Abstract:

This research aims to adapt the Data-Driven School Leadership Scale (DDSL-S) which was developed to understand the effective data use practices of school principals in school management, into Turkish and to conduct a validity-reliability study. The research was carried out with teachers and vice-principals working in primary, secondary, and high schools in the central district of Kahramanmaraş Onikisubat and Dulkadiroğlu Provinces in the 2021-2022 academic year. The analyzes of the research were carried out with 330 participants in study group-1 and 248 participants in study group-2, which were determined based on maximum diversity and easily accessible sampling method, which is one of the purposeful sampling methods. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used for the construct validity of the scale. Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficients were examined to determine the reliability of the measurements. EFA and CFA results confirmed the four-factor structure in the original form of the Data-Driven School Leadership Scale (DDSL-S) in a two-factor structure in Turkish culture. These sub-dimensions were named “data-based goal setting” and “data-driven culture creation” in line with the original form of the scale and the relevant literature. The correlations for all items of the scale, whose final form consists of 16 items, ranging from .43 to .77. The Cronbach Alpha value was calculated as .936 for the entire scale. The t-values for the comparison of the item mean scores of the lower-upper 27% groups were found to be significant (p<.001). The findings of the research revealed that the Turkish adapted Data-Driven School Leadership Scale is a highly acceptable, valid, and reliable measurement tool to measure the leadership level of school principals in data use practices according to perceptions of the teachers and vice-principals.

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