The University of Alabama

I am a Ph.D. student in Educational Leadership at the University of Alabama. I am deeply engaged in global K-12 school leadership research, with the goal of improving educational outcomes for diverse student populations. My research is driven by a desire to understand how leadership practices can be adapted and leveraged across varying socio-cultural and policy contexts to support effective and equitable schooling. I am also working as a graduate research assistant and have expertise in quantitative research (certified), qualitative research, systematic review, and meta-analysis. Currently, I am working on the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). This is a part of the largest and longest international school leadership project, led by Dr. Day at the University of Nottingham and Del & Jewell Lewis Endowed Chair Dr. Rose Ylimaki at Northern Arizona University, involving top-flight researchers from more than 20 countries. My contribution lies in employing meta-ethnography techniques to identify how leadership success is influenced by and responsive to local contexts across countries. The findings aim to inform context-sensitive leadership preparation and school improvement efforts globally. My improvement work spans diverse educational contexts, including international comparative study, early childhood education, teacher development, and postsecondary learning environments. I am involved in several related projects that adopt a continuous improvement lens to understand leadership’s indirect influence on student outcomes. These include: – A Meta-SEM study on academic press, teacher trust, and collective teacher efficacy as mediating pathways between school leadership and student achievement. – A meta-synthesis on how contextual variables shape teachers’ professional development in successful schools, using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems framework. I am committed to the broader mission of field-building in educational leadership and school improvement. As a Graduate Research Assistant, I contribute to several program-level initiatives to foster a research-rich and student-centered academic community. This includes managing communications and social media outreach to amplify the work of our faculty and students, as well as helping to analyze program feedback data for continuous improvement purposes. My scholarship is grounded in a belief that educational leadership should serve equity, context, and community voice. I see research not only as a way to generate knowledge but also as a way to foster relationships and mutual learning across institutions, cultures, and systems. Publications: 1. *Sun, J., 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 2. *Junqi Lin. (2024). Research on Kindergarten Diet Education from the Perspective of Life Education. Journal of Education and Culture Studies, 8(1): 31-45. https://doi.org/10.22158/jecs.v8n1p31 3. *Junqi Lin. (2023). Research on Elementary Teachers’ Time Conflicts and Management in After-school Delay Service. Nanjing Normal University. https://kns.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?dbname=CMFDTEMP&filename=1024548723.nh 4. *Junqi Lin. & Hongyan Chen. (2022). Research on Teacher Supply and Guarantee After-school Service in Developed Countries. Jiangsu Education, (90): 22-26. doi:CNKI:SUN:JAOI.0.2022-90-006. 5. *Junqi Lin. & Hongyan Chen. (2022). Endogenous Development of School Culture from the Perspective of Moral Leadership. Teaching and Management, (12): 33-36. doi:CNKI:SUN:JXGL.0.2022-12-008. 6. *Junqi Lin. & Lihong Wu. (2021). Food Education under the lens of Children’s Life. Jiangsu Education Research, (Z4): 8-12. doi: 10.13696/j.cnki.jer1673-9094.2021.z4.002 7. *Junqi Lin. (2019). Building High-quality and Professional Preschool Teachers’ Groups Based on Opinions on Comprehensively Deepening the Construction and Reform of Teachers in the New Era. Cross-strait Education Research, (02): 66-69. 8. *Junqi Lin. (2019). The Strategies for Parenting Communication in Family Education. Science and Fortune, 11(10): 70. Conference Participation and Presentation: American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting 04/2025  Presentation: *Lin, J., Zhang, R., Zhang, H., & Huang, T. (2025). Contextual Antecedents and Practice Changes of Successful School Principalship: A Meta-Synthesis of International Case Studies. AERA, SIG-Leadership for School Improvement. Denver, Colorado.  Co-present: *Zhang, R., *Lin, J., & *Li, F. (2025). Global Perspective on Leading Schools to Success. AERA, SIG-Leadership for School Improvement. Denver, Colorado. *Zhang, H., Huang, T., Lin, J., & Zhang, R. (2025). Meta-ethnography Study on the Definition and Contributors of Successful Schools. AERA, SIG-International Studies. Denver, Colorado. *Jingping Sun; *Christopher W. Day; *Huaiyue Zhang; *Rong Zhang; *Ting Huang; *David M. Gurr; *Rose M. Ylimaki; *Qing Gu; *Lin, J. (2025). Successful School Principalship: A Meta-Synthesis of 20 Years of International Case Studies. AERA, Division A – Section 1: Leadership. Denver, Colorado. University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA) Annual Convention 11/2024  Presentation: *Lin, J., Zhang, R., Zhang, H., & Huang, T. (2024). A Qualitative Meta-Analysis of Successful Principalship Case Studies: Examining Contextual Antecedents and Principal Practice Changes. UCEA Graduate Student Summit. Los Angeles, California.  Co-present: *Zhang, H., & Huang, T., & Lin, J. (2024). Exploration of the Differences in Successful Schools. UCEA Graduate Student Summit. Los Angeles, California. *Huang, T., Zhang, H., & Lin, J. (2024). Personal Qualities of Successful School Principals in the International Successful School Principalship Project: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis. UCEA Graduate Student Summit. Los Angeles, California. * Sun, J., * Huang, T., * Zhang, H., * Zhang, R., & *Lin, J. (2024). A 20-Year Meta-Synthesis of Evidence from the International Successful School Principal Project (ISSPP). UCEA Annual Convention. Los Angeles, California 65th Southern Regional Council on Educational Administration (SRCEA) Conference 10/2024  Presentation: *Junqi Lin. (2024). Teachers’ Professional Development in Successful Schools Malleable to Contextual Influences: A Meta-synthesis of 20 Years of Research. SRCEA. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. *Junqi Lin, Rong Zhang, & Khandakar Kamrul Hasan. (2024). The Indirect Effect of School Leadership on Student Learning through Academic Press: A Meta-Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Approach. SRCEA. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Annual Southeastern Universities Graduate Research Symposium (SUGRS) 04/2024  Presentation: *Junqi Lin. (2024). How Contextual Factors Affect Successful Principalship? —Based on an International Perspective. SUGRS. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The International Annual Conference of the World Association of Lesson Studies (WALS) 12/2021  Presentation: Junqi Lin. (2021). Why does silence in graduate classes happen? –Research based on qualitative studies with Chinese N University students. Macau & Hong Kong, China(online). The Taos Institute Online Conference: Education as Relating. 11/2021  Presentation: Junqi Lin. (2021). Endogenous Development of School Culture in the perspective of Moral Leadership. Nanjing, China(online). University of Strathclyde, Glasgow/ Nanjing Normal University Student Symposium: Comparative Education Event 06/2021  Presentation: Junqi Lin. (2021). Encouraging healthy eating in Early Years environments. Nanjing, China(online). 3rd International Conference on Management of Educational Units (ICOMEU) 12/2020  Presentation: Junqi Lin. (2020). Research on Kindergarten Diet Education in the Perspective of Life Education. International Hellenic University(online).