Heeding the CALL (Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning)

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-151
Author(s):  
Sookweon Min ◽  
Marsha E. Modeste ◽  
Jason Salisbury ◽  
Peter T. Goff
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Comprehensive Assessment ◽  
Collaborative Culture ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Leadership For Learning ◽  
School Professionals ◽  
School Leadership Practices ◽  
Instructional Collaboration

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine what school leadership practices are associated with a school’s level of instructional collaboration among school professionals and also investigates what school characteristics are linked to the level of instructional collaboration in a school. Design/methodology/approach – This study drew data from the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL) survey. CALL is a multi-source measure of distributed leadership, comprised of five domains of school leadership practices. Responses from 3,767 teachers and 167 administrators working at 129 schools were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression analysis. Findings – The findings show that there are significant relationships between school leadership practices and the extent of instructional collaboration taking place within schools, both in terms of quantity and quality. In particular, school leadership practices that are closely related to facilitating instruction and allocating resources are associated with a school’s instructional collaboration, whereas a leadership practice related to environmental factors tends not to be significantly correlated with a school’s collaborative culture. This study also found that leadership perspectives on instructional collaboration are an important predictor of both quantity and quality of collaboration among school professionals. Originality/value – This study clarifies the importance of school leadership in a collaborative culture and also provides empirical evidence of what specific practices of school leadership predict the frequencies of professional collaborative activities in school as well as their quality. In addition, this study demonstrates how schools’ contextual factors are related to the level of instructional collaboration among professionals.

Analyzing abusive school leadership practices through the lens of social justice

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 546-555
Author(s):  
Shuti Steph Khumalo
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Performance ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Teacher Behavior ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
School Leadership Practices

Purpose The present study contributes to the growing body of research on abusive supervision in school settings, particularly by principals. School leadership (principal) behavior has been a topical issue for decades in educational research. This paper attempts to add to scholarly knowledge in the area of school leadership and specifically the effect of abusive school leadership on organizational productivity and organization citizen behavior. Put succinctly, the purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of abusive school leadership on school performance and teacher behavior. Abusive leadership is attributable to behavior that is deviant, antisocial and counter-productive and that which is uncivil. Design/methodology/approach In examining abusive school leadership behavior and its effect on school performance and teacher behavior, this conceptual paper draws heavily from an in-depth analysis of extant scholarship and uses Rawls theory of social justice as a conceptual tool. Social justice theorists believe that social institutions are embedded with immense responsibility of dispensing justice, fairness and equity. Findings Building from these relevant literatures and grounding the argument from the Rawlsian perspective of social justice, it can be argued that abusive school leadership perpetuates unfair and unjust practices toward teachers, which negatively affects performance. Literature reviewed convincingly indicates that abusive tendencies are practiced in school by school leadership. Further, these abusive practices negatively impact on the following: teacher productivity, teacher turnover and, finally, staff members’ well-being and health. The findings confirm that these practices perpetuate social injustice. Schools are social institutions and have to ensure that justice is served on all members of the organization, and, for this reason, Rawls (1971) argues that justice is the first virtue of social institutions. Practical implications The findings of this study have a number of important implications for future practice. It is critical in this study to suggest that in trying to deal with scourge, tougher measures need to be taken by various education departments to ensure that the problem is dealt with effectively. One of the interventions that is suggested is tougher policy positions on matters related to abusive leadership. In education departments that have legislation regarding consequences regarding abusive school leadership practices, tougher action should be taken against leadership which practice abuse. Originality/value School leadership is a highly contested research space and this conceptual paper is of great value because it adds to the already existing insights and understanding in abusive leadership in educational settings. This paper is of great significance because it focuses on the effect of abusive school leadership on teachers’ behavior and school performance.

The role of cognitive validity testing in the development of CALL, the comprehensive assessment of leadership for learning

2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark H. Blitz ◽  
Jason Salisbury ◽  
Carolyn Kelley
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Distributed Leadership ◽  
Department Chairs ◽  
Comprehensive Assessment ◽  
Leadership Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Validity Testing ◽  
Leadership For Learning ◽  
Cognitive Validity ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

Purpose – The Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL) is an online task-based assessment of distributed instructional leadership. In developing CALL, researchers faced the challenge of structuring survey items that would measure leadership practice rather than individual traits. Critical in this work was developing items that accurately reflected current leadership practice. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to pilot the CALL instrument and conducted cognitive validity testing on the instrument. Design/methodology/approach – CALL researchers piloted the survey in six schools in Wisconsin in order to test and refine the survey instrument. Researchers conducted cognitive walk-through interviews with five participants from each school: principals, associate principals, teachers, department chairs, guidance counselors, and activities directors. The interviews focussed on specific items in order to observe the users’ thought processes and rationale in choosing a response for each item. The researchers focussed on relevancy, clarity, and accuracy of survey items in collecting and analyzing the resulting data. Findings – Three specific survey items were identified that exemplify these challenges and opportunities such as: accessible language, extended leadership, socially desirable responding, 360-degree perspectives, applying appropriate terminology, and identifying appropriate practices. These findings provided insight into survey development work and implications of distributed leadership. The authors discuss the challenges of creating a task-based leadership assessment. Originality/value – Developing a formative assessment of school leadership is valuable in supporting school leaders’ work. The process of utilizing a qualitative approach to develop a quantitative instrument has proven critical in measuring task-based distributed leadership.

scholarly journals Comparing CALL and VAL-ED: An Illustrative Application of a Decision Matrix for Leadership Feedback Instruments

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-112
Author(s):  
Jason Salisbury ◽  
Peter Goff ◽  
Mark Blitz
Keyword(s):  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Comprehensive Assessment ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Decision Matrix ◽  
Instrument Selection ◽  
Leadership For Learning ◽  
Leadership Accountability ◽  
Illustrative Application

Initiatives to increase leadership accountability coupled with efforts to promote data-driven leadership have led to widespread adoption of instruments to assess school leaders. In this article, we present a decision matrix that practitioners and researchers can use to facilitate instrument selection. Our decision matrix focuses on the psychometric properties of the instruments, the model of leadership used to construct the instruments, the feasibility of implementation, and the extent to which feedback lends itself to changes in behavior (actionability). We apply this decision matrix to two of the most prominent leadership feedback instruments, Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning and Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education. Through our decision matrix, we are able to reveal the commonalities between the measures and also identify tangible differences. We discuss the implications of the comparative strengths and drawbacks of the two instruments and how they might be deployed most effectively to improve leadership practices.

Learning to Transform Through Interplay Between the Confucian and Western Cultural Heritages: A Case Study of School Leadership Development in Beijing, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haijun Kang ◽  
Qi Sun ◽  
Lei Lyu
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Local School ◽  
School Leadership Development ◽  
School Leadership Practices ◽  
Beijing China

Taking a case study approach and utilizing Hoggan’s transformative learning (TL) typology and criteria as a framework, we examined the self-reported TL experiences of 12 local school leaders in Beijing, China. These local school leaders gained cross-cultural learning from a school leadership development program that was designed to prepare school leaders for education internationalization. Our data analysis indicated that these 12 local school leaders had experienced significant changes in their educational epistemology, self-identity, and school leadership practices. Further examining these changes at the intersection of the Confucian and Western cultural heritages, we discovered that these school leaders had developed an integrated approach to education, started to consciously reflect on what their social- and self-identities entail, and began the process of transitioning from conservative to appreciative school leadership practices.

School leadership practices of Portuguese principals: Matching perceptions of principals and teachers.

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
José Matias Alves ◽  
Rosario Serr�ão Cunha ◽  
Maria Da Conceiç�ão Andrade Silva ◽  
Ilídia Cabral
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
School Leadership Practices
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