6 ISSN 2029-9575 QUALITy ISSUES AnD InSIgHTS In THE 21 st CEnTURy Vol. 2, No. 1, 2013 Vol. 2, No. 1 QIIC DECISION DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP IN EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS IN ROMANIA Mariana Dogaru Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-university Education, Romania E-mail: dogarumar@yahoo.com Ioan Neacşu University of Bucharest, Romania E-mail: neacsuioan2008@yahoo.com Abstract Each school system aims at performing better for its students by getting better outcomes, and being able to cope with a continuously changing society. We defne herein a “successful school” a school that reaches best outcomes for every learner. Accordingly, it is very important for educators and policy makers to identify those common factors that positively infuence student achievement. A central concern of policy makers in education is that of identifying the best solutions for transforming a failing school into a successful one. Previous studies show that one of the major factors affecting student learning is principal’s leadership. This factor can be identifed in the predominant leadership style, but also through the involvement of teachers in decision-making. In this research, it was studied a sample of 8 schools in Romania that had good students outcomes. For these schools we correlated the principal’s style of leadership with the teachers’ involvement in decision making, to identify common elements that lead to the success of these schools. Thus, in our exploratory approach, we highlight the “recipe for success” in “successful schools.” Key words: decision-making, effective school, involving teachers, principal. Introduction School success is better defned in terms of student achievement. This problem is more com- plex, due to principal’s role in school operations. Student achievement seems to be passed into the background as most school principals are more concerned with administrative problems than with the instruction, which directly affects student achievement (Brenninkmeyer and Spillane, 2008, 459). Since the ‘70s management and leadership began to move towards improving student learning out- comes and since the ‘80s, the principal’s role is seen as an instructional leader (Tucker, 2002, 45). Although principals have a great infuence on schools, they affect mostly indirectly student learning outcomes, by establishing a positive climate, a successful teaching and learning culture. Prin- cipals also help in creating prerequisites for training more innovative teachers (Hopkins, 2001), and for envisioning a roadmap adapted to the context of their school setting to further it academically. American Company McKinsey and the national College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services, conducted a study which examined the importance of school leadership, the role of school leaders, and proposed methods of identifying and developing potential leaders. They concludes that “you can not improve schools without leaders.” Morever, as an offcial from Singa- pore said, “one of the keys [of our success] is that [in] the last ten years the school leadership is not