How school leadership and innovation shape instructional pathways to student achievement across nations: Evidence from multilevel structural equation modeling and decision tree analysis
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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in: Studies in Educational Evaluation, Jahrgang 87, 101521, 01.12.2025.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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TY - JOUR
T1 - How school leadership and innovation shape instructional pathways to student achievement across nations
T2 - Evidence from multilevel structural equation modeling and decision tree analysis
AU - Aydın, Burak
AU - Fokkema, Marjolein
AU - Eryilmaz, Nurullah
AU - Muijs, Daniel
AU - Scherer, Ronny
AU - Pietsch, Marcus
PY - 2025/12/1
Y1 - 2025/12/1
N2 - Educational leadership, innovation and teaching play essential roles in shaping student achievement. However, extant literature primarily has relied on linear modelling approaches and has not focused on substantively testing a theory. The present study employs multilevel structural equation modelling (ML-SEM) and multilevel decision trees (MLM trees) to investigate associations between school leadership, team innovation, cognitive activation and student achievement using PISA-TALIS 2018 linked data across seven countries: Australia; Colombia; Czech Republic; Denmark; Georgia; Malta; and Türkiye. The ML-SEM findings indicated no significant indirect effects from leadership on achievement. The MLM trees highlighted country-specific patterns in associations between school leadership, innovation and student achievement, revealing potential nonlinear relationships. These findings suggest that the relationship between leadership, instructional practices and achievement is highly context-dependent. The study contributes to the literature by offering a comparative analysis of ML-SEM and MLM trees, highlighting traditional linear models’ limitations in educational research.
AB - Educational leadership, innovation and teaching play essential roles in shaping student achievement. However, extant literature primarily has relied on linear modelling approaches and has not focused on substantively testing a theory. The present study employs multilevel structural equation modelling (ML-SEM) and multilevel decision trees (MLM trees) to investigate associations between school leadership, team innovation, cognitive activation and student achievement using PISA-TALIS 2018 linked data across seven countries: Australia; Colombia; Czech Republic; Denmark; Georgia; Malta; and Türkiye. The ML-SEM findings indicated no significant indirect effects from leadership on achievement. The MLM trees highlighted country-specific patterns in associations between school leadership, innovation and student achievement, revealing potential nonlinear relationships. These findings suggest that the relationship between leadership, instructional practices and achievement is highly context-dependent. The study contributes to the literature by offering a comparative analysis of ML-SEM and MLM trees, highlighting traditional linear models’ limitations in educational research.
KW - Educational science
KW - Educational leadership
KW - innovation
KW - multilevel structural equation modeling
KW - multilevel decision trees
KW - pisa-talis 2018
U2 - 10.1016/j.stueduc.2025.101521
DO - 10.1016/j.stueduc.2025.101521
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 87
JO - Studies in Educational Evaluation
JF - Studies in Educational Evaluation
SN - 0191-491X
M1 - 101521
ER -