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2    Unearthing Context: How Socioeconomic

                         Status Shapes the Leadership-Science

                         Achievement Nexus


                         Rasa Nedzinskait˙ e-Mači¯ unien˙ e
                         Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
                         Antonios Kafa
                         Open University of Cyprus, Cyprus
                               ©2025 Rasa Nedzinskait˙ e-Mači¯unien˙ e and Antonios Kafa
                         https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-504-7.2


            Introduction
            The relationship between school leadership and student achievement
            has been a subject of extensive research, particularly in the context of
            large-scale educational assessments such as the Programme for Inter-
            national Student Assessment (pisa). Successful school leaders have a
            critical roleinpromoting school effectivenessand adapting theirleader-
            ship practices to their school environment (Gurr et al., 2021; Leithwood
            et al., 2020).
              In fact, when we are referring to school leadership and student
            academic outcomes, instructional leadership could act as an impor-
            tant leadership practice. Yet, this leadership perspective is presented
            through indirect pathways in which school leaders influence teaching
            and learning and supporting students, through curriculum manage-
            ment, teacher support, and fostering a learning-focused school culture
            (Hallinger, 2016; Robinson et al., 2008).
              Additionally, the level of school autonomy is an important factor
            to take into consideration, influencing student academic outcomes.
            School autonomy refers to the extent to which school leaders have
            decision-making power over key aspects of school management, includ-
            ing curriculum design, resource allocation, and personnel decisions.
            In fact, granting more school autonomy could allow school leaders
            to adopt more context-specific leadership practices (Hanushek et al.,
            2013).
              Therefore, the relationship between school leadership and student
            academic outcomes highlights the indirect influence that school leaders



                        Trnavčević, A., & Kafa, A. (Eds.). (2025). Educational leadership
                        in a changing world: Challenges, practices, contexts and insights.
                        University of Primorska Press.
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