Estilos de liderazgo de dirección escolar y el logro académico de los estudiantes: Un estudio exploratorio

This study aims to explore whether there is a relationship between the leadership style of school principals and the performance of their students. For this purpose, a multiple case study was developed in three private subsidized schools in a city on Northern Chile. The multiple case study included the application of a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews to members of the principal's work team who participated in the study in the three schools, and the consideration of the score obtained by the establishment in a test used for measuring learning outcomes (SIMCE test). Results suggest that in the case of the three schools, transformational leadership has a positive impact on student outcomes. Additionally, unlike what is stated in other studies, transactional leadership is also a key determinant for the achievement obtained by students. Thus, this exploratory research validates the dimensions of the styles of transformational and transactional leadership, contributing to new findings that allow continuing with quantitative larger studies.