The relationship between teacher unionization and student achievement is an important consideration in the overall debate about the nations education system. Past studies have shown mixed results as to whether unionization has a positive ornegative effect on student achievement. I examine this question using test scoresfrom the National Assessment of Educational Progress and data from the Schools and Staffing Survey and find that unions seem to have a negative and statistically significant effect on student achievement. While this effect is small for slight changes in unionization, a large shift leads to visibly negative results.
THE RELATIVE IMPACT OF PRINCIPAL MANAGERIAL, INSTRUCTIONAL, AND TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN MISSOURI MIDDLE LEVEL SCHOOLS
By
E. NYLE KLINGINSMITH
This study examined the relationship of three factors of principal leadership,
managerial, instructional, and transformational. A total of 133 middle level public schools in Missouri were included in the study. This study was part of a larger study of middle level education being conducted by the Middle Level Leadership Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Two survey forms were used to collect data for this study. A total of 849 teachers responded to a survey that collected data about their perceptions of principal effectiveness in one factor of principal managerial leadership and
two factors of principal instructional leadership. A total of 854 teachers responded to a survey that collected data about their perceptions of principal transformational leadership.
Data from the surveys were aggregated and analyzed using Pearson product-moment correlations, analyses of variance, and multiple regression equation estimates. Student achievement data were obtained from the spring 2006 administration of the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests in Communication Arts and Mathematics. The study found significant correlations among all nine factors of principal leadership. There were significant differences in principal leadership factor ratings when schools were grouped by student achievement. School demographic factors for SES, attendance, enrollment, and FTE had significant correlations with student achievement.
Three measures of principal experience had significant correlations with student achievement. Seven of the nine factors of principal leadership correlated significantly with both subtests when controlling for SES. The two remaining factors had a significant correlation with one of the tests. The leadership factor, Instructional Improvement, appeared to have the greatest impact on student achievement. A model of the contextual elements of the role of principal and the relationship of school and principal demographic variables as well as principal leadership factors with student achievement in that larger context was developed, and implications for research, practice, policy, and the preparation of educational leaders was developed
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MEANINGFUL TEACHER EVALUATION PROCESS IN A CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Jean R. Green
The process of teacher evaluation has often been less than satisfying for both teachers and administrators. Educational literature dealing with teacher evaluation shows that it is frequently a rote procedure with little or no benefit for the people involved. In this study, the researcher used the action research process to design, implement, and evaluate a new system of teacher evaluation and development in St. Anne’s Catholic School. Twenty teachers of the twenty-two member faculty participated in the two-year study. Together, the teachers and administrator examined the original system of evaluation and then devised a new system. They put the new process into effect, critiqued it, and revised it. The administration and faculty learned that teacher evaluation can be more meaningful if teachers are involved in its planning, given a choice of evaluative methods, and evaluated consistently throughout the school year.
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