Academic culture: a promising mediator of school leaders’ influence on student learning
| Pages | 350-363 |
| Date | 09 May 2018 |
| Published date | 09 May 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-01-2017-0009 |
| Author | Kenneth Leithwood,Jingping Sun |
| Subject Matter | Education,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education |
Academic culture: a promising
mediator of school leaders’
influence on student learning
Kenneth Leithwood
Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education,
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, and
Jingping Sun
Department of Educational Leadership, Policy and Technology Studies,
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
Abstract
Purpose –This study is a quantitative exploration of a new construct the authors label as “academic culture
(AC).”Treating it as generalized latent variable composed of academic press (AP), disciplinary climate (DC),
and teachers’use of instructional time, the purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of this construct to
be a key mediator of school leaders’influence on student learning. The study is guided by three hypotheses.
Design/methodology/approach –Responses by 856 elementary teachers from 70 schools to an online
survey measured the three components of AC along with school leadership (SL). Provincial tests of writing,
reading, and math were used as measures of student achievement (SA). Social economic status (SES) was used
as control variable for the study. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics and correlations were
calculated among all variables. Analyses included intra-class correlation analysis, regression equations,
confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling.
Findings –Evidence confirmed the study’s three hypotheses: first, AP, DC, and instructional time formed a
general latent construct, AC; second, AC explained a significant proportion of the variance in SA, controlling
for student SES; and third, AC was a significant mediator of SL’s influence on SA. Concepts and measures of
academic optimism (AO) and AC are compared in the paper and implications for practice and future research
are outlined.
Originality/value –This first study of AC explored the relationship between AC and SA. Although at least
two AO studies have included measures of distributed leadership, minimal attention has been devoted to
actually testing the claim that AO is amenable to the influence of explicit leadership practices (as distinct from
enabling school structures) and is a powerful mediator of SL effects on student learning. Addressing this
limitation of AO research to date, the present study included a well-developed measure of leadership practices
and assessed the value of AC as a mediator of such practices.
Keywords Leadership, Student learning, Academic culture, Academic press, Disciplinary climate,
Instructional time
Paper type Research paper
School leader effects on student learning are largely indirect (Hallinger and Heck, 1996;
Heck and Hallinger, 2010, 2014; Leithwood et al., 2006, 2010; Marks and Printy, 2003). Given
the substantial theory and evidence accumulated in support of this claim, one of the most
important goals for leadership research is to identify potentially powerful mediators or
school-related variables that make significant, relatively direct, contributions to student
learning, and are amenable to skillful leadership intervention. The practical value of such
research lies in the guidance it provides leaders when choosing the focus of their
improvement efforts; while leaders’choices are myriad, only some of those choices pay off
for students.
Although much more research is required before a comprehensive set of powerful
individual leadership mediators is available, a second strand of this work is now underway.
This strand probes below the surface of combinations of individual mediators unearthing
more fundamental properties of productive schools in order to provide leaders with broader
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 56 No. 3, 2018
pp. 350-363
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-01-2017-0009
Received 26 January 2017
Revised 10 June 2017
17 October 2017
22 November 2017
21 January 2018
6 February 2018
Accepted 8 February 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
350
JEA
56,3
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