The Relationship between Instructional Leadership Style and School Culture (Izmir Case)

The purpose of this study is to examine instructional leadership and school culture in CLS and to determine whether instructional leadership explains the culture of the school. This is a quantitative investigation and the instruments named "Instructional Leadership Inventory" and "Inventory of School Culture" was used for this study. The inventories were applied to 157 urban elementary schools where teachers worked the six Curriculum Laboratory Schools (CLS) in Izmir. The overall statistical findings indicated that teachers tend to perceive the instructional leadership style of their principals (M.=3.39-3.64) and the culture of their schools (M.=3.63.-4.00) positively. There is no significant difference among groups as teachers' age and length of service. There is a positive and high level relationship between the principals instructional leadership style and school culture. The results indicate that instructional leadership statistically has a significant influence upon all factors of school culture. As a factor of school culture, school leadership was most significantly influenced by instructional leadership.