Socioeconomic achievement gaps and the role of school leadership: Addressing within- and between-school inequality in student achievement

• Published in: International journal of educational research 2022, Vol.112, p.101951, Article 101951
• Main Authors: Smith, Emil, Gümüş, Sedat
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Inequality in learning outcomes; Leadership competency; Leadership practices; Socioeconomic status; Teacher-leader dialogue
• ISSN: 0883-0355; 1873-538X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijer.2022.101951

•The moderating effects of school leadership on inequality in student achievement.•Longitudinal data from public school teachers coupled with student achievement.•No direct relationship between school leadership and student achievement.•A negative interaction between teacher-leader dialogue and school SES for math achievement.•Teacher-leader dialogue may reduce between-school inequality in achievement. There has been an increasing push for school leadership to address inequity in educational outcomes. Yet, most of the relevant studies concerned with direct or mediated effects of leadership. We attempt to address the knowledge gap concerning the moderating effects of school leadership on within- and between-school inequality in student achievement. We use longitudinal data from a survey among 2151 Danish public school teachers coupled with administrative records of student achievement for 5729 students. Using multilevel linear regressions with 8th grade achievement in mathematics and reading as dependent variables, we find a statistically significant negative interaction between teacher-leader dialogue and school SES for mathematics achievement. Our results suggest that teacher-leader dialogue about student outcomes may reduce between-school inequality in achievement.