The Relationship Between Distributive Leadership, School Culture, and Teacher Self-Efficacy at the Middle School Level

The purpose of this correlational, quantitative research study was to examine the extent to which relationships exist between distributed leadership, school culture, and the self-efficacy of teachers within public middle schools in central New Jersey. This study was informed by Spillane’s and Elmore’s theoretical frameworks concerning distributed leadership, Bolman and Deal’s framework concerning school culture, and Bandura’s framework for self-efficacy. This study identified significant relationships between distributed leadership, school culture, and teacher self-efficacy.

The results indicate the need for school leadership to adopt a holistic framework for leading large complex organizations such as middle schools.