Evidence suggests that principals' practices influence student achievement. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the beliefs elementary school principals in the mid-Atlantic United States had about which leadership practices have been instrumental in reducing the achievement gap between economically-disadvantaged students and all other students at their schools. The leadership model that Kouzes and Posner developed, which identified 5 practices of exemplary leaders, served as the conceptual framework for this study. Eleven principals who were leaders at schools where the achievement gap in reading had been reduced compared with the state average were interviewed. A combination of a priori and open coding was used to support thematic analysis. Six leadership practices, aligned with transformational and instructional leadership practices, were identified as influencing student achievement positively. The participants indicated the importance of leading by example and developing positive relationships with all stakeholders and communicating and inspiring all stakeholders with their vision for their schools, believed in shared decision making and developing teacher leaders, and understood the value of risk-taking and innovation along with a strong instructional focus. The results of this study add to the research supporting the influence that principals have on student achievement by identifying practices principals could implement at their schools to increase student achievement. It is recommended that school division personnel and principal preparation program personnel use these results to inform their training programs and school improvement initiatives. Positive social change may occur when principals implement these 6 practices at their own schools, thereby increasing the reading achievement of economically-disadvantaged students.

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Student affairs professionals in higher education are expected to provide leadership in many ways on their campuses. Obtaining a more complete picture of the leadership characteristics of the profession is therefore important in informing those in the profession who provide continuing professional development programming and for those who teach in graduate student affairs programs. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to determine whether there were differences in the perceived leadership practices of student affairs professionals when analyzed by the independent variables of race, gender, level of current position, age, and highest degree earned. The instrument used in this survey was the Leadership Practices Inventory-Self (LPI-Self) originally developed by Kouzes and Posner (1988) and updated in 2003. The LPI contains 30 statements, organized into five subscales, describing behaviors rated on a 10-point Likert-type scale. The five subscales are Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. The instrument measures an individual's perceived use of the different behaviors in each leadership practice. An email was sent to 2,807 student affairs professionals in the Southern Region (Region III) of NASPA containing an invitation to participate in this study. A total of 713 surveys were completed for an overall response rate of 25.4%. A significant statistical difference was found in the leadership practice Encourage the Heart for race. Black student affairs professionals' perceptions of their leadership practice of Encourage the Heart were statistically significantly higher than their Hispanic and White counterparts. In addition, a significant statistical difference was found for the independent variable level of current position where senior-level student affairs professionals scored statistically higher than mid- and entry-level professionals. Furthermore, for the independent variable highest degree earned, student affairs professionals with doctoral degrees scored significantly higher on all five leadership practices than student affairs professionals with masters' or bachelors' degrees. However, no significant differences were found between student affairs professionals with bachelors' or a masters' degrees. This study supports the idea that leadership development may be enhanced through experience and graduate work which results in obtaining a doctorate. The findings also suggest that student affairs professionals in mid- and entry- positions may benefit from development and pre-service programs where the leadership practice inventory is administered and professionals are made aware of their leadership practices .

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