Instructional Leadership of Novice Principals: Construction and Validation of Assessment Indicators

This study developed an indicator system of instructional leadership by novice principals to facilitate the assessment of their leadership capabilities. This study employed a survey-based approach consisting of three studies to examine the reliability and validity of the proposed system and explored the perceived importance and actual performance of these indicators. The statistical techniques included expert review, item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, cross-validation, measurement invariance analysis, and IPA. The proposed indicator system, consisting of 5 dimensions and 24 specific indicators, demonstrates good reliability and validity for assessing the overall, dimensional, and specific indicators of instructional leadership performance. Highly rated dimensions were enhancing school curriculum and instructional quality as well as creating supportive teaching and learning environments. Developing a vision for teaching and setting goals and tasks was also considered important; however, performance was relatively low.