School leadership and school improvement: Testing a reciprocal effects model

We propose that longitudinal multilevel models (including those with reciprocal effects) are a potentially powerful means of capturing the effects of leadership in organizations. They have been little tested, however, in previous research on leadership and organizational improvement. Our proposed conceptual model emphasizes dynamic organizational components of school improvement and growth in student learning that influence each other over time within one simultaneous model. The model conceptualizes leadership as both an independent and dependent variable embedded within the organizational context; that is, leadership is viewed as impacting school improvement primarily through “indirect paths” and, in turn, growth in student learning is proposed to affect leadership at a later point in time. Results provide support for the proposed theoretical model.