Strategic School Leadership and its Role in Improving Institutional Performance

Strategic school leadership is a key factor in facing the demands of improving the quality and accountability of educational institution performance in the midst of the dynamics of changing policies and the educational environment. However, leadership practices in schools are often still administratively oriented and not yet fully geared towards achieving sustainable institutional performance. Quantitative data was collected using a Likert scale questionnaire and analyzed through linear regression, while qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis to deepen and explain quantitative findings. The results of the study show that school strategic leadership has a positive and significant effect on institutional performance, especially through strengthening strategic vision, change management, and optimizing school resources. Qualitative findings reveal that adaptive and collaborative leadership is the main mechanism in encouraging increased effectiveness of school organizations. This research contributes to strengthening the study of education management by emphasizing the importance of strategic leadership as a determinant of institutional performance and provides practical implications for the development of leadership capacity of school principals.