Date
10-16-2025
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Matthew Ozolnieks
Keywords
Transformational leadership, Academic achievement, Case study, High school, Public schools, Educational leadership, Student success, California education, AVID, and AVID Site Team Program
Disciplines
Education | Educational Leadership
Recommended Citation
Srafen, Raouf Fouad, "Exploring the Transformational Leadership Program That Enhances Students’ Academic Achievement at a Public High School in California in 2023–2024: An Instrumental Case Study" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7573.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7573
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative, single instrumental case study was to explore the transformational leadership program that enhances students' academic achievement (grades 9–12) at a public high school, the Institute of Future Leaders (IFL), in California, in the academic year of 2023–2024. The theory guiding this study is transformational leadership theory because it is based on the relationship between the leader and follower, with a focus on inspiring and encouraging. This qualitative study allowed me to focus on a specific case to improve understanding and gain insights into the research topic. Purposeful sampling of people and site was conducted to best inform the researcher about the case problem. Moreover, administration personnel, and educators were evaluated, as they were the most likely persons to provide in-depth information about their perceptions of the effect of the leadership approach on public high school students' academic performance. The selected leadership program was the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID’s) site team, created by a nonprofit organization AVID based in California that has witnessed fundamental change and represents an ideal practice for the case study. Thus, the AVID’s program was chosen for this study because it has a higher success rate than the other public educational institutes. My data collection plan combined multiple forms of qualitative data from interviews to observations and documentation. In the current study, I used coding methods and computer software NVivo for qualitative data management. The findings of this case study could provide in-depth understanding and insights into how public education organization leaders and educators understand the value of transformational leadership practices for development that can promote students' academic accomplishment (grades 9–12).
