A New Approach to School Development

AbstractIn this chapter, we further explore and contextualize school development amidst the tensions between contemporary policies and the educational needs of students. We conceptualize school development as a process that mediates among tensions that result in a Zone of Uncertainty. We then describe our application of school development in the Arizona Initiative for Leadership Development and Research (AZiLDR). Content was initially drawn from findings from the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) exploring leadership in high-needs, culturally diverse schools and related leadership studies. Our approach differs from other school development models in at least four ways. First, the approach is grounded in education theory as explicated by John Dewey and others. Closely related, our approach attempts to balance evidence-based values with humanistic values. Third, our approach is grounded in our empirical research and related studies of leadership in culturally diverse schools and communities. Fourth, our approach is process oriented and contextually sensitive for schools as they are situated in the larger community and serving culturally diverse populations. Finally, we develop leadership through a collaborative approach in that we work with school teams as a unit.

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Values, Culture and Context

10.1007/978-3-030-76837-9_3 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 43-53

Author(s):

Rose M. Ylimaki ◽

Lynnette A. Brunderman

Keyword(s):

Leadership Teams ◽

Leadership Team ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

School Development ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Education Theory ◽

The Individual ◽

School Principalship ◽

Successful School ◽

Defined Culture

AbstractThis chapter presents our conception of culture for school development, including broader cultural aims and humanistic values of education for an increasingly multicultural society reflected in the micro-organizational culture of schools and the sub-culture of the leadership team. Specifically, drawing on the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) research, related studies, and education theory, we defined culture as the values, beliefs and norms of behavior embedded within the individual, the leadership team, the organization, and the larger community. The balance of the chapter presents application of theory and practice in the Arizona project (AZiLDR) as well as lessons learned. The chapter illustrates the critical importance of culture to readiness for school development. Often, during the project, teams were at different stages of readiness, resulting in the need to spend time building and solidifying the culture. In schools with less readiness, we found the diffusion process to progress much more slowly. We saw these schools existing in the Zone of Uncertainty much longer. We describe our process to develop school culture through leadership teams, using the AZiLDR delivery system of institutes, regional meetings and on-site coaching. Example case studies and activities are provided.

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Global Research on Principal Leadership

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.714 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

David Gurr ◽

Lawrie Drysdale ◽

Helen Goode

Keyword(s):

Leadership Development ◽

School Leadership ◽

International Study ◽

Preparation Programs ◽

International Projects ◽

International Comparative ◽

Meta Analyses ◽

School Principalship ◽

Successful School ◽

International Testing

Large, sustained, multinational, and collaborative research networks are becoming more popular because of their power to produce findings that generalize across contexts as well as to provide contextually nuanced views of a phenomenon. In educational leadership, four major projects have been initiated since the beginning of the 21st century: The International Successful School Principalship Project; the International Study of the Preparation of Principals; Leadership for Learning; and the International School Leadership Development. These projects cover from seven to more than 20 countries and have run for 5 or more years. The discussion of these projects provides insight into principal effectiveness research and some guidance to those who seek to collaborate with colleagues nationally and internationally. International projects like these bring the interplay of leadership and context into focus and show that context is important in terms of educational success and how leadership is enacted. Despite the complexity in considering leadership and context, a standout feature of the projects is that across different contexts, there are general findings that emerge, either confirming contemporary understandings or proposing new views through the construction of leadership models, and recommendations emerge that can transcend contexts (such as the need for high-quality but contextually relevant leadership preparation programs). These international comparative projects are important works, as they endeavor to counter the blancmange view of education that comes through the pervasiveness of things like international testing programs and the reliance on meta-analyses.

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Addressing the Needs of Culturally Diverse Populations in Community-Based Health Research

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e413802005-747 ◽

2001 ◽

Author(s):

Renee Taylor ◽

Gary Harper ◽

Audrey Bangi ◽

Radhika Chimata ◽

Danielle Johnson

Keyword(s):

Health Research ◽

Culturally Diverse ◽

Diverse Populations ◽

Community Based ◽

Culturally Diverse Populations

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Successful leadership in a rural, high-poverty school: the case of County Line Middle School

Journal of Educational Administration ◽

10.1108/jea-04-2013-0056 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 52 (4) ◽

pp. 422-445 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Hans W. Klar ◽

Curtis A. Brewer

Keyword(s):

Middle School ◽

Service Learning ◽

Low Income ◽

Leadership Practices ◽

Leadership Strategies ◽

High Poverty ◽

Content Type ◽

School Principalship ◽

Successful School

Purpose – In this paper, the authors present a case study of successful school leadership at County Line Middle School. The purpose of the paper is to identify how particular leadership practices and beliefs were adapted to increase student achievement in this rural, high-poverty school in the southeastern USA. Design/methodology/approach – After purposefully selecting this school, the authors adapted interview protocols, questionnaires, and analysis frameworks from the International Successful School Principalship Project to develop a multi-perspective case study of principal leadership practices at the school. Findings – The findings illustrate the practices which led to students at this school, previously the lowest-performing in the district, achieving significantly higher on state standardized tests, getting along “like a family,” and regularly participating in service learning activities and charity events. A particularly interesting finding was how the principal confronted the school's negative self-image and adapted common leadership practices to implement a school-wide reform that suited its unique context. Research limitations/implications – While the findings of the study explicate the specific ways the principal adapted leadership strategies to enhance student learning, this study also highlights the need to understand how principals become familiar with their community's needs, cultures, norms, and values, and exercise leadership in accordance with them. Practical implications – The case offers an example of the need for context-responsive leadership in schools. In particular, it illustrates how this principal enacted leadership strategies that successfully negotiated what Woods (2006) referred to as the changing politics of the rural. To realize this success, the principal utilized his understanding of this low income, rural community to guide his leadership practices. Critically, part of this understanding included the ways the community was connected to and isolated from dominant sub-urban and urban societies, and how to build enthusiasm and capacity through appeals to local values. Originality/value – While it is widely acknowledged that school leaders need to consider their school and community contexts when making leadership decisions, less research has focussed on understanding how this can be achieved. This case provides rich examples of how this was accomplished in a rural, high-poverty middle school.

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Where have all the followers gone?

Leadership ◽

10.1177/1742715020983223 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 174271502098322

Author(s):

Steve Kempster ◽

Doris Schedlitzki ◽

Gareth Edwards

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Leadership Development ◽

Social Constructions ◽

Leadership Studies ◽

Short Article ◽

Mba Students ◽

Executive Mba ◽

Leadership Research ◽

Do So

In this short article, we explore and problematise the axiomatic assumption of follower in the field of leadership studies notably the leader–follower axiom as the essential foundation of much leadership theorising. We do so, firstly by drawing on our experiences of exploring followership conceptually, and secondly, by reviewing conversations with executive MBA students. From these sources, we argue that the absence of identifications with followership offers a challenge to leadership assumptions around the socio-materiality of followers and their relations with leaders within organisational contexts. This leads us to questions like: what if follower identifications do not typically exist or are rejected in everyday organisational working contexts – despite discursive labelling of individuals as followers or following practices? Would or should leadership research and its examination of leader–follower dynamics fundamentally change and in what ways? We explore these questions and suggest very different orientations that might appear with regards to notions of the leadership relationship, leading and following dynamics, practice-based attention to leadership and perhaps very different approaches to leadership development. Such a (re)appraisal of the leadership lexicon may move notions of follower identification out of social constructions of organisational leadership and towards social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) – where the phenomenon of being a follower is ever present, but is redefined as a phenomenon of vicarious fantasy associated with interest, curiosity and entertainment.

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An Approach for Humanizing Leadership Education: Building Learning Community & Stakeholder Engagement

Journal of Management Education ◽

10.1177/10525629211041355 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 105256292110413

Author(s):

Shaista E. Khilji

Keyword(s):

Leadership Development ◽

Learning Community ◽

Stakeholder Engagement ◽

Common Good ◽

Mutual Influence ◽

Leadership Education ◽

Leadership Studies ◽

Leadership Development Programs ◽

Critical Leadership ◽

Critical Leadership Studies

In recent years, scholars have become critical of mainstream leadership development approaches. In particular, Petriglieri and Petriglieri refer to the dehumanization of leadership, whereby leadership breaks its ties to identity, community, and context. The purpose of this paper is to present an approach for humanizing leadership using the case example of George Washington University’s Organizational Leadership & Learning (OLL) program. Embedded in the critical leadership studies (CLS) approach, the humanizing principles, and the humanistic leadership paradigm, the OLL program’s leadership learning approach focuses on building a learning community and stakeholder engagement. I describe its pedagogical goals and instructional strategies that help promote a psychologically safe space where learners build trusting relationships, integrate diverse perspectives through respectful dialogues, and develop a sense of the “common good” and culture of equity through issue-centered learning. Using classrooms as “identity spaces” and “leadership learning laboratory” allows learners in the program to practice the co-construction of ideas through mutual influence and interactions. This paper makes a valuable contribution to developing future leadership development programs.

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