Enhancing Students’ Transitions to College and Careers: A Case Study of Distributed Leadership Practice in Supporting a High School Career Academy Model

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel R. Malin ◽  
Donald G. Hackmann
2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel R. Malin ◽  
Donald G. Hackmann

Purpose: This study analyzed leadership structures, processes, and practices that have enabled and constrained an ambitious career and college readiness reform within an urban school district. It was designed to discern how leaders worked across cross-sector boundaries to support district-wide high school career academy implementation. Research Method: Case study methodology was applied to examine a long-standing cross-sector collaborative partnership that supports the district’s career academy reforms. Data were collected over 15 months through interviews, observations, and document analysis. Crosby and Bryson’s integrative leadership theoretical framework guided data collection and analyses. Findings: The integrative leadership framework was suitable for understanding the boundary-spanning leadership work that was occurring, involving school leaders, civic officials, and business members in leadership roles to support academy reforms. As expected, for example, system turbulence was key to the reform’s initiation, establishing legitimacy was arduous and important, and numerous facilitative structures were developed. Some nuances were also apparent. For instance, we noted the motivating power of the shared goal to enhance the relevance of student educational experiences, while business and civic leaders were particularly interested in developing student employment skills. We also noted formidable political opposition and the development of a new, cross-sector power structure. Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice: Current educational theory is inadequate to explain leadership practices and provide guidance as school leaders increasingly enter into cross-sector collaborations. Scholars should seek to address this issue by prioritizing this line of research. Practitioners can benefit from insights gained by applying the integrated leadership framework to cross-sector initiatives.


Author(s):  
Usman Baharuddin ◽  
Khadijah Binti Daud

This paper aims to identify the principals distributed leadership practice toward school performance in Junior High Schools, State of South Sulawesi, Indonesia by using quantitative methods. Quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire interviews of 540 respondents from among the teachers. There are four dimensions required for Junior High School principals derived from questionnaire data with the respondent that the vision mission and goals of the school, the school culture, the sharing of responsibilities and leadership practices. The results showed that the culture of the school is the most dominant dimension that can affect school performance and distributed leadership has positive relationship in improving school performance. This means that if the principals perform well in school leadership the school performance can also be improved. Dimensions must be available on the school principals themselves to discharge their duties, especially in leadership activities to improve the performance of schools in South Sulawesi.


Author(s):  
Edward Fletcher ◽  
Victor Hernandez-Gantes ◽  
Chrystal Smith

The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives and strategies internal and external stakeholders used to support students in a career academy serving a predominately Latinx community. Within this case study, the principal of the school was Latinx, grew up within the same community as the school, and therefore shared the same culture as his students. Thus, we wondered how effective the principal would be in overcoming the cultural, political, and social barriers of students in the predominately Latinx school. We found the school leaders had a heightened awareness of organizational, cultural, and political complexities because of their own personal investment as well as their lived experiences of living and growing up in the community. The identities of the school leaders, then, led to a collective sense of agency and transformational leadership practices that facilitated a change in the grim situations and prospects of their students, and motivated them to become role models and community leaders providing resources and supports to ensure the high academic performance of students in the academy. However, we also realized that cultural understanding may sometimes lead to parochial views on what is best for students, leading to practices that prevent the exploration of student options beyond high school.


2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Andrea J. Bingham

Background/Context Schools and teachers are under immense pressure to adopt technology as a mechanism of educational equity. As such, it is important to understand what school-level practices can support more meaningful technology integration in classrooms. This is especially critical in a time (during the COVID-19 pandemic) when digital learning has been forcibly implemented nationwide, and scholars are voicing concerns that educational organizations’ choices about technology now may lead to lasting issues of power and control, new forms of student inequity, and other unexpected effects. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study examines a blended personalized learning school—a school designed to offer a combination of computer-based learning experiences and face-to-face instruction—to demonstrate how leaders can help teachers integrate technology into their classrooms in a meaningful and sustainable way. The research question is: What school practices support teachers to successfully incorporate technology into the classroom? Setting The research site is Binary High School, a personalized learning charter high school in a large urban area that primarily serves historically disadvantaged students. Participants: The participants include the content teachers in Grades 9–11, as well as the school founder, the principal and assistant principal, the student services coordinator, data analysis coordinator, and the IT director. Research Design This research stems from a three-year qualitative case study of a high-tech personalized learning charter high school. I conducted 37 interviews with teachers, students, staff, and administrators and observed dozens of classes, several parent nights, and many professional development meetings and staff meetings. I also collected hundreds of physical and digital documents. Findings/Results The pilot teacher program supported technology integration and showed how distributed leadership practices—specifically, providing opportunities and building capacity for a more collaborative, horizontal leadership structure, supporting teacher professionalization, and sharing the responsibilities for leadership across stakeholders at multiple levels—can support technology-driven educational initiatives. Conclusions/Recommendations For schools interested in technology-based instructional models, a pilot teacher program similar to the one described in this article may be worth exploring. More generally, adopting a distributed perspective of leadership and drawing on practices that exemplify that perspective can help to engage teachers in schoolwide technology integration and classroom reform.


2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 378-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Brooks ◽  
Gaetane Jean-Marie ◽  
Anthony H. Normore ◽  
Diane W. Hodgins

Although leadership for social justice and distributed leadership have separately garnered a great deal of interest among educational administration scholars, no studies have explored the possible conceptual and empirical links between these important and promising areas of inquiry. This study draws from extant literature to suggest an exploratory conceptual framework designed to investigate distributed leadership practice for social justice; it then explores the efficacy of the framework using data from an ethnographic study of leadership practice conducted in an urban high school in the southeastern United States. Findings suggest that the framework has potential for explaining social justice leadership practice as the context-specific and situation-bound work of formal and informal leaders throughout an organization.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-119
Author(s):  
Partono Partono

So far, in implementing school strategies, they tend not to utilize Information and Communication Technology (ICT), despite the availability of ICT resources available. Stages of strategic management are needed to generate the vision, mission, objectives, policy, program, budget, and procedures as well as control and evaluation process as an effort to utilize ICT to improve school quality. Based on the interpretation and the results of the study, it is concluded that schools have organized stages in strategic management that enable schools to have a quality profile. The impact of effective utilization of ICTs for schools is the achievement of effective school management, as per the National Education Standards, which is characterized by effective planning, implementation, control, and evaluation of school ICTs.The purpose of this study is to get a general description, describe, and reveal the Strategic Management of Information and Communication Technology Utilization to Improve the Quality of School Learning in Ciledug Al Musaddadiyah Vocational High School and Garut 1 Vocational High School, both on environmental analysis, strategic formulation, implementation and strategic evaluation. The research method used in this research is the case study method, because the problems studied occur in the place and situation of Ciledug Al Musaddadiyah Vocational School and Vocational High School 1 Garut. The use of case study models in this study is based on the consideration that to provide an overview of the strategic management activities of the use of ICTs carried out at vocational high schools with the ultimate goal of being able to improve the quality of school learning. Based on observations in the field of SMK 1 Garut and SMK Al Musaddadiyah Ciledug Garut is one of the public schools and private schools that have these advantages.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 196-204
Author(s):  
Sulistiawati Sulistiawati

This research is intended to search and information about the strengthening of Islamic religious education (PAI) through the recitation of furudhul Ainiyah which is carried out in Nurul Jadid Paiton Junior High School. The method of this research is by qualitative method with case study method, to express. That is more intense and deep with the above phenomenon. Technique of completion of data and information is done through interview, observation, study study, and literature study. The findings of this research are 1). Students or students are required to complete the recitation of Furudhul Ainiyah as a condition to take the odd semester and even semester exam and become a requirement for class and graduation increase. 2). the implementation of the furudhul Ainiyah memorization is performed on Thursday and Friday nights and Tuesday nights, and can also be done during normal day breaks, 3). The responsible and recipient of the rote deposit are PAI teachers and their homeroom teachers, 4). For students and students who can not read written Al-qur'an is not subject to rote burden, but get special coaching related to Al-Qur'an reading written by the religious coordinator of students. 5). Memory materials include Aqidah, Fiqih or Amaliyah materials, and daily prayers for students of VII and VIII semerter 1 and 2, while for classes IX semesters 1 and 2 cover the material of the Qur'an and Fiqh. 6). (a). Principal, (b). Vice Principal of the curriculum section, (c). Coordinator of students' religious activities, (d). Teacher / teacher of PAI, (e). Homeroom, (e). Student religious coordinator, (f). Student.


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