Effective principal leadership behaviors to improve the teacher performance and the student achievement

Abstract

The principal’s role as a leader is crucial in improving the teacher performance and student achievement. However, it still remains unknown what kinds of school leadership behaviors that are effective to improve teacher performance and student achievement. This study aims to determine the level of significance of the effect of (1) the quality of principal's leadership behaviors on teacher performance, (2) the quality of principal's leadership behaviors on student achievement, and (3) the teacher performance on student achievement.This study is a quantitative descriptive research. The study population was 317 teachers with 281 teachers as the samples. The data collection technique was carried out through questionnaires, participant observation, and teacher performance appraisals. The data analysis technique used the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results of this study showed a significant (5%) influence between: (1) the quality of the principal's leadership behaviors on the teacher performance where the estimated rate was 0.89 with the value of -t = 3.23> 1.96. The higher the quality of the principal's leadership behaviors had become, then it increased the quality of the teachers’ performance; (2) the quality of the principal's leadership behaviors on the level of student achievement where the estimated rate was 0.77 with the value of -t = 2.86> 1.96; and (3) the level of teacher performance on the level of learning achievement where the estimated rate was 0.92 with the value of -t = 4.45> 1.96. The structural model of learning outcomes showed that the loading factor of report cards had a greater effect of 0.995 when it compared to the school exam scores with an effect of 0.897. Effective principal leadership behaviors were limited to (a) the relationship between leaders and followers, (b) task structure, and (c) position power.