Leading the charge in the education sector: development and validation of the School Implementation Leadership Scale (SILS)

BACKGROUND: Strategic implementation leadership is a critical determinant of successful implementation, hypothesized to create a more supportive implementation climate conducive to the adoption and use of evidence-based practices. Implementation leadership behaviors may vary significantly across contexts, necessitating studies that examine the validity of established measurement tools in novel health service delivery sectors. The education sector is the most common site for delivering mental health services to children and adolescents in the USA, but research focused on implementation leadership in schools is in the early phases, and there is a need for adaptation and expansion of instruments in order to tailor to the school context. The current study adapted and validated the School Implementation Leadership Scale (SILS) (based on the Implementation Leadership Scale) in a sample of elementary school personnel from six school districts who were implementing one of two well-established prevention programs for supporting children’s mental health. METHODS: Participants were 441 public school teachers from 52 elementary schools in the Midwest and West Coast of the USA. Participants completed a survey that contained: (1) an adapted and expanded version of the SILS with additional items generated for four existing subscales as well as three new subscales (communication, vision/mission, and availability), and (2) additional tools to evaluate convergent and divergent validity (i.e., measures of general/molar leadership and teaching attitudes). Data underwent (1) examination of item characteristic curves to reduce items and ensure a pragmatic instrument, (2) confirmatory factor analyses to establish structural validity, and (3) evaluation of convergent and divergent validity. RESULTS: Item reduction analyses resulted in seven subscales of three items each. Results indicated acceptable fit for a seven-factor structural model (CFI = .995, TLI = .99, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = 0.02). Second-order factor loadings were high (λ = .89 to .96), suggesting that the SILS subscales comprise a higher-order implementation leadership factor. All subscales demonstrated good inter-item reliability (α = .91–.96). Convergent and divergent validity results were generally as hypothesized, with moderate to high correlations between SILS subscales and general leadership, moderate correlations with teaching attitudes, and low correlations with school demographics. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, results provided strong structural, convergent, and divergent validity evidence for the 21-item, 7-factor SILS instrument. Implications for the measurement of implementation leadership in schools are discussed, as well as strategies to support leaders to enhance their strategic behaviors related to the implementation of mental health prevention programs (e.g., adaptation of existing leadership-focused implementation strategies). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13012-022-01222-7.