Student achievement is influenced by efficacy, a construct linked to behaviors that promote learning. The researcher investigated the strength of the relationships between teacher, principal, and collective efficacy at middle schools within a metropolitan area that received Outstanding Oregon State Report Card ratings for 2010-2011. Teachers and principals completed questionnaires to assess their beliefs about executing specific academic and behavioral tasks. The survey instruments were previously validated. Responses to open-ended questions provided insights into practices that develop efficacy. It was hypothesized that teachers and principals would report strong senses of individual and collective efficacy. Findings showed a moderate relationship between teacher and collective efficacy and a moderate relationship between academic efficacy beliefs and behavioral efficacy beliefs at the teacher and collective levels. The middle schools with higher levels of teacher, collective, and principal efficacy were characterized by collaborative cultures focused on improving instruction and leadership that promoted collaboration and growth.

This dissertation describes how Canada’s Outstanding Principals (COP) processes (i.e., engaging in the COP program, receiving COP recognition, continuing participation with COPA, engaging in technology-based networking, and navigating nomination process) enhanced the leadership capacities of COP recipients, and how COP, as a leadership development program, strengthened the relationship between transformational leadership and principal efficacy. An exploratory analysis of collective principal efficacy was also presented. Over and above an existing skill set, well-designed leadership development programs require a multi-year commitment integrating leadership wisdom from education and non-education sectors. When core transformational practices were combined, the COP processes of engaging in the COP program, receiving COP recognition, and continuing participation with COPA were most influential, while engaging in technology-based networking and navigating the nomination process were least influential. COP met the six leadership development program elements identified in the literature review as being foundational to a well-designed leadership development program. All six elements were necessary to enhance principal leadership capacity. When evidence relating to influential leadership development experiences and elements of well-designed leadership development programs were combined, purposeful, reciprocal, and iterative peer networking appeared to be the most influential leadership development program element. Principal efficacy was identified as a prerequisite for transformational leadership with the core transformational leadership practice of developing people driving the other core transformational leadership practices. Overall, COP processes moderately improved COP recipient ability to demonstrate core transformational leadership practices. The concepts of transformational leadership and principal efficacy, and their impact on student achievement, are demonstrated as important in the research literature. This dissertation contributed to the research literature by applying these concepts to a leadership development program, establishing that developing leaders with abilities as transformational leaders, and tapping into principal efficacy, were insightful elements of leadership development. Further research was suggested to consolidate understanding of the collective principal efficacy concept, and how to foster collective principal efficacy when developing a network of principals with high principal efficacy. Recommendations for leaders, program developers, and policymakers are made.

This dissertation describes how Canada’s Outstanding Principals (COP) processes (i.e., engaging in the COP program, receiving COP recognition, continuing participation with COPA, engaging in technology-based networking, and navigating nomination process) enhanced the leadership capacities of COP recipients, and how COP, as a leadership development program, strengthened the relationship between transformational leadership and principal efficacy. An exploratory analysis of collective principal efficacy was also presented. Over and above an existing skill set, well-designed leadership development programs require a multi-year commitment integrating leadership wisdom from education and non-education sectors. When core transformational practices were combined, the COP processes of engaging in the COP program, receiving COP recognition, and continuing participation with COPA were most influential, while engaging in technology-based networking and navigating the nomination process were least influential. COP met the six leadership development program elements identified in the literature review as being foundational to a well-designed leadership development program. All six elements were necessary to enhance principal leadership capacity. When evidence relating to influential leadership development experiences and elements of well-designed leadership development programs were combined, purposeful, reciprocal, and iterative peer networking appeared to be the most influential leadership development program element. Principal efficacy was identified as a prerequisite for transformational leadership with the core transformational leadership practice of developing people driving the other core transformational leadership practices. Overall, COP processes moderately improved COP recipient ability to demonstrate core transformational leadership practices. The concepts of transformational leadership and principal efficacy, and their impact on student achievement, are demonstrated as important in the research literature. This dissertation contributed to the research literature by applying these concepts to a leadership development program, establishing that developing leaders with abilities as transformational leaders, and tapping into principal efficacy, were insightful elements of leadership development. Further research was suggested to consolidate understanding of the collective principal efficacy concept, and how to foster collective principal efficacy when developing a network of principals with high principal efficacy. Recommendations for leaders, program developers, and policymakers are made.

The daily, weekly, and unscheduled tasks for school administrators have increased in number and scope over the years, however surprisingly little is known about what principals do on a day-to-day basis and how this varies across schools. Since the effect of principal leadership behaviors, specifically how principals manage their time to accomplish important tasks, is one key to the success of schools, it is important to understand what effective principals do to accomplish this. The purpose of this study was to find out what the differences are in how principals in high and low-performing middle schools spend their time and to determine what relationships exist between the principal's time-on-tasks and school performance. In the literature review, the researcher identified seven categories of time use to collect and classify time-on-tasks data. The categories include: (a) administration/operations, (b) organization management, (c) day-to-day instruction, (d) instructional program, (e) internal relations, (f) external relations and (g) other (Horng, Klasik, & Loeb, 2010). The researcher collected time-on-tasks data from principals of high and low-performing middle schools in Virginia and analyzed the data to determine what relationships exist between the principal's time-on-tasks and school performance. Data analyses revealed that there are significant differences in the amount of time principals at high-performing schools devote to each of the time-on-tasks categories, as compared to the amount of time allocated by their counterparts at low-performing schools. In this study, principals as a whole and principals in the high-performing subgroup spend the largest percentage of time on tasks related to administration and operations, while principals in the low-performing subgroup spend the largest percentage of time on day-to-day instruction. Data also suggest that time spent on tasks related to internal relations is positively correlated with student performance on mathematics and reading tests. When demographic factors are combined with the time-on-tasks categories, a regression analysis suggests that the strongest contributing factor to mathematics and reading test scores is the socioeconomic status of the school with a strong negative correlation between the percentage of students on free/reduced lunch and test scores for mathematics and reading. / Ed. D.