Understanding How Leadership Matters: Collective Efficacy and Student Achievement

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among collective efficacy factors, as measured by the Illinois 5Essentials Survey, and college readiness scores, as reported by American College Testing (ACT), for high schools in the state of Illinois. The 5Essentials have been considered crucial to school success and therefore used to describe learning environments and as basis for decisions on school improvement. However, little research has investigated the efficacy of the 5Essentials in their impact on academic achievement. This study used Illinois 5Essentials Survey and ACT data to interrogate the value of 5Essentials. Analysis of data determined that while correlational relationships do exist among the 5Essentials (collective efficacy factors) and that some have predictive qualities for student achievement, the strengths of those relationships are, at best, weak. Outcomes of this survey provide insights that policy makers should consider when recommending the use of these factors to influence school culture and student achievement. Keywords: collective efficacy, Illinois 5Essentials Survey, reciprocal causality, self-efficacy, student achievement, leadership