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The purpose of this paper is to test a multilevel, cross-classified model that seeks to illuminate the dynamic nature of relationships among leadership, teaching quality, and student learning in school improvement. The study's primary goal is to shed light on the paths through which leadership influences student learning. At the school level, the model examines the mediating effect of the school's instructional environment on leadership and student learning. At the classroom level, it examines how instructionally focussed leadership can moderate teacher effects on student learning. Then these multiple paths are examined in a single model that seeks to test and highlight the means by which leadership contributes to school improvement.

The current study employed a multilevel longitudinal data set drawn from 60 primary schools in one state in the USA. Using a cross-classification approach to quantitative modeling, the research analyzes the complex cross-level interactions that characterize school-level and classroom level practices that contribute to school improvement and student learning.

The results illustrate the utility of specifying multilevel relationships when examining the “paths” that link school leadership to student learning. First, leadership effects on student learning were fully mediated by the quality of the school's instructional environment. Second, the findings indicated that the classroom-related paths examined in this study directly influenced the measures of student math achievement. Third, the research found that instructionally focussed school leadership moderated the effect of individual teachers on student learning. Fourth, the results suggest that school leaders can enhance student outcomes by creating conditions that lead to greater consistency in levels of effectiveness across teachers.

The study makes substantive contributions to the global knowledge base on school improvement by testing and elaborating on the “paths” that link school leadership and student learning. More specifically, the findings offer insights into strategic targets that instructional leaders can employ to enhance teacher effectiveness and school improvement. Thus, these results both support and extend findings from prior cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of leadership and school improvement.

This is the first study that has tested a conceptualization of leadership for learning in a single “cross-classified longitudinal model” capable of capturing interactions among leadership, classroom teaching processes and growth in student learning. The research illustrates one “state-of-the-art” methodological approach for analyzing longitudinal data collected at both the school and classroom levels when studying school improvement.

This paper presents a model of teacher and school executive satisfaction derived from a study involving 892 respondents in 71 government schools in Western Sydney, Australia. Factor analysis of survey items was utilised to develop an eight factor model of teacher satisfaction. The eight factors were named: school leadership, climate, decision making; merit promotion and local hiring; school infrastructure; school reputation; status and image of teachers; student achievement; workload and the impact of change; and professional self‐growth. Scores on the scales fell into three domains: “core business of teaching” factors (student achievement; professional self‐growth); school level factors (school leadership, climate, decision making; school infrastructure; school reputation); and system level/societal factors (workload and impact of change; status and image of teachers; merit promotion). Respondents were most satisfied with “core business” aspects and least satisfied with system level/societal factors, while school level factors showed the most variation, reflecting the influence of teachers’ specific and varying within‐school experiences. Leadership, communication and decision making styles were found to be important contributing factors to satisfaction with school based aspects of respondents’ roles. It is argued that within the important, school level domain, action to improve teacher satisfaction is most likely to be effective.

Researchers have provided critiques of teacher efficacy research along with suggestions for future research, but no recent reviews have examined the state of collective teacher efficacy (CTE) research as it relates specifically to professional development. This review addressed the following questions: How much research attention has been paid to professional learning and CTE? What does the research tell us about professional learning and CTE? What do we know about influencing CTE through professional learning? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Educational Resources Information Center and EBSCO databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles written in English and published over the last ten years (between 2007 and 2017). The search terms included “collective efficacy” and “teacher or teachers” and “professional development and professional learning” and were extended beyond titles to include keywords contained within the articles. This would help to broaden the search and increase the number of hits.

There is little that can be gleaned from the research related to professional learning and the contextual factors that influence collective efficacy beliefs. Only one study (Paxon et al., 2014) in this review considered the formation of CTE in relation to both remote and proximate sources. Although some of the studies explained Bandura’s (1993) sources of CTE, reference to the sources were notably absent in the reported findings, implications, and conclusions of many of the studies. Contextual variables examined in the component studies included either implementation patterns, trust, sense of belonging, teacher uncertainty, opportunities for teacher leadership, social relationships, and/or labels assigned to low performing districts and/or high performing districts.

A limitation that influences the findings of this review is that the review was not exhaustive, and articles written in English with the search terms outlined did not capture the population of possible articles. Future reviewers may uncover new patterns in CTE research by searching non-English journals and by examining the range of work completed in graduate theses and dissertations.

In regard to promising professional learning designs, inquiry based approaches, including collaborative action research, problem-solving groups, and teams’ monitoring and tracking individual student progress seemed to hold promise. In each of these designs, educators collaboratively analyze student evidence for the purpose of evaluating their impact, reflecting on their collective work, and determining optimal next steps. Interpreting results by examining student learning data might help to strengthen connections between perceived levels of difficulty related to teaching tasks and perceptions of group competence. When conversations shift from generalized talk about student’s progress and polite sharing of teaching strategies to more in-depth conversations about the connections between the two, professional learning becomes more impactful. The interpretation of results, leads to shifts in causal attributions – from assumptions which included “I planned and taught the lesson, but they didn’t get it” to “you haven’t taught it until they’ve learned” as a result of engaging in these types of professional learning designs.

Hattie’s (2015) research, which synthesized major findings from over 1,200 meta-analyses relating to influences on student achievement, demonstrated the magnitude and overall distribution of more than 150,000 effect sizes. In a recent update, Hattie (2016) ranked CTE as the number one influence of all the factors related to student achievement, reporting an effect size of 1.57.This update was based on Eells’ (2011) meta-analysis that synthesized correlational evidence for CTE and student achievement. Eells (2011) found that CTE was strongly and positively associated with student achievement “across subject areas, when using varied instruments, and in multiple locations” (p. 110). Eells (2011) finding is becoming more widely disseminated through the promotion of Hattie’s (2016) Visible Learning Research due to its prominent position within that body of evidence. Thus, the interest of practitioners in the field, including administrators, teachers, and professional learning facilitators has been piqued. Gaining a better understanding of CTE, sources that shape it, and its antecedents and consequences are likely to surface as a major upcoming focus for designers and facilitators of professional learning. There is a small amount of extant research that examined professional development effects on teacher efficacy (Tschannen-Moran and McMaster, 2009; Ross and Bruce, 2007). However, there are many voids in the collective efficacy research. Given this void and the increased interest to gain a better understanding of CTE on part of practitioners, not only is additional research needed, it is imperative to find ways to address the ongoing dilemma of making research and theory relevant to educators’ practice.

School improvement and effectiveness depend substantially on teachers developing their professional competencies on an ongoing basis. Germany's new approach to school governance combines instruments borrowed from different theoretical concepts: teacher collaboration (in a sense of professional self-regulation with high autonomy) and individualized staff development by principals (in a sense of managerial self-regulation with high within-school accountability). The purpose of the study is to examine whether these instruments are applied at schools in Germany, what factors predict the extent of use, and if the use is associated with the improvement of teachers' instructional competencies.

In order to answer our research questions, we conducted a standardized teacher and principal survey at primary and secondary schools in Germany (658 teachers from 51 schools).

The analyses indicate that the instruments are not being carried out across the board. The results of a multilevel path analysis furthermore show that teacher self-efficacy, principals' leadership behavior, school size and students' SES are important preconditions for the use of the two instruments. However, the instruments have an impact on the improvement of teachers' instructional competencies but through different pathways.

Limitations concern the cross-sectional design of the study and the focus on measures based on retrospective self-reported data.

This study is the first that examines the implementation and impact of two instruments with differing governance theoretical background in German schools.

Models of teacher satisfaction post‐Herzberg have generally presented two mutually exclusive domains of teacher satisfaction/dissatisfaction. However, use of a survey with 2,000 teachers and school executive in England, New Zealand and Australia has provided evidence for a third domain of teacher satisfaction/dissatisfaction grounded in the wider environment surrounding the school, a domain which has grown in importance and influence and which teachers and school executive find uniformly dissatisfying. This outer domain has acted to erode overall teacher satisfaction in contravention of the general principles of “two‐factor” theories of job satisfaction. It is argued that teachers, schools, and others with an interest in education, need to build bridges, forge partnerships and actively participate in educational discourse with members of this outer domain. Further, educational systems and governments need to look within the outer domain of teacher satisfaction for answers to the problems currently facing teachers, schools and society.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the potential impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) on education. IoT is more than just novel educational arrangements with new technology and networked computing devices. Taking a systems design perspective, the author argues that IoT represents a paradigm shift in the key drivers of education systems.

The paper uses a conceptual analysis based on the systems thinking framework. The paper relies on a literature review as informed by prior studies in the field, social media analysis and research database articles of IoT in education.

The paper finds that systems thinking is a useful framework for examining IoT in education. It finds that writers on IoT in education use a number of lenses at looking at how IoT will affect education. All of these can be refined. Findings suggest that IoT technology has the potential to impact how education systems are reimagined and redesigned; that logistics of educational management and the design of learning facilities can become more responsive to student learning needs because of IoT technology; and instructional delivery systems will be reconstituted by IoT technology. This study is of most value to educators, administrators and information systems professionals. Industries of focus include K-12 education, higher education and specialized training fields.

The research is a conceptual analysis based on social media content and research studies. This is a new line of inquiry; therefore, the sources and data rapidly change.

The study is practical for educational policymakers and educators to plan for the shift in modes of instructional design, curriculum development and school leadership and organization.

The research will inform the basis for new educational and schooling arrangements; IoT will change the way all of us learn and engage with learning activities.

The paper is highly original and very valuable for education policymakers as well as educators at all levels.

This study aims to examine the validation of both the model of direct effects and the model of indirect effects of principals' leadership on student academic achievement.

A longitudinal study was conducted in which 22 schools, 55 classes and 1,224 Cypriot primary students participated. Specifically, achievements in Greek Language and Mathematics were assessed at the beginning and at the end of the same school year. Moreover, leadership style of school principals and teachers as well as school and classroom culture was measured.

The findings provide some empirical support for the model of direct effects of principals' leadership on student academic achievement. Moreover, student achievement gains were found to be related with five factors at the school level: the principals' human resource leadership style and four dimensions of organizational culture. At the classroom level, three dimensions of learning culture significantly influence student achievement in each subject. Finally, relationships between effectiveness factors operating at different levels were identified.

The article presents an original empirical study which examined the relationship among school leadership, school culture and student achievement in order to validate both the model of direct effects and the model of indirect effects of school principals on student achievement.

The purpose of this paper is to consider trust as an important relational source in schools by exploring whether trust lowers teacher burnout. The authors examine how trust relationships with different school parties such as the principal relate to distinct dimensions of teacher burnout. The authors further analyze whether school-level trust additionally influences burnout. In doing this, the authors account for other teacher and school characteristics.

The authors use quantitative data gathered during the 2008-2009 school year from 673 teachers across 58 elementary schools in Flanders (i.e. the northern Dutch-speaking region of Belgium). Because teacher and school characteristics are simultaneously related to burnout, multilevel modeling is applied.

Trust can act as a buffer against teacher burnout. Teachers’ trust in students demonstrates the strongest association with burnout compared to trust in principals or colleagues. Exploring relationships of trust in distinct school parties with different burnout dimensions yield interesting additional insights such as the specific importance of teacher-principal trust for teachers’ emotional exhaustion. Burnout is further an individual teacher matter to which school-level factors are mainly unrelated.

Principals fulfill an important role in inhibiting emotional exhaustion among teachers. They are advised to create a school atmosphere that is conducive for different kinds of trust relationships to develop. Actions to strengthen trust and inhibit teacher burnout are necessary, although further qualitative and longitudinal research is desirable.

This paper offers a unique contribution by examining trust in different school parties as a relational buffer against teacher burnout. It indicates that principals can affect teacher burnout and prevent emotional exhaustion by nurturing trusting relationships in school.

This paper aims to examine how influences at home and school interact to predict smoking among adolescents.

Data were collected from 15‐year‐old pupils from Norway (n=1,404 in 73 Grade 10 school classes). Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to determine how family and school influences interact to predict adolescent smoking behaviour.

A total of 14 schools strictly enforced the ban on smoking among pupils, and 60 schools strictly enforced existing restrictions on teachers' smoking. Pupils from all schools were exposed to smoking by both their families and teachers. Although the main effects of school enforcement and family smoking were not associated with adolescent smoking behaviour, a cross‐level interaction term between these variables was significantly associated with school level variation in regular smoking (odds ratio [OR] 5.57, 95 percent confidence interval 1.47‐21.12). Individual rather than school's perception of exposure to teachers' smoking, and parental norms were associated with adolescent smoking behaviour, irrespective of the school's level of enforcement.

The effect of school smoking restrictions seems to be dependent on smoking norms at home. Thus, in addition to school‐based anti‐smoking policies, those directed at parents are needed as well.

The present study used a multilevel statistical approach to study the association between the independent factors and adolescent smoking behaviour, an approach that takes into account the cluster effect in hierarchically structured data. The use of this approach is important in studies that involve data with hierarchies as a means to avoid false conclusions.

The study systematically analyses the path dependency and path-shaping of borrowed education policy, tracing it from the global through the national to individual schools. It also revisits the case schools after five years to map the school level policy paths.

Recently, path-dependency heuristics have drawn attention in predicting educational policy trajectories. However, these studies are primarily theoretical, and those empirical studies do not capture what happens at the school level. This paper fills the research gap by presenting a model that synthesises the research from diverse fields and is informed by findings from a longitudinal case study of educational outsourcing in public schools in Hong Kong and Korea.

The findings highlight path dependency interactions across educational levels diachronically and synchronically, while aptly incorporating the creative ways school leaders exercise their agency therein. The paper concludes with new insights into policy trajectory and education outsourcing.

The study substantiates and extends previously suggested theoretical models on the paths of travelling educational policies and identifies the factors that shape the paths. It also sheds light on how school leaders navigate the structures that constrain their actions or create a new path and pursue their educational goals.