Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

Rationale
Leadership is the ability to guide and influence a group toward
achieving a common goal (Stogdill, 2011). In an academic setting,
schools act as training grounds for future professionals, community
leaders, and national figures. Involvement in student leadership plays
a vital role in shaping students' character and developing their
leadership skills, preparing them for future leadership roles in society.
Thus, taking on student leadership responsibilities is essential for
building important traits, such as self-management, knowledge
synthesis, and the ability to inspire others.
Academic achievement refers to performance outcomes that
demonstrate how far a person has progressed toward specified goals
that were the focus of activities in instructional environments,
particularly at school. Thus, it reveals the amount to which a person
has achieved specified goals that were the focus of activities in
instructional settings. Because it encompasses learners' diverse
talents, it should be viewed as a complex entity including several
domains of learning. Therefore, academic achievement should be
considered to be a multifaceted construct that comprises different
domains of learning (Steinmayr et al., 2014). Academic
accomplishment and student leadership engagement have already
been investigated, but the literature now in publication shows a variety
of results, indicating both areas that require further research and
positive correlation. Several studies suggest that students involved in
leadership roles often exhibit higher academic performance,
potentially due to enhanced self-regulation, motivation, and time-
management skills gained through leadership experiences. A study
conducted by Risku and Holder (2024) found that student leaders tend
to develop skills by getting involved in different activities where they
can receive feedback that can further expand their self-awareness.
Students build their leadership identities through group leadership and
other important activities, which enables them to take on leadership
roles in more complex and advanced manners (Risku and Holder,
2024; Komives et al., 2006).
Based on recently conducted studies, the concept of involvement
has evolved to student engagement, or “the time and energy students
devote to educationally sound activities inside and outside of the
classroom, and the policies and practices that institutions use to
induce students to take part in these activities” (Kuh, 2003, p. 25).
Furthermore, according to Astin's (1999) theory of student
participation, more involvement in campus events, such as leadership
roles, is associated with academic performance because of the
knowledge, relationships, and experiences gained outside of the
classroom (Smith, 2019). However, these studies often focus on
general correlations and lack specificity in explaining the mechanisms
by which leadership involvement might directly impact academic
metrics, such as GPA or standardized test scores.
The relationship between student leadership involvement and
academic achievement depends largely on how well student leaders
manage their roles and responsibilities, as well as the support systems
available to help them balance both. Handling these responsibilities
may lead to less time and energy for studying, potentially causing a
drop in academic performance, especially if not managed properly.
Balancing leadership duties with academic work can also result in high
stress levels. According to Morales et al., (2015) stress-related
conditions like depression and anxiety not only impair overall health
and well-being but can also adversely affect academic achievement.
 In Matiao National High School, 28% of Grade 12 students
comprises student leaders of whom may face significant challenges in
balancing their academic responsibilities and leadership roles. As
researchers and student leaders, conducting this study aims to
examine both the short-term and long-term effects of leadership
involvement on students' academic achievements as these skills are
crucial for success, not just in academics but also in real-world
settings.

Research Objective
This study aims to examine how leadership involvement affects
the students’ academic achievement of Grade 12 student leaders of
Matiao National High School.
Specifically, it aims to:
1. Define the profile of the respondents in terms of:
1.1 Organization;
1.2 Age; and
1.3 Gender.
2. Determine the level of students’ leadership involvement in terms of:
2.1 Personalities;
2.2 Cognitive abilities;
2.3 Skills; and
2.4 Expertise
3. Determine the level of students’ academic achievement in terms of:
3.1 Emotional regulation
3.2 Motivation; and
3.3 Compound skills
4. Determine if there is a significant relationship between students’
leadership involvement and their academic achievements among
Grade 12 student leaders of Matiao National High School.
Hypothesis
This study will test the null hypothesis at 0.05 level of
effectiveness:
1. There is no a significant relationship between students’
leadership involvement and their academic achievements among
Grade 12 student leaders of Matiao National High School.

Review of Related Literature

This section contains various literature related to the influence of
student leadership involvement on the academic achievement of
Grade 12 students in Matiao National High School. The main topics
reviewed here are organized into the following themes: Impact of
students’ leadership involvement on academic achievement.
Level of Student’s Leadership Involvement
Student leadership is an important part of the educational
experience, allowing students to acquire skills and positively contribute
to their academic communities. Student leaders describe as someone
in a formal position at a learning institution who oversees a
collaborative, values-based process that leads to good instructional
change (Dempster and Lizzo 2007). Leadership is not always simple.
You may encounter difficult conditions or be forced to make difficult
decisions. But overcoming these obstacles allows you to become
stronger and smarter. In fact, Arminio et al., (2000), Logue et al.,
(2005) and Yamasaki (1995) each study used a phenomenological
approach to better understand the “personal structure of leadership
experiences from the perspectives of the student leaders”. Because of
this uneasiness, educational institutions are promoting programs that
favour the development of essential skills and values for students to
become leaders of change, on the basis of problem- solving and
harmony between the person, nature and society and, in the same
way, use such leadership skills to engage academically and influence
their followers (Cáceres et al. 2012; Cáceres et al.,2015; Froiland
2021). This leadership ability is acquired from childhood thanks to
favourable behaviours that allow creating a positive environment for
young people, such as the relationships of the person and the
environment, adequate environments and communications that
develop their full potential (Heinrich 2018; Santacruz et al., 2017). In
this context, leadership should be seen as the development of human
competences and the engagement to surpass oneself (Jeynes 2018;
López et al., 2016).
Personalities. Personality refers to consistent pattern of behaviors,
thoughts and feelings that are unique to each individual,
persists through time and different situations (Friedman & Schustack
2012). Although early research on leadership looked at the role of
personality traits as predictors of leadership effectiveness, the failure
to develop a consistent set of traits that differentiate leaders from non-
leaders and effective leaders from ineffective leaders led researchers
to seek alternative models of leadership (Goldberg, 1993). In a
comprehensive review of the recent leadership literature, (Hogan et
al.,1994) suggest that personality traits are an important component of
effective leadership and that when used in combination with cognitive
ability, simulations, and role playing in an assessment center format
are one way to forecast effective leadership. By knowing the
personality and leadership qualities that a person has, he or she can
be helped to adapt according to the need of a situation, and thus
becomes a more effective leader. A person does not emerge as a
leader by simply having traits or qualities (Pierce & Newstrom 2006).
Cognitive abilities. Cognitive ability in a Western context is defined
as reasoning ability in new and complex situations (Neisser et. al.,
1996). Another review about cognitive ability was classified into
memory ability, representational ability, information processing ability,
logical reasoning ability, and thinking conversion ability, and analyzed
the effects of these five ability values on academic achievement.
(Sternberg and Sternberg, 2009). Rohde and Thompson
(2007) concluded that cognitive ability was a direct predictor of

academic achievement. The importance of cognitive abilities in

students’ learning activities is only reflected in the researcher’s

predetermined scope of investigation, which contains one or more
cognitive abilities specific to the researcher, while outside the scope of
investigation, these cognitive abilities still operate in an unpredictable
manner (David, 2005), thus, scholars still do not reach a consensus on
why cognitive abilities affect academic achievement due to the
inconsistent scope of investigation of students’ cognitive abilities
(Formazin et al., 2011)
Past research has centered on the direct effect of personal decent
cognitive abilities of students on Academic Achievement (Kuncel et al.,
2004; Miriam et al., 2011). Conversely, at lower levels of cognitive
ability, some knowledge is missed in the knowledge process, which
further reduces effective information output and leads to lower
academic achievement (Miriam et al., 2011). These findings also
support the results of previous analyses indicating that cognitive ability
usually contributes significantly to academic achievement.
Skills. Leadership skills enable students to interact effectively and
harmoniously with other people (Lippman et al., 2015; Page et al.,
2021). Research suggests that interaction between students positively
affects leadership development, academic success, and critical
thinking. In this program, education was provided to improve the
desire for struggle and goal setting, communication skills, group skills,
problem-solving skills, decision-making skills, responsibility awareness,
trusting and trustworthiness awareness, leadership awareness and
emotional awareness within the framework of leadership skills
(Cansoy, 2017). Külekçi (2016) investigated the effectiveness of the
education program on the basis of leadership skills based on social
responsibility in the study conducted with university students.
Wuetherick (2018) asserted that participation in a service-learning
project encourages students to create effective social change.

Expertise. The study of expertise is based on the premise that

experts in different domains follow a similar path of acquisition and
development. The traditional approach assumes a steady progression
from novice to expert as a function of training as well as years of
experience often without measures of reproducible skill (Ericsson &
Towne, 2010). Having experienced many individuals moving from
student to successful leader, and noting the great variety of situations
and contexts into which they must perform, the greatest current
challenge in leadership education lies in identifying what might best be
termed the “expert” leader—the complete set of personal tools that
will serve individuals in a variety of contexts and transcend the period
of time between their leadership studies and their leadership practice
(Allen & Middlebrooks, 2013). In order to understand the
characteristics of an effective school leadership, it is essential to
examine variables that foster the development of leadership expertise
(Okpala et al., 2011).
Level of Students’ Academic Achievement
 Academic achievement is the process by which individuals gain
the tools required to negotiate the complexities of the world, both
personally and professionally. Academic achievement was once
thought to be the most important outcome of formal educational
experiences and while there is little doubt as to the vital role such
achievements play in student life and later (Kell et al., 2013). In the
literature, the terms “academic achievement” and “academic
performance” are used interchangeably, thus, the construct of
academic achievement is operationalized explaining various aspects of

academic performance over time (Nadeem et al., 2023). Academic

achievement is integrated also into the work of Eakman et al., (2019),

where the focus is on the complexities of the emotional and social lives
of returned veterans and service personnel. Pascarella & Terenzini
(2005) presented latest research stream consists several studies on
academic achievement at higher level of education. In this study, a
student’s academic achievement is defined as the overall
measurement of the student's abilities, knowledge, and skills in terms
of academic achievement which is emphasized by the subject or
course of study (Ede & Igbokwe, 2018).
Emotional Regulation. Emotional regulation is a process by which
individuals modify the duration or intensity of their emotions to best
respond to environmental challenges (Aldao and Plate, 2018). Kopp
(1989) stated that emotional regulation consists of intra and
extrapsychic factors, which guarantee the confrontation, redefinition,
control, modification or modulation of the affective activity, to ensure
the adaptive functioning of the person. The individual uses a variety of
coping strategies, often known as emotional regulation techniques, in
this complex process. In reality, these strategies are constituted by
actions performed by the subjects, consciously or not, to maintain,
increase, decrease or modify one or more components of an emotional
response (Gross, 1998; Gross et al., 2006; Skinner et al.,
2009; Zimmerman & Schunk 2011). Studies with university students
reveal that most entered Higher Education with little knowledge about
the appropriate use of learning strategies or about how to learn
(Kramarski & Michalsky, 2009; Pintrich, 2002). Results indicated that
emotion regulation was positively associated with teacher reports of
children's academic success and productivity in the classroom and
standardized early literacy and math achievement scores (Graziano et
al., 2007).
Motivation. Motivation is a complex part of human psychology and
behavior that influences how individuals choose to invest their time,
how much energy they exert in any given task, how they think and feel
about the task, and how long they persist in the task (Bakar, 2014).
Motivation, forces acting either on or within a person to
initiate behavior (Petri and Cofer, 2024). This shows that motivation is
an internal state that activates, guides, and maintains behavior
(Green, 2002). Highly motivated learners are likely to learn readily, and
make any class fun to teach, while unmotivated learners may likely
learn very little and generally make teaching painful and frustrating
(Filgona, 2020). High academic success of high ability students is their
high level of motivation to continue their education (Kozochkina,
2009). Additionally, motivated students achieve academically by
engaging in behavior such as studying, question asking, advice
seeking, and participating in classes, labs, and study groups (Schunk et
al., 2008). This proves the efficacy of motivational strategies in
enhancing students’ learning in and outside the classroom.
Compound skills. Compound skills, a combination of cognitive, social-
emotional and behavioral, have been increasingly recognized as crucial
factors influencing academic achievement. (Soto et al., 2021). A
number of studies emphasize social-emotional competence as crucial
for particularly school readiness and academic achievement, and for
both concurrent and later mental and physical health (Denham et al.,
2016). However, items based in this approach are not ideally suited for
our capacities-based conceptualization of SEB skills: they assess a
person’s traits more so than their skills (Paulhus and Martin, 1987;
Wallace, 1966, Wallace, 1967). Cognitive skills are defined as “of,
relating to, being, or involving conscious intellectual activity (such as
thinking, reasoning, or remembering).” Basically, cognitive skills are
how the brain understands and processes new information and recalls
past knowledge to help us successfully live our lives (Alban & Alban
2024). These findings suggest that schools that improve standardized
achievement-test scores do so primarily through channels other than
improving cognitive skills (Finn et al., 2014)

Synthesis of Review of Related Literature

Based on the collection above, student leadership is an
important component of the educational experience, giving
possibilities for skill developments to enhance students' academic
practices. Effective leadership combines personality qualities, cognitive
talents, and specific skills that influence how people interact with one
another, make decisions, and create goals. Compound skills improve
academic performance by developing the critical abilities required for
complicated situations. Leaders sometimes face difficult decisions that
test their perseverance and problem-solving ability. However,
academic achievement is frequently associated with motivation,
emotional management, and complex skills, which combine cognitive,
social-emotional, and physical competencies. Graziano et al. (2007)
discovered that effective emotional regulation correlates with
classroom effectiveness, while high motivation generates a happy
learning environment.
The details included in the studies that were mentioned revolve
around students’ involvement in leadership positions as an issue on
the students of Matiao National High School. They generally indicate
that students’ leadership Involvement gives complexity of students’
schedule for the reason that it reduces study time of students. Apart
from this, some of the studies suggest that there are several factors
that contribute to it, including time management, critical thinking, and
skills development. These types of information are relevant to this
study since the data that the researchers wish to collect also includes
the factors that contribute to leadership.

Theoretical Framework
The study is anchored by the theoretical support of social
learning theory (Eva et al., 2019), emphasizing the importance of
observing, modeling, and imitating the behaviors, attitudes, and
emotional reactions of others. Social learning theory deals with the
achievement among students who have experienced being a leader by
observation and social interaction.
In the post-industrial era, all levels of education have been
encouraging student leadership as a means of involving students in
school governance (Kuranchie & Affum, 2021). In the context of
student leadership, social learning theory supports that student’s
involvement in leadership roles are likely to engage in collaborative
learning, problem-solving, and social interactions. Some studies reveal
that engaging with leadership positions will develop students'
intelligence as well as their academic practices, which leads to
academic achievement. Holding a leader position reduces study time
but improves learning autonomy, thereby enhancing academic
performance (Deng et al, 2020).
The connection of this theory in the context of assessing the
influence of leadership involvement in academic achievement among
grade 12 students in Matiao National High School is that this study is
supported by the social learning theory, which enhances their
academic practices through modeling, observing, and imitating.

Conceptual Framework
The conceptual paradigm in Figure 1 shows the independent
variable and dependent variable of the study. The independent
variable is students’ leadership involvement which has the following
indicators namely: personalities, cognitive abilities, skills, and
expertise (Zaccaro et al., 2004). On the other hand, the dependent
variable of the study is the impact of leadership involvement on
academic achievement with the following indicators namely: emotional
regulation, motivation, and compound skills (Chernyshenko et al.,
2018).

Figure 1
Conceptual Framework Showing the Variables of the Study

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Students’ Leadership Students’ Academic

Involvement Achievement

 Personalities  Emotional regulation

 Cognitive abilities  Motivation
 Skills  Compound skills
 Expertise
Significance of the Study
This study will present the benefits of examining the influence of
student leadership involvement on the academic achievement of
Grade 12 student leaders at Matiao National High School, particularly
in terms of enhancing leadership skills, promoting academic
engagement, and fostering a sense of responsibility and personal
growth among student leaders.
In particular, the study will be beneficial to the following:
School Administrators. The study provides school administrators
with concrete data on how leadership roles affect student academics.
This means that encouraging student leadership benefits everyone, as
it helps students succeed in school while also creating a more positive
and engaged learning environment for everyone. Students take on
leadership responsibilities, enhancing their positive impact on
academic performance.
Teachers. Teachers can assist students in implementing plans and
activities that improve their leadership and mentoring skills. Educators
can learn about the importance of promoting student leadership by
providing seminars to help students understand their roles as leaders,
engaging in policy-making, and offering programs that showcase
student leaders' potential, all of which can encourage participation that
supports academic growth.
Parents. This study will help parents understand why it is important to
support and encourage their children to participate in school
organizations. Such involvement can help children improve their
collaboration skills, time management, and, most importantly, their
leadership skills.
Students. This study will help students understand the importance of
joining extracurricular activities, such as school clubs or organizations,
in shaping responsible, well-rounded individuals and future servant
leaders. It will highlight that leadership skills are valuable and closely
related to academic achievement.
Future Researchers. The results of this study will serve as a source
of information for future researchers examining the influence of
leadership involvement on academic achievement. This research may
guide them in expanding their studies and provide a valuable
reference.

Definition of Terms
To facilitate a better understanding of this research, the
following terms are defined conceptually and operationally.
Influence. Defined the capacity to affect character, development, or
behavior of someone or something. Impact is the strong effect on
someone or something (Rafique, 2023).
Leadership Involvement. Defined as a process in which one person
behaves that allows creating a positive environment for young people,
such as the relationships of the person and the environment, adequate
environments, and communications that develop their full potential
(Heinrich 2018; Santacruz et al., 2017). In this study, it will be defined
as personalities, cognitive abilities, and expertise (Zaccaro et al.,
2004).
Academic Achievement. Defined as performance outcomes that
indicate the extent to which a person has accomplished specific goals
that were the focus of activities in instructional environments,
specifically in school, college, and university (Steinmayr et al., 2014).
In this study, it will be defined as emotional regulation, motivation, and
compound skills (Chernyshenko et al., 2018).

Chapter II
METHOD

This chapter will discuss the research design, research locale,

population and sample, research instrument, data collection
procedures and the statistical tool used in this study.

Research Design
This study will use a quantitative causal correlational research
design. Correlational technique is a non-experimental design in which
the researcher examines the relationship between variables in a
normal setting without manipulation or control. Correlational studies
investigate the strength of relationships between variables by
examining how changes in one variable are related to changes in the
other. In general, the correlational approach has independent and
dependent variables, but the effect of the independent variable is
observed on the dependent variable without changing the independent
variable (Creswell, 2002).
Relative to this, the causal correlational research design was
suitable for the study because it aims to test the significant
relationship between the impact of leadership involvement to
academic achievement of the student leaders.

Research Locale
This study will be conducted at Matiao National High School,
situated at Archie Heights, Matiao, Mati City, Davao Oriental. This
school is one of the 11 secondary schools in Mati Northwest District,
Division of the City of Mati. This is close to both the city center and
coastal areas. Thus, it made our study unique for it influenced both city
life and nature.

Population and Sample

The respondents of the study are the Grade 12 student leaders
of Matiao National High School, Matiao, Mati City, Davao Oriental.
The researchers will utilize a purposive sampling technique. This
method's inherent bias contributes to its efficiency and effectiveness,
particularly in quantitative research. While purposive sampling may
involve some bias, it is considered effective and reliable for gathering
focused and relevant data from individuals with specialized knowledge.
Thus, ensuring the reliability and competency of the chosen student
leaders is essential to ensure the quality and validity of the data
collected.
In this case, the study seeks to gather data from student leaders,
so the sample will consist of 50% of the student leaders in each
section.

Table 1
Frequency Distribution of Respondents

Number of
Section Population
Respondents

Arendt 14 7
De Beauvoir 15 8
Chopin 11 6
Durkheim 15 8
Total 55 29

Research Instrument
The instrument to be used in the study is a survey questionnaire
in a form of checklist. The questionnaire for student leadership
involvement is research-made. The student leadership involvement
has the following indicators: personalities, cognitive abilities, skills, and
expertise.

In evaluating student leadership involvement, the five orderable

gradations with their respective range of means and descriptions will
be used as follows:
Range of Descriptive Interpretation
Means Level
 4.20 – 5.00 Very High This means that the items related to
student leadership involvement are
always manifested.
3.40 – 4.19 High This means that the items related to
student leadership involvement are
oftentimes manifested.
2.60 – 3.39 Moderate This means that the items related to
student leadership involvement are
sometimes manifested.
1.80 – 2.59 Low This means that the items related to
student leadership involvement are
seldom manifested.
1.00 – 1.79 Very Low This means that the items related to
student leadership involvement are
never manifested.

The questionnaire for student leadership involvement is

research-made. The questionnaire for academic achievement has the
following indicators: Emotional regulation, Motivation, Compound skills.
In evaluating the academic achievement, the following range of
means with its descriptions will be used.

Range of Descriptive Interpretation

Means Level
4.20 – 5.00 Very High This means that the items related to
academic achievement are always
manifested.
 3.40 – 4.19 High This means that the items related to
academic achievement being are
oftentimes manifested.
2.60 – 3.39 Moderate This means that the items related to
academic achievement are sometimes
manifested.
1.80 – 2.59 Low This means that the items related to
academic achievement are seldom
manifested.
1.00 – 1.79 Very Low This means that the items related to
academic achievement are never
manifested.

Before the administration, and in a desire to check the

appropriateness of the items and its contents, it will be presented to
the panel of examiners for validation of the items and its contents. The
comments of the panel will be properly taken and incorporated in the
finalization of the said instrument.
Further, before the administration of the research instrument,
pilot testing will be done to selected Senior High Student leaders who
are not the respondents of the study.

Data Collection
1. Asking Permission to Conduct the Study. In the
collection of data, the researcher will ask permission from the School
Principal – Alicia R. Astronomo, EdD, and to the Advisers concerned, to
allow the researcher to conduct the study to the 55 students. Upon the
approval, the researcher will personally distribute and administer the
research instrument on the influence of student leadership
involvement on academic achievement to ensure 100 percent retrieval
of the questionnaires.
2. Administration of the Questionnaire. Survey
questionnaire will be administered to the Senior High School students
of Matiao National High School on 3rd week on December 2024. During
the administration, the researcher will make sure that the classes will
not be interrupted.
3. Retrieval of the questionnaires. The researchers plan to
retrieve the survey questionnaire a week after the distribution of the
survey questionnaires so that students will get more time to analyze
and provide the proper answer to the questions.
4. Analysis and interpretation of data. Data gathered from
this study will be analyzed and interpreted to derive the necessary
data for interpretation and further analysis.

Statistical Tool
Descriptive statistics that indicate the central tendencies of the
data particularly the mean scores will be used to analyze the data.
Percentage. This statistical tool will be used to determine the
differences of the respondents in terms of their organization, age and
gender in answer to sub-problem 1.
Mean. This statistical tool is use to describe the level of
student’s leadership involvement and academic achievements in
answer to sub-problems 2 and 3.
Pearson r. This is use to determine the significance of the
relationship between student’s leadership involvement and academic
achievements in answer to sub-problem 4. To interpret this result,
Pearson (1896) suggested using the scale provided below.