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The intent behind this study was to understand how school principals might work through teachers to engender better trusting teacher-student relationships, particularly in high poverty, high minority schools. Three research questions were advanced for the empirical investigation: (1) What is the relationship between school social composition (e.g. FRL rate and percent students of color) and teacher trust in students? (2) Does Principal Support of Student Psychological Needs moderate the relationship between school composition and teacher trust in students? (3) Do other leadership practices, such as transformational leadership and teacher evaluation, influence teacher trust in students? [Note: The issue number (2) shown in the citation on the PDF is incorrect. The correct issue number is 1.]

In this conceptual paper, we advance Transformative Leadership Conversation as a form of dialogue that relies on shared meaning-making to activate the motivational energy within people to transform social structures that impede aspirational realities. Transformative Leadership Conversation leverages the most commonly available resource for leaders--conversation--to approach transformation as a process that begins within individuals and moves outward to the relational context where actions and interactions define social structures. There are two interdependent parts to the paper: a conceptual definition and a theory of action. The conceptual definition describes TLC and situates its components in the social and psychological processes that drive transformation. The theory of action advances a simple framework for how leaders might engage TLC across different contexts and situations.

National data on student disengagement show a pervasive trend that currently makes this phenomenon one of the biggest challenges faced by teachers worldwide. Much research on student disengagement examines the problem through an indirect framework in which deficiencies in positive social conditions or psychological states are tested as predictors of disengagement. This study uses a different lens by examining how "negative" student-teacher interactions differentially predict disengagement in adolescent students. Using self-determination theory, this study advances two hypotheses: H1, student perception of psychological need thwarting will have a stronger relationship with student disengagement than student perception of the lack of need support, and H2, the relationship between student perceived psychological need thwarting and student disengagement will be mediated by psychological need frustration. With data from 4694 students, ex post facto study findings confirmed the anticipated increased variance in disengagement when testing negative student-teacher interactions. Further, the hypothesized mediating effect of psychological need frustration was supported.

Over the years, research examining student psychological ill-being has sought to explain this phenomenon based on the influences of conditions that students bring into the school environment. This study uses a different lens by directly examining how school relational conditions might be associated with psychological ill-being in students. Using the framework of Self-Determination Theory and data from 2522 US public school students, findings from this study revealed that both faculty and peer relational conditions were significantly associated with psychological need frustration, which was used as the marker for student psychological ill-being. Further, students with free-reduced lunch status reported experiencing need frustration more than their counterparts with non-free-reduced lunch status. Need frustration at the school level was also found to be associated with differences in student perceptions of school relational conditions. Collectively, findings from this study provide potentially useful directions for school practitioners and other educational stakeholders by extracting valuable markers for managing the challenge of student psychological ill-being within the school environment.

The purpose of this study was to (1) examine the relationship between instructional program coherence (IPC) and teacher intent to leave; and (2) investigate teacher psychological need satisfaction as a mediator in this relationship. HLM was used to test the hypotheses. As predicted, school differences in teacher intent to leave their school were related to teacher perceptions of IPC. Teacher autonomy and relatedness mediated the relationship between IPC and teacher intent to leave, while teacher competence satisfaction did not. Results suggest that the way school leaders organize the instructional environment has implications for teacher well-being and retention.

This study tested the relationship between Principal Support of Teacher Psychological Needs (PSTPN) and a need-supportive instructional climate. Evidence on social contagion was used to advance three hypotheses: "PSTP is associated with school differences in student reported autonomy-support, competence-support, and relational-support; A climate of teacher psychological safety mediates the relationship between PSTPN and student reported autonomy-support, competence-support, and relational-support; A climate of organizational commitment mediates the relationship between PSTPN and student reported autonomy-support, competence-support, and relational-support." Hypotheses were tested in a sample of teachers and students from 93 urban schools in a southwestern state of the US.

This study tested the theoretical argument that psychological need-supportive conversation functions as a protective factor against teacher burnout by satisfying teacher psychological needs. The empirical test was conducted with a sample of 263 teachers from a medium sized urban school district in a Southwestern city. Need-supportive conversation had an indirect effect on teacher burnout through teacher psychological needs. Results support the role of need-supportive conversation in lessening the extent to which teachers experience emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced accomplishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay is in response to the need for schools to move from crisis to adaptation. The essay is informed by the question: how might school leaders use conversation to effectively engage adaptation? Adaptation is about transforming systems. We find that with adaptation as the aim, Transformative Leadership Conversation can be used to guide schools from crisis response to adaptation. The essay lays out suggestions in a theory of action for how school leaders can use conversation to move from crisis to adaptation. These suggestions include the use of framing, questioning, and listening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to 1) examine the relationship between instructional program coherence (IPC) and teacher intent to leave; and 2) investigate teacher psychological need satisfaction as a mediator in this relationship. HLM was used to test the hypotheses. As predicted, school differences in teacher intent to leave their school were related to teacher perceptions of IPC. Teacher autonomy and relatedness mediated the relationship between IPC and teacher intent to leave, while teacher competence satisfaction did not. Results suggest that the way school leaders organize the instructional environment has implications for teacher well-being and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this conceptual paper, we advance Transformative Leadership Conversation as a form of dialogue that relies on shared meaning-making to activate the motivational energy within people to transform social structures that impede aspirational realities. Transformative Leadership Conversation leverages the most commonly available resource for leaders—conversation—to approach transformation as a process that begins within individuals and moves outward to the relational context where actions and interactions define social structures. There are two interdependent parts to the paper: a conceptual definition and a theory of action. The conceptual definition describes TLC and situates its components in the social and psychological processes that drive transformation. The theory of action advances a simple framework for how leaders might engage TLC across different contexts and situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested the relationship between Principal Support of Teacher Psychological Needs (PSTPN) and a need-supportive instructional climate. Evidence on social contagion was used to advance three hypotheses: PSTP is associated with school differences in student reported autonomy-support, competence-support, and relational-support; A climate of teacher psychological safety mediates the relationship between PSTPN and student reported autonomy-support, competence-support, and relational-support; A climate of organizational commitment mediates the relationship between PSTPN and student reported autonomy-support, competence-support, and relational-support. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of teachers and students from 93 urban schools in a southwestern state of the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intent behind this study was to understand how school principals might work through teachers to engender better trusting teacher-student relationships, particularly in high poverty, high minority schools. Three research questions were advanced for the empirical investigation: (1) What is the relationship between school social composition (e.g. FRL rate and percent students of color) and teacher trust in students? (2) Does Principal Support of Student Psychological Needs moderate the relationship between school composition and teacher trust in students? (3) Do other leadership practices, such as transformational leadership and teacher evaluation, influence teacher trust in students? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]