56 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY Burnout, a product of chronic stress, manifests as emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment, and depersonalization.29 Its prevalence among educators is linked to high emotional demands, with consequences for retention and instructional quality.30 Teacher turnover exacerbates inequities, particularly for vulnerable student populations, and diminishes professional morale.31 While EI is broadly recognized as a composite of personal and social competencies that can be developed,32 the integration of EI into leadership development remains inconsistent.33 SL’s people-centered ethos requires high EI,34 yet empirical research specifically examining the EI– SL nexus among EC–12 education professionals is limited. Key unanswered questions include the relationships among EI, SL, burnout, and intent to quit and whether employment classification moderates these variables. Overall, the literature suggests that in educational settings, EI and SL are complementary frameworks that jointly enhance resilience, educators’ ethics, and performance of educational organizations. However, significant empirical gaps remain, particularly concerning the role of different categories of EC–12 certified educators. Addressing these gaps may yield useful insights into reducing burnout, minimizing turnover, and fostering sustainable, human-centered leadership in K-12 education. Methodology Population and Sampling The target population consisted of certified education professionals serving in EC-12 settings across the State of Texas. A non-probability convenience sampling was used to recruit participants via professional networks and social media platforms, supplemented by formal outreach to the Texas Education Agency (TEA). A priori power analysis determined that a minimum of 39 participants per variable was required, totaling 195 participants needed to meet the statistical power threshold for multivariate analysis. Instrumentation The survey instrument comprised of 61 items, integrating four psychometric scales along with a sociodemographic questionnaire. The constructs measured included: (a) Trait Emotional Intelligence, assessed via
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