Distributed Leadership is often considered an optimal form of leadership to improve student achievement. The challenge though is that previous research on distributed leadership has often described what distributed leadership is as opposed to what distributed leadership's impact on student achievement might be. Since leadership has an indirect effect on student achievement, exploring organizational factors that may have a more direct impact on student achievement is important. Academic optimism describes teachers' perceptions of the staff's collective efficacy, the trust experienced between teachers, and between teachers and administrators, and the extent to which academic press (high expectations) is evident in the school. Academic optimism is an organizational factor that improves student achievement according to previous research. This thesis examined patterns of distributed leadership and their correlation to academic optimism. Further I examined the impact that academic optimism has on student achievement. By surveying 2122 teachers in 113 schools in a large school board in south-central Ontario, I determined that planfully aligned distributed leadership had a significant correlation to academic optimism but academic optimism did not have a significant correlation to student achievement. Rather, academic press, one of the variables within academic optimism, did have a significant correlation to student achievement in language and math. This study concluded that planfully aligned distributed leadership mediated by academic press had a significant impact on student achievement.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Thesis (M.S.)--Georgia Southern University, 2008. / "A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science." Under the direction of Daniel R. Czech. ETD. Electronic version approved: May 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-49) and appendices.

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Issued also as inaugural dissertation, Breslau. / "Literatur-verzeichnis": p. [266]-273.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 91 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-51).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toledo, 2010. / Typescript. "Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Psychology." "A thesis entitled"--at head of title. Title from title page of PDF document. Bibliography: p. 46-52.

Thesis--Leipzig. / Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2010 / Typescript. "Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Psychology." "A dissertation entitled"--at head of title. Title from title page of PDF document. Bibliography: p. 78-93.