Reaction Paper on A Research Article (Reaction Paper Sample)

Reaction Paper on A Research Article Name Institution Reaction Paper on A Research Article Summary of the Article The article reported findings of a quantitative study that was designed to test a new conceptual model on how school leadership influences student learning and performance. The model, called “The Four Paths”, was developed in previous school leadership studies. The model holds that leadership flows along four paths identified as rational, emotions, organizational, and family to reach students and influence their learning and performance. Along each path, there are numerous variable that interact with school leadership variable in influencing student learning. However, the researchers investigated some of the variables that populate each path. For the rational path, they studied academic press and disciplinary climate; for emotions path, they studied collective teacher efficacy and teacher trust in others; for the organizational path, they investigated instructional time and professional learning community; and finally, for the family path, they included computer at home and adult help at home in the model. The study used data from 1,445 teachers obtained from 199 schools and math and literacy achievement data for Grade 3 and 6. They found that the Four Paths model accounted for 43% in the variability of the dependent variable, which was student achievement. The rational and family paths explained the largest variation of 26% each in student achievement. Academic press accounted for higher variance in student achievement while disciplinary climate accounted for a lower variability of 22%. The presence of computer at home for doing home explained most of the variability explained by family path. However, adult help for home work had negative effects on student achievement. The emotions path explained 21% of the variance in the student achievement. Collective teacher efficacy and teacher trust, which constituted emotions path, explained 34% and 20% variation in student achievement respectively. However, teacher trust variation was not statistically significant. However, organizational path had a weak negative effect on student achievement. Instructional time explained -.12 of the variation in student achievement while professional learning community explained a variability of .06 in the explained student achievement. The study further showed that direct leadership effects are felt on variables representing the organizational path, closely followed by those populating the emotions path. The third largest effect of direct leadership is felt on variables along the rational path, with the least effect being felt on those along the family path. Reaction to the Article This study is helpful to educational leaders, especially those working towards improving the achievement of their schools. As a practitioner in the education sector, the results reported in this study will be useful to me. The reason is that it identifies some of the variables that school leadership should focus attention in an effort to improve school performance. The study highlights some of the alternatives that a school leader should weigh while making decisions. For instance, the study shows that a school leader should devote most of their resources to academic press, disciplinary climate, and collective teacher efficacy. However, a school leader should not devote scarce resources to developing teacher trust since has a weak effect of student achievement. The study shows that school leaders might have been directing their efforts to the wrong variables. This is because the path that ...