Running Head: BENEFITS OF CREATING A STUDENT CULTURE OF LEADERSHIP

Annotated Bibliography
Selena Frizzley
EEA: 534 Technology for School Leaders
Master of Education in Leadership
City University of Seattle
M.Khatib

Research Topic: How would the development of a culture of student leadership benefit student
achievement and engagement at school?

Running Head: BENEFITS OF CREATING A STUDENT CULTURE OF LEADERSHIP

Key Words: Middle School child; school; environment; culture; leadership; benefits;
educational leadership; student leadership; building culture; adolescents; creating positive school
climate
Reference #1: Journal Article
Bowman, R. F. (2013). Learning leadership skills in middle school. Clearing House, 86(2), 59
63. doi: 10.1080/00098655.2012.744291
Developing confidence, positive habits, as well as good leadership skills in middle
school-aged students, or teenagers, has proven to increase one's academic evaluations, as well as
leadership in cultures that are in need. Bowman found many points that highlight the benefit of
developing student leadership at the Middle School age. Benefits have been noted for students
of Native American background, developing connections to others, and being part of a group.
Tapping into positive social interactions and making the student feel part of the school
community will lead the student to more positive behaviors in the future. Developing more
opportunities in school can help the student develop themselves and learn, Leading Yourself.
Mastery of leadership is about being present and making connections to others and to all
situations that you encounter. Collaborating with others and developing connections with others
is a beneficial step towards the development of a student leader. Students learning to have
respect for themselves, and then for others, is a key step that needs to be realized in order for true
leadership to take place. Although, this article only focused on one particular Native American
community, the benefits for that particular community related to developing leaders, can be used
as a model when looking at developing leadership culture and the benefits for other schools. By
giving students the time to collaborate and share leadership experiences is a way of enabling

Running Head: BENEFITS OF CREATING A STUDENT CULTURE OF LEADERSHIP

them with a sense of responsibility and maturity, providing them with valuable experiences for
the future.
Reference #2: Journal Article
Schneider, J. S., & Douglas, D.S. (2010). E pluribus unum: Out of many, one. Middle School
Journal, 41(3), 1322.
This article places focus and emphasis on university student teachers developing their
own leadership conference for middle school students. The conference was intended to build
leaders from all different ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds. Activities were
developed based on the student diversity and as a way to bring all students together within a
middle school environment. Finding activities to break down the walls surrounding new
immigrants or cultural shock aimed at community building and student integration. Student
leaders were given time to reflect and to provide open input to the organizers of the conference.
Students were given scaffolding, to return to their schools, and have a starting point to help new
students from all different backgrounds and cultures. The intent of the conference was to build
strong leaders to carry on leading when back at home schools; many of the student leaders
organized similar activities to the conference in their own school Leadership is about tolerance
and working with everyone (Schneider & Douglas, 2010, p. 10). Developing leadership culture
can be done one student at a time to help improve the school culture. This article highlighted one
specific way to start building leadership with one small activity being brought back to the
schools. Even though this leadership culture is slowly starting to develop, the benefits will begin
to develop.
Reference #3 Journal Article
Hough, D. L., & Schmitt, V.L. (2011). An ex-post facto examination of relationships among the

Running Head: BENEFITS OF CREATING A STUDENT CULTURE OF LEADERSHIP

developmental designs professional development model/ classroom management

approach, school leadership, climate, student achievement, attendance, and behavior in
high poverty middle grades schools. Middle Grades Research Journal, 6(3), 63-75.
The focus of this article is specifically on the benefits of developing a positive school
climate and the impact this can have on the students. The benefits range from improved student
achievement and attendance, to a positive behavioural change for at-risk students. School
leaders can be the determining factor of school environment, therefore, student success. The
school leaders directly impact the school climate. This was initially studied and researched
through the Development Designs (DD) approach and the results were studied and evaluated in
regards to student achievement and school climate. School climate is the main determining
factor of student success, increased attendance, less behavioural concerns, correlates directly to
school climate. School districts as a whole are taking a closer look at this study to place more
emphasis on the school climate and find ways to make them more positive to benefit the
students. As school climates need to improve, school districts are looking at ways to increase
professional development and lead the schools in the right direction. School resources and
finances are being put in this direction to create new policies and get schools on board with
creating more positive school environments. Although, this was one study and one particular
way of looking at school climate, this article does provide data that shows the benefit of a
positive school climate and the related impact on student success and achievement.
Reference #4 Journal Article
Hine, G. S. (2014). Student leadership development: A functional framework. Journal of Catholic
Education, 18(1), 79110. doi: http://dx.doi.org.proxy.cityu.edu/10.15365/joce.1801052014

Running Head: BENEFITS OF CREATING A STUDENT CULTURE OF LEADERSHIP

This article focuses on a Catholic school in Perth to describe the role that student
leadership has in the school and how the collection of data can be used to support the findings.
Over the course of three years, different methods of collecting data were used to research the
benefits of student leadership in the school. The study looks at leadership growth and the
different methods used to achieve this growth. A focus is placed on teaching students how to
build confidence to public speak. Specific leadership roles are given to certain students; these
students then receive individual training to help develop their roles. The data demonstrated that
student awareness about social issues increased, and the students had a growing sense of
empowerment. Student leadership is of value to the student and to the school culture. Hine
(2014) does have a definite bias towards Catholic Education and many of the leadership ideas
and practises are centered on the idea of Christian Leadership. Hine did use data to support the
findings of the research, yet all the studies were carried out on a population for largely Caucasian
students from a low to middle socioeconomic background.
Reference #5
Covey, S.R (2008). The leader in me: How schools and parents around the world are inspiring
greatness, one child at a time. New York, NY: Free Press
The book highlights the journey taken by several American schools following the 7 Habit
identified by Covey, to develop a leadership climate in their schools. A study has been
conducted to determine what employers and business leaders are looking for in their current
employees. Based on the findings of this study they have identified skills to help students
become these type of leaders at a young age. Schools highlight their journey about becoming
a Leader in Me School and work to develop a culture of leadership. Research has been
conducted to show a marked improvement of student reading and math scores after the schools

Running Head: BENEFITS OF CREATING A STUDENT CULTURE OF LEADERSHIP

incorporated the 7 habits principles. This particular book highlighted a variety of schools from
around the globe, and demonstrated the benefit of developing a leadership culture can be far
reaching. However, most of the data collected in this book is from American schools, in low
socioeconomic communities.