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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]

Trust effects between internal school actors (e.g., teachers, students, administrators, parents) are well established in the literature, but less evidence exists about trust in district administration, leading to the question addressed in this study: Does teacher trust in district administration operate in a similar way as other trust forms? The study begins by situating trust within district leadership literature. A definition of trust in district administration is then advanced and its nature explained. From here, evidence on trust effects and self-determination theory are used to advance a hypothesized model that is tested in the empirical analysis. Results support the theory that trust in district administration may function as a relational support for teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We set out in this study to establish a foundation for a line of inquiry around teacher trust in district administration by (1) describing the role of trust in capacity building, (2) conceptualizing trust in district administration, (3) developing a scale to measure teacher trust in district administration, and (4) testing the relationship between district trust and teacher commitment. Method: Teachers were the unit of analysis. Data were collected from a sample of teachers in one urban school district. Construct validity was assessed by examining content, structural, and convergent validity of the scale. A fully latent structural equation model was used to test the relationship between teacher trust in district administration and teacher commitment. Results: This study makes a strong case for developing a line of research on teacher trust in district administration. It establishes a good measure to use in future research, and it provides initial evidence showing that teacher beliefs are sensitive to the actions of district administrators. Implications: A valid and reliable measure can be used by researchers to study systematically the formation and effects of teacher trust in district administration. Accurate information on district trust also allows central office leaders to formatively assess the capacity of the school system to accomplish reform objectives at scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – To investigate the consequences of relational trust, especially parent measured trust, for desirable school outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – Using a US Midwestern state sample of 79 schools, parent and teacher trust data are used to derive a trust-effectiveness typology. Trust was conceptualized as one party's willingness to be vulnerable to another party based on the confidence that the latter party is benevolent, reliable, competent, honest, and open. Findings – Findings derived from the extraction of canonical correlation variates support the prediction that a complex and extensive trust environment is predictive of internal school conditions and consequences, even after accounting for socioeconomic status of the school community. Four theoretical trust-effectiveness patterns emerge from the interpretation. Research limitations/implications – The research design was planned as a school level study. Perceptual data collected at the individual level were intended for aggregation thus, nested analyses were not possible. Other evidence is offered for justification of aggregations. Practical implications – Researchers and school leaders need to consider a broad trust environment as having relevance for predicting and enacting school success, not just those trust levels that can be measured as teacher perceptions. Originality/value – Previous school trust research, when it has considered parent trust, measured it as a teacher perception. This study measures parent trust directly and hence more credibly. The empirically derived trust-effectiveness school types introduce the possibility that "high teacher trust" can sometimes be part of a menacing school pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]