Jingping Sun

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

• School enhancement project in Alabama
• Meta-analysis of research to identify the most important mediators in school leadership’s impact on student learning
• Evaluation of psychometric properties in leadership measures
• Research synthesis on successful school leadership
• School leadership for STEAM teaching and learning
• Effective leadership for helping Latinx immigrant students to succeed academically

HIGHLIGHTED PUBLICATIONS

1. *Sun, J.-P., Zhang, R., Murphy, J., & Zhang, S. – J. (2024). The effects of academic press on student learning and its malleability to school leadership.  Educational Administration Quarterly. Published online first at https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X231217226
2. *Sun, J. – P., Day, C., Zhang, R., Zhang, H., Huang, T., & Lin, J. (2024). Successful school principalship: A meta-synthesis of 20 years of international case studies. Education Sciences, 14(9), 929. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14090929
3. *Sun, J.-P., Xia, J.-G., Hua, C., Man, K.-W., & Johnson, B. (2024). The data-informed school leadership survey: Assessing the psychometric qualities of the measure designed to assess data-informed school leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly.
4. Leithwood, K., Sun, J. – P., Zhang, S. – J., & Hua, C. (2024). Examining the Psychometric Properties of an Instrument Measuring a New Construct: Academic Culture. Journal of School Leadership. Published online first at DOI: 10.1177/10526846241258199
5.  *Sun, J.- P., Zhang, R., & Forsyth, P. (2023). The effects of teacher trust on student learning and the malleability of teacher trust to school leadership: A 35 Year meta-analysis. Educational Administration Quarterly. Published online first at https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X231183662
6. Sun, J.- P. (2023). Transformational school leadership. In R. J. Tierney, F. Rizvi, K. Erkican (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education (4th edition). Elsevier. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.05075-2.
7. Day, C., Sun, J. – P., & Grice, C. (2023). Research on successful school leadership. In R. J. Tierney, F. Rizvi, K. Erkican (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education (4th ed.). Elsevier. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.05024-7.
8. *Leithwood, K., Sun, J.-P., Schumacker, R., & Hua, C. (2023). Psychometric properties of the successful school leadership survey. Journal of Educational Administration, 61(4), 385-404. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-08-2022-0115.
9. Leithwood, K., Sun, J.- P., & Schumacker, R. (2020). How school leadership influences student learning: A test of “the four paths model”. Educational Administration Quarterly, 56(4), 570-599. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X19878772
10. Xia, J., Shen, J., & Sun, J.- P. (2019). Tight, loose, or decoupling? A national study of the decision-making power relationship between district central offices and school principals. Educational Administration Quarterly, 56(3), 396-434. https://doi-org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/10.1177/0013161X198511
11. Leithwood, K., Sun, J.- P., & McCullough, C. (2019). How school districts influence student achievement. Journal of Educational Administration, 57(5), 519-539. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-09-2018-0175
12. Leithwood, K., & Sun, J.- P. (2018). Academic culture: A promising mediator of school leaders’ influence on student learning. Journal of Educational Administration, 56(3), 350-363. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-01-2017-0009
13. Sun, J.- P. & Leithwood, K. (2017). Calculating the power of alternative choices by school leaders for improving student achievement. School Leadership and Management, 37(1-2), 80-93. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2017.1293635
14. Sun, J.- P., Chen, X.-J., & Zhang, S.-J. (2017). A review of research evidence on the antecedents of transformational leadership. Education Sciences, 7(1), 15-42. doi:10.3390/educsci7010015
15. *Sun, J.- P., Johnson, B., & Przybylski, R. M. (2017). Data-informed school leadership: Constructing an incipient, working conceptual framework. Journal of School Public Relationships, 37(1), 8-55. https://doi.org/10.3138/jspr.37.1.8
16. *Sun, J.- P., Johnson, B., & Przybylski, R. M. (2016). Leading with data: An increasingly important feature of school leadership. International Studies of Educational Administration, 44(3), 93-128.
17. *Sun, J.- P., Przybylski, R. M, & Johnson, B. (2016). A review of research on teachers’ use of student data: From the perspective of school leadership. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 28(1), 5-33. doi: 10.1007/s11092- 016-9238-9
18. Sun, J.- P. (2015). Conceptualizing the critical path linked by teacher commitment. Journal of Educational Administration, 53(5), 597-624. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-05-2013-0063
19. Sun, J.- P., & Leithwood, K. (2015a). Leadership effects on student learning mediated by teacher emotions. Societies, 5(3), 566-582. doi:10.3390/soc5030566
20. Sun, J.- P., & Leithwood, K. (2015b). Direction-setting school leadership practices: A meta-analytical review of evidence about their influences. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 26(4), 499-523. doi:10.1080/09243453.2015.1005106
21.  Sun, J.- P., & Leithwood, K. (2012). Transformational school leadership effects on student achievement. Leadership & Policy in Schools, 11(4), 418-451. https://doi.org/10.1080/15700763.2012.681001
22. Leithwood, K., & Sun, J.- P. (2012). The nature and effects of transformational school leadership: A meta-analytic review of unpublished research. Educational Administration Quarterly, 48(3), 387-423. doi: 10.1177/0013161X11436268
23. Sun, J.- P. (2011). Ethical decision-making and ethical responding: An analysis and critique of various approaches through case study. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 14(1), 21-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2010.497260
24. Sun, J.- P. (2004). Understanding the impact of perceived leadership styles on teacher commitment. International Studies in Educational Administration, 32(2), 17-30.  

Books

1. Leithwood, K., Sun, J.- P., & Pollock, K. (Eds.) (2017). How school leaders contribute to student success: The four paths. In K. Leithwood (Series Ed.), Studies in Educational Leadership: Vol. 22. Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-50980-8

Book chapters

1. *Sun, J. – P., Mendiola, M., Sun, M. – D., & Zhang, S. – J. (2018). Understanding school leadership to turn schools around: A review of research evidence. In C. Meyers & M. Darwin, M. (Eds.), International perspectives on leading low- performing schools (pp. 289-318). Information Age.
2. *Sun, J.- P., Mendiola, B., & Zhang, S.- J. (2018). Evaluating the UA PACT mentoring program. In E. Reames (Ed.), Rural turnaround leadership development: The power of partnerships (pp. 89-108). Information Age.
3. Sun, J.- P., Zhang, X. – P., & Chen, X. – J. (2018). Transformational leadership in Chinese schools. In J. Petrovic & R. Mitchell (Eds.), Indigenous philosophies of education (pp. 105-126). Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315173603-6 [Cited 7 Times]  [Last Citation – 2022]
4. Mendiola, B., & Sun, J.- P. (2018). Designing the UA PACT program: Letting the research guide us. In E. Reames (Ed.), Rural turnaround leadership development: The power of partnerships (pp. 45-64). Information Age.
5. Sun, J.- P. & Leithwood, K. (2017). Leadership effects on student learning mediated by teacher emotions. In K. Leithwood & J. Sun (Eds), How school leaders contribute to student success: The four paths framework (pp. 137-152). Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-50980-8_7 [Cited 165 Times]  [Last Citation – 2023]
6. Sun, J.- P. (2016). The nature, impacts and antecedents of transformational school leadership: A review. In J. Weistein (Ed.), Educational leadership in schools: Nine perspectives (pp. 81-120). University Diego Portales Press. [A highly regarded Spanish book]
7. *Mitchell, M., Sun, J.-P., Zhang, S. – J., Mendiola, B., & Tarter, J. (2015). School effectiveness: A meta-analytic review of published research. In W. Hoy & M. Dipaola (Series Eds.), Research and theory in educational administration: Vol.10. Leadership and school quality (pp 161-170). Information Age.
8. Sun, J.- P. (2014). Principals’ evidence-based decision-making: Its nature and impacts. In S. Chitpin & C. W. Evers (Eds.), Decision-making in educational leadership: Principles, policies and practices (pp. 21-38). Taylor & Francis Group. doi: 10.4324/9780203757277-3
9. Sun, J.- P. (2009). Comparisons between transformational leadership and the Confucian idea of transformation. In A. W. Wiseman (Series Eds.), International perspectives on education and society: Vol. 11. Educational leadership: Global contexts and international comparisons (pp. 343-372). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. doi: 10.1108/S1479-3679(2009)0000011014
10. Leithwood, K., & Sun, J.- P. (2009). Transformational school leadership effects on schools, teachers and students. In W. Hoy & M. Dipaola (Series Eds.), Research and theory in educational administration: Vol. 8. Studies in school improvement programs (pp. 1-22). Information Age.
11. Anderson, S., Moore, S., & Sun, J.- P. (2009). Positioning the principals in patterns of school leadership distribution. In K. Leithwood, B. Mascall, & T. Strauss (Eds.), Distributed leadership according to the evidence (pp. 111-136). Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203868539-15

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS / ACTIVITIES

• University Council for Educational Administration Plenary, Representative, 2014 – Present
• Senior Research and Evaluation Analyst & Policy Advisor, Ontario Ministry of Education, Canada, 2010-2012

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Jingping Sun is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Technology Studies at the University of Alabama’s College of Education. Her research centers on educational leadership, school improvement, large-scale development of school and district leaders, policy evaluation, and research synthesis. Prior to joining the University of Alabama, Dr. Sun worked at the Leadership Development Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Education in Canada, the unit responsible for the development of hundreds of principals, superintendents, and regional directors across the province. Dr. Sun’s research reviews on transformational school leadership and successful school leadership have been featured in Elsevier’s International Encyclopedia of Education (4th edition). Additionally, she has contributed to top-tier journals in educational leadership, with several papers published in the top journal Educational Administration Quarterly, focusing on successful school leadership, data-informed school leadership, and the critical paths or mediators through which school leaders enhance student achievement. Her co-edited book with Drs. Kenneth Leithwood and Katina Pollock, How School Leaders Contribute to Student Success: The Four Paths, is widely cited and forms the 22nd volume of the renowned, longest-running book series in educational leadership, Studies in Educational Leadership by Springer. Dr. Sun also serves on the Steering Committee of the largest and longest-running International Project on Successful School Principalship (ISSPP), collaborating with top-flight or senior professors and researchers from 25 countries.

Teaching philosophy

Learning is experiencing, making sense of new things, questioning, reflecting, understanding, analyzing, and developing new knowledge to guide practice. In addition to the content-specific learning and teaching objectives outlined in the syllabi for each course she teaches, Dr. Sun has always aimed to:

• enhance students’ critical understanding of the main topics;
• motivate them to learn from research and make research-evidenced decisions to lead schools;
• improve students’ interest, ability, and efficacy in becoming effective leaders to help each kid succeed;
• enhance their leadership skills through hands-on or field experience.

She achieves these goals by emphasizing the moral purpose of educational leadership, equipping students with school and district improvement frameworks developed from robust data and cutting-edge research, exploring fundamental questions, using real-life scenarios, reading high-quality review articles, using a problem-solving approach, encouraging critical reflection and questioning, and using comparative study to broaden students’ perspectives and invoke new ways of looking at problems.