Trustworthy School Leaders: A Vital Part of High-Performing Schools

• In Event: 56.057 - Intricacies and Significance of Relational Trust in Schools: A Cross-National Perspective

Abstract

Objectives
This study explored the relationship of faculty trust in the principal to an array of factors associated with high performing schools, including school climate and the level of trust among other school actors. The influences of trustworthy leadership, school climate, and trusting relationship within the school on student achievement were also examined.
Theoretical Framework
Trust is increasingly recognized as an essential element in high-functioning schools. In this study, trust was defined as the willingness to be vulnerable to another based on the confidence that the other party is benevolent, honest, open, reliable, and competent (Tschannen-Moran, 1998).
Methods and Data Sources
For this quantitative study, teachers, students, and parents in two school districts in a Mid-Atlantic state, one urban and one suburban, were invited to complete surveys of their perceptions of the working relationships within their school. The participants were 3,215 teachers, 8,256 students, and 2,959 parents from 64 elementary, middle, and high schools.
Results
The findings confirm the vital role that trustworthy leadership plays in fostering a positive and trusting school climate. Moreover, these variables combine to create the conditions for nurturing student learning and growth. Faculty trust in the principal was strongly related to teachers’ perceptions of the
professionalism of their colleagues (r = .71, p<.01) as well as to the extent to which teachers trusted one another (r = .74, p < .01). It was moderately related to academic press (r = .54, p<.01) and community engagement (r = .61, p<.01). Faculty trust in the principal was also moderately related to faculty trust in clients (r = .53, p < .01). This suggests that when principals are trustworthy, they set a tone that extends to teachers’ perceptions of students and parents. Interestingly, teachers’ perceptions of their principal as trustworthy were also related to parents’ level of trust in the school (r = .51, p < .01). In bivariate correlations, faculty trust in the principal was moderately related to student achievement (r =.43, p < .01), explaining 18% of the variance in achievement scores. In concert with the climate and other trust variables, however, a regression analysis found that trustworthy leadership, high trust relationships, and a positive school climate explained 78% of the variance in student achievement.
Scholarly Significance
The findings of this study suggest that principals must foster and maintain trust in order to lead schools effectively. Furthermore, the strength of the relationships suggests that schools will not be successful in fostering student learning without trustworthy school leaders who are skillful in cultivating high trust relationships among the faculty, between students and their teachers, and between the parents and the school. These trusting relationships create a foundation upon which a climate emerges that honors and presses for high academic achievement, in which teachers conduct themselves with a high level of professionalism, and that engages productively with the community. Implications for research and practice are explored in the full paper.

Author

• Megan Tschannen-Moran, College of William and Mary