Abstract:
This study examined the relationships among school leadership practices, parental involvement, disciplinary climate, students’ perceptions on reading, and student achievement with sample obtained from the combined data of Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 package. School leadership is believed to have a positive indirect impact on student achievement through the influence of other mediating variables. It was hypothesized that the more time principals spend on accomplishing school practices, the greater the degree of parental involvement and disciplinary climate, thus better student achievement. In addition, it was hypothesized that leadership practices from the four selected countries (Hong Kong SAR, Chinese Taipei, Canada, and the United States) are significantly different, and meaningful differences in the rating difficulty of all the survey items can be observed across region. The combined data of PIRLS and TIMSS 2011 utilized self-developed questionnaires. Leadership practices, parental involvement, and disciplinary climate were measured using the School Questionnaire in the data package. Students’ perceptions on reading was measured by the Student Questionnaire, and student achievement was measured by reading, mathematics, and science from the 4th graders of the selected countries. As predicted, the hypotheses dealing with the indirect influence of leadership practices on student outcomes were supported by the results from this study which indicated that the better the school leadership, the better the student outcomes. Not the least, the study supported that meaningful differences regarding the rating difficulty from the respondents did exist among the four countries.
