Middle leadership practices in secondary schools associated with improved student outcomes

ABSTRACT This paper describes findings related to the effectiveness of secondary school middle leaders as a contributor to within-school variation in academic results for students at department level in urban high schools. The ‘high-stakes’ academic assessment results for students in 10 urban high schools in New Zealand in English, mathematics and science were collated over three years. The analyses revealed variable subject department performance by 16- to 18-year-old students in the national qualification within these schools. The extent of the effectiveness of the middle leadership practices in these departments was investigated using individual questionnaires for each middle leader and the teachers who reported to them. This paper reports the results of the statistical analyses of the questionnaire compared with the aggregated academic results for students by department and finds specific middle leadership practices that were strongly associated with improved academic results. In schools where students were socially disadvantaged, the statistical significance of the results was greater. This study contributes to the previous schooling improvement literature on department effectiveness by enhancing our understanding of why students in departments in the same high school perform differently and how effective middle leaders can impact positively the student academic outcomes.