers in 81 Texas elementary schools about the status of school leadership and all 13 variables on the four paths. Student achievement data were provided by results of state tests combining all subjects and all grades, while the count and percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch was used to estimate socioeconomic status. Confirmatory factor analysis, regression analysis, and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data. Findings: Results uncovered a more nuanced and complex set of relationships among the four paths and their component variables than was specified in the original version of the model. School leadership significantly influenced student learning only through variables on one path, while variables on the other three paths influenced student learning only through their contribution to variables on that one path. Conclusions: Results point to the value of future research about the relationships among variables on the four paths, as well as efforts to identify latent variables among the observed variables in the study. Results of the study can be used by school leaders to more productively focus their school improvement efforts.


Framework for study
How school districts influence student achievement

June 2019

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472 Reads

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57 Citations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of nine district characteristics on student achievement, explored the conditions that mediated the effects of such characteristics and contributed to understandings about the role school-level leaders play in district efforts to improve achievement. Design/methodology/approach Data for the study were provided by the responses of 2,324 school and district leaders in 45 school districts to two surveys. Student achievement evidence was provided by multi-grade provincial measures of math and language achievement. The analysis of these data included calculation of descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and regression mediation analysis. Findings Seven of nine district characteristics contributed significantly to student achievement and three conditions served as especially powerful mediators of such district effects. The same three conditions, as well as others, acted as significant mediators of school-level leader effects on achievement, as well. Practical implications District characteristics tested in the study provide a powerful framework for guiding the district improvement work of senior educational leaders. The organizational improvement efforts of both district and school leaders would be substantially enhanced by a better understanding of how to diagnose and improve the status of those conditions acting as significant mediators of the effects of both district and school leadership on student achievement. Originality/value This is one of a very few large-scale quantitative studies examining the extent to which characteristics frequently identified by district effectiveness research explain variation in student learning. It is also one of the very few studies identifying classroom, school and family variables that mediate district effects on such learning. The study also adds to a growing body of evidence about variables which mediate school leaders’ effects on such learning.


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Citations (94)


... As rapid advances in science and technology continue to affect human life in the 21st century significantly, countries are feeling the pressure to take significant new steps in every field to catch up with the changing demands and needs as well as to strengthen their positions and to achieve prosperity in this new world (Karakose et al., 2024a(Karakose et al., , 2024bPeng, 2022). Enhancing the quality and competency of their citizens has an important share in the development of societies. ...

Reference:

Leading sustainable school improvement: a meta-synthesis of qualitative research on problems and challenges faced by school leaders
The Intellectual Evolution of Educational Leadership Research: A Combined Bibliometric and Thematic Analysis Using SciMAT

Education Sciences

... Similarly, several studies underline that school principals are too occupied with non-educational and bureaucratic work (Aküzüm, 2017;Koşar et al., 2013) and their authority is too limited with an insufficient share of their responsibilities (Aslan, 2021;Demirtaş and Özer, 2014). However, prominent researchers in the educational administration field state that principals should not be challenged or eroded by assigning them responsibilities for accomplishing impossible goals which are often incoherent, but should allow principals considerable discretion about school-level decisions as they know the best what priorities make the most sense in their schools (Gurr et al., 2022;Hallinger, 2018;Leithwood, 2023). It is crucial for policymakers and educational legislators that 'successful school principalship is an interactive, reciprocal and evolving process involving many players, which is influenced by and, in turn, influences, the context in which it occurs" (Mulford and Johns, 2004, p, 73). ...

The Personal Resources of Successful Leaders: A Narrative Review

Education Sciences

... Por ejemplo, Sun & Leithwood (2014), tras una revisión documental de 24 estudios que evaluaban efectos directos del Liderazgo Transformacional Escolar (LTE) (Kvashnina & Martynko, 2016), en el logro de los estudiantes, encuentran una relación pequeña, pero con significativo efecto positivo directo, con un coeficiente de correlación promedio de 0.09. Los autores también encuentran que algunas prácticas de LTE como "construir estructuras de colaboración" y "proporcionar consideración individualizada" hicieron contribuciones mucho más grandes en los logros de los estudiantes (r= 0.17 y r=0.15 respectivamente), que otras prácticas, las cuales oscilaron entre r= 0.03 y r= 0.05. ...

Efectos del Liderazgo Escolar Transformacional en el Rendimiento de los estudiantes

REICE Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad Eficacia y Cambio en Educación

... Perhaps as we reflected, we found that the effect of leadership on education and schools is more complex and less transparent than we had assumed, with some combination of school type, leadership context, and school climate explaining some of the variability around leadership effectiveness. Some leadership models, such as transformational leadership, which focuses on vision, empowerment and innovation might have greater impact on teacher performance in specific context [124,132,200,201]. Future studies could examine these differences to better comprehend the contextual factors that help or harm the influence of leadership. ...

Psychometric properties of the successful school leadership survey

... The earlier sections relating to learning-centred leadership and personalised learning have made clear the complexity of information systems required and the skills needed to interpret data and then communicate that analysis. Leaders can be expected to employ 'evidence-driven decision-making' and work is needed on developing relevant quality indicators for such things as school culture, pupil engagement and collaboration among staff (Leithwood et al 2007). The new arrangements for extended schools and the idea of successful engagement with parents suggest leaders need performance indicators beyond measures of value-added academic performance. ...

Developing and Sustaining School Leaders: Lessons from Research
  • Citing Chapter
  • January 2007

... Leithwood & Louis (1999) la presentan como una superación del liderazgo "instructivo." Leithwood & Prestine (2002). El liderazgo debe ser examinado de acuerdo con los parámetros de liderazgo democrático, para reorientar los que operan en el campo educativo. ...

Unpacking the Challenges of Leadership at the School and District Level
  • Citing Article
  • April 2002

Teachers College Record

... Additionally, given that primary school leaders represent the backbone of educational organizations, their well-being is also essential for their effective functioning and the success of their organizations [13]. Indeed, primary school leaders are deemed as a crucial part of the educational workforce, also important in improving teaching and learning conditions in schools, as well as achieving educational outcomes [14][15][16]; this also adds to the importance of studies on their well-being. Yet, data show that school principals experience high levels of stress and health impairment, while further study is needed to unveil and understand the psychosocial hazards of their role [13,16,17]. ...

Leadership and other Conditions which Foster Organizational Learning in Schools
  • Citing Chapter
  • November 2021

... Moreover, as leaders in technology and digital innovation, School Directors must advocate for equitable access to technology resources. They need to address the digital divide, ensuring that every student has equal opportunities to benefit from technology-enhanced learning experiences (Leithwood, 2021;Theodorakopoulos et al., 2024b). This may involve securing funding, forging partnerships with technology companies, and exploring creative solutions to bridge the gap. ...

A Review of Evidence about Equitable School Leadership

Education Sciences

... Research has found that leadership influences student achievement (Bryk et al., 2010;Fullan, 2010;Grissom et al., 2021;Leithwood & Louis, 2012b;Louis, Dretzke et al., 2010;Penlington et al., 2008;Sergiovanni, 1984). Therefore, school leaders must exercise their skills, knowledge, and beliefs (Leithwood & McCullough, 2021;Louis, Dretzke et al., 2010;Wahlstrom & Lewis, 2008) to enhance student achievement (Bryk et al., 2010;DiPaola & Tschannen-Moran, 2003). What they choose to do intentionally is referred to as "leadership agency" (Bandura, 2006). ...

Leading School Districts for Improved Student Success
  • Citing Chapter
  • June 2021

... However, it is argued that though resource management is an important job for school administrators, they should not focus on that alone. They should also concentrate on improving student quality learning by supporting teachers in setting goals, develop teamwork, and empowering teachers (Leithwood et al. 2020). ...

How School Leadership Influences Student Learning: A Test of “The Four Paths Model”
  • Citing Article
  • October 2019

Educational Administration Quarterly