The Conspicuous, Inconspicuous, Irrelevant, and Unknown Influence of Leadership, Performance Information, and Organizational Learning: Student Literacy Achievement in Middle School Grade Levels

Abstract

This study was designed to understand to what extent, if at all, performance information and organizational learning used within public schools serving middle school grade levels, or grades sixth, seventh, and eighth, influenced student achievement in literacy. A total of 26 interviews were conducted within six schools in the Minneapolis Public School system, three schools that had the highest reading scores, as measured by MCAs, and three schools that showed the most improvement in reading scores. A minimum of three teachers of literacy, language arts or social studies teachers, and one principal from each school were interviewed. Four themes arose from the interviews. First, principals and teachers in the schools that moved the most students to proficient levels in literacy used structural learning mechanisms to improve student achievement in literacy. Second, effective cultural learning mechanisms that created shared values and beliefs among staff members were used in the schools that moved the most students to proficiency. Third, accurate student performance information was used more systematically and more frequently when the principal set expectations through cultural and structural learning mechanisms. Fourth, the principal created the expectations and environment in which increasing student achievement in literacy was the primary role of the teacher. An implication of this study is that researchers may learn more about leading effective literacy teaching in middle school grade levels by exploring processes used at schools that are moving the most students into proficient levels of literacy.