A Study of Shared Leadership and Its Impact on School Improvement PDF Download

Author: Vickie L. Raymond
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Author: Janet H. Chrispeels
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1452266948
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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"Too often the response to good ideas is ′it won′t work here.′ This book respects that perspective by providing school leaders with studies from the field that describe efforts that have and have not worked. The concept of shared leadership is presented in a ′real world′ context, including the voices of those who don′t want it. The reader will develop a better understanding of what true collaboration can look like along with the challenges leaders may face as the culture of their school adapts to change." —Stephen Gruenert, Indiana State University "Learning to Lead Together connects leadership theory with experiences from the field—it is very useful to practitioners and to individuals preparing for formal school leadership positions." —Albert H. Fein, Gonzaga University "Janet Chrispeel′s Learning to Lead Together provides a rich anthology of real experiences of school based leaders caught in the vortex of leading and learning on the one hand and teaching and leading on the other. I highly recommend this new work to students seeking real answers to real problems." —James C. Moulton, Jr., Consulting Principal, Fairfax County Public Schools Learning to Lead Together: The Promise and Challenge of Sharing Leadership examines the dilemmas for school leaders and administrators, and the benefits for schools and students, when principals work with teachers (and their communities) to share leadership. Most schools function within existing hierarchical structures that contradict and undermine many of the conditions necessary for shared leadership. Current school reform initiatives and policies urge or require that teachers be actively involved in decision-making without addressing systemic dilemmas and paradoxes. Through real-life single and multiple case studies, Learning to Lead Together addresses how principals and their staffs struggle with the challenge of shared leadership, how they encourage teacher growth and development, and how shared leadership can lead to higher levels of student learning. The cases show how shared leadership, a powerful adaptive change, is socially constructed across contexts and evolves as teachers and principals learn how to work together. The book also illustrates how principal preparation and professional development programs that utilize problem-based learning and provide opportunities for genuine collaboration with colleagues can provide school leaders with the skills they need to share leadership and accountability effectively. This book is ideally suited as a supplemental text for courses in educational leadership and administration. School administrators, superintendents, and principals will also find this an invaluable reference.

Author: Leigh Putman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Educational leadership
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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This qualitative phenomenological study examined the impact of shared leadership committees on school improvement efforts. The research identified which leadership factors lead to successful shared leadership committees and which supports and structures were needed for the committees to be meaningful in regards to school improvement. Certified staff who had been a part of the shared leadership committees at one high school in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia took part in the study. The participants were divided according to the committee on which they served and two were randomly selected two from each committee for participation in the study. All study participants completed an information gathering survey and some participated in personal interviews, focus groups, or observations with the primary researcher. These educators were selected because they experienced the phenomenon being examined. Surveys and interviews indicated that participants knew that there was a mission or vision statement, but could not articulate what it was. The surveys also indicated that most teachers felt that they could participate in the school-wide decision making process if they desired to do so. In addition, the surveys detected that there was a culture of respect between teachers, but not between teachers and administration. There was also a feeling amongst teachers that there was no time for collaboration on issues of school improvement or instruction. For these reasons, school improvement was not positively impacted by the school's shared leadership committees. Results strongly demonstrated that shared leadership committees in general are very likely to be unsuccessful unless there is time dedicated during the school day for the committees to meet, there is a well-defined purpose for the committees, there is a choice for each staff member of which committee to serve on, there is administration involvement and oversight of the work of the committees, and there is value attached to the w

Author: Cherie B. Gaines
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1641136049
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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As the inaugural issue in the Leadership for School Improvement (LSI) Special Interest Group (SIG) Book Series, this volume serves as a reflection on the foundations of the field of school improvement. Contents include connections between school improvement and the agency of principals, districts, universities, and policy. This volume will be placed in the school improvement literature with examinations of evolution, trends, policies, and future foci in the field of school improvement. This book is rich in research and literature about school improvement, school effectiveness, and school reform policy and implementation and thus holds significance for educational practitioners, scholars, and policy makers at all levels.

Author: Michele A. Acker-Hocevar
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617356522
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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This book chronicles the journey of seven schools serving students of poverty, English Language Learners (ELLs), and students of color, which were able to sustain school improvement for a decade on either state and/or national criteria that measure student performance outcomes. The book shares stories of these seven schools and demonstrates that it takes an entire school working together with their communities, adding to the social and cultural capital of their students and families, to create and nurture what we call a Learning Partnership for sustainable school improvement. The answers for how these schools sustained school improvement and are effective schools is evident from their school student metrics that validate the school’s ability to meet and sustain external mandates of high performance over time. The seven individual case stories illustrate that what matters most is what happens in the school itself. It is the internal culture of caring and respecting each other and working from an additive perspective of valuing students for their unique gifts and abilities, rather than exclusively focusing on increasing test scores that makes these school stories unique. This is not about heroic leadership but leadership spread out and shared among professionals working together to achieve common goals around shared values and beliefs. This book is about using resources in ways that value human capital as the greatest asset in the school to ensure that educators feel a sense of commitment, connection, and passion for their work together with students, their families, and their communities that enable them to excel together. We offer readers seven cases that demonstrate there is no cookie cutter approach to having an effective school. Rather, there is a theory-in-practice that grounds the Learning Partnership depicted as a tree within a sustainable school improvement culture. This sustainable culture connects shared leadership and accountability, resourcefulness, a humanistic philosophy, additive schooling and results in an organization synergy that sustains organizational and collective efficacy for achieving results in these schools that other educators in schools with similar demographics are often unable to sustain or attain.

Author: Linda Lambert
Publisher: ASCD
ISBN: 0871207788
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 143

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Book Description
Following the publication of Building Leadership Capacity in Schools in 1998, Linda Lambert visited educators around the world to see how they had applied the ideas presented in her book to their schools and districts. Though everyone she spoke with agreed on the importance of high leadership capacity, they also had many questions about how best to achieve this goal. Leadership Capacity for Lasting School Improvement is the author's attempt to answer those questions. The book begins by outlining the five major prerequisites for high leadership capacity: * Skillful participation in the work of leadership *Inquiry-based use of data to inform decisions and practice *Broad involvement and collective responsibility for student learning *Reflective practice that leads to innovation *High or steadily improving student achievement In addition to providing a comprehensive overview of steps schools should take to meet these criteria, Lambert quotes at length from her discussions with educators to provide a view of leadership enhancement techniques in practice. She also includes helpful rubrics and surveys that teachers and administrators alike can use to personally assess their leadership skills. Combining the author's own insights with real-life examples and practical exercises, Leadership Capacity for Lasting School Improvement is an indispensable guide to enhancing and sustaining a culture of leadership in any school.

Author: Craig L Pearce
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1452276765
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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"Shared Leadership offers a much-needed shift in our thinking about how leadership happens in teams and organizations. Pearce and Conger have brought together a diverse group of authors who collectively offer a comprehensive view of developing, implementing, and studying shared leadership in organizations. This volume is sure to fulfill its goal of "jump-starting" our knowledge of the shared leadership phenomenon." --Cynthia D. McCauley, Ph.D., Vice President, Leadership Development, Center for Creative Leadership "How leadership is shared in teams and organizations is an important subject, but one that has received little attention in most of the leadership literature. This timely book provides a rich and varied perspective on the subject. The highly qualified collection of scholars provide a good theoretical foundation to guide the future study of shared leadership." --Gary Yukl, State University of New York at Albany "The time is as ripe as ever for a new paradigm of leadership that the authors simply call ′shared leadership.′ This timely volume effectively ′jumpstarts′ our knowledge of this emerging field by presenting a number of critical perspectives examining shared leadership using conceptual, empirical, and applied lenses." --Joe Raelin, Asa. S. Knowles Chair of Practice-Oriented Education, Northeastern University, and author of Creating Leaderful Organizations: How to Bring Out Leadership in Everyone "This volume redefines the essence of leadership. Pearce and Conger have assembled a cast of ′scholar-entrepreneurs′ whose pioneering work firmly establishes the theoretical foundations for the study of leadership now and well into the future. This book is a must read for anyone interested in leadership in the age of teamwork." --Henry P. Sims, University of Maryland In recent years, scholars have argued that leadership is an activity shared or distributed among members of a group or organization. This line of thinking is gaining attention among leadership scholars, yet our understanding of the dynamics and opportunities for shared leadership is still quite primitive. Given the infancy of the field, it is timely to introduce a volume on the subject that significantly enhances our knowledge.Shared Leadership: Reframing the Hows and Whys of Leadership brings together the foremost thinkers on the subject and is the first book of its kind to address the conceptual, methodological, and practical issues for shared leadership. Its aim is to advance understanding along many dimensions of the shared leadership phenomenon: its dynamics, moderators, appropriate settings, facilitating factors, contingencies, measurement, practice implications, and directions for the future. The volume provides a realistic and practical discussion of the benefits, as well as the risks and problems, associated with shared leadership. It will serve as an indispensable guide for researchers and practicing managers in identifying where and when shared leadership may be appropriate for organizations and teams. Edited by leading authorities Craig L. Pearce and Jay A. Conger, with contributions from the top experts in the field, Shared Leadership is an ideal text for management, education, and communication courses in leadership, teamwork, organizational behavior, and small groups. In addition, practicing consultants will find this an invaluable reference in their leadership and team development programs.

Author: Terry Wilhelm
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1506342841
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Supercharge your school culture with authentic shared leadership. Why do so many professional learning communities (PLCs) fail? Terry Wilhelm answers this question—and more—by challenging educators to work together once and for all to cultivate shared leadership. Through simple practices and processes, Shared Leadership: The Essential Ingredient for Effective PLCs highlights approaches that spark and sustain a successful PLC. If you need how-to steps to fuel a healthy school culture in curriculum, instruction, and assessment, it’s all here: Developing teacher leadership and enhancing collaboration Discussion protocols to fire up team meetings Tools and troubleshooting tips Common scenarios and dilemmas

Author: Appalachia Educational Lab., Charleston, WV.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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The School Improvement Specialist Project prepared seven modules. School improvement specialists, as defined by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory at Edvantia, are change agents who work with schools to help them improve in the following areas so as to increase student achievement. These modules are intended to provide training materials for educators seeking professional development to prepare them for a new level of work. The following modules are presented in this document: (1) Shared Leadership Module; (2) Learning Culture Module; (3) School-Family-Community Connections; (4) Effective Teaching; (5) Shared Goals for Learning; (6) Aligned and Balanced Curriculum; and (7) Purposeful Student Assessment. each module has three sections: (1) Standards: Each set of content standards and performance indicators helps school improvement specialists assess their skills and knowledge related to each topic. The rubric format provides both a measurement for self-assessment and goals for self-improvement. (2) Improving Schools: These briefs provide research--and practice-based information to help school improvement specialists consider how they might address strengths and weaknesses in the schools where they work. The information contained in the briefs is often appropriate for sharing with teachers and principals; each includes information about strategies and practices that can be implemented in schools, resources to be consulted for more information, tools for facilitating thinking about and working on school issues, and real-life stories from school improvement specialists who offer their advice and experiences. (3) Literature Review: The reviews of research literature summarize the best available information about the topic of each module. They can be used by school improvement specialists to expand their knowledge base and shared with school staffs as part of professional development activities. This matrix measures the extent to which a school improvement specialist has the knowledge and skills to following characteristics: (1) a widespread view among all stakeholders that leadership is shared; (2) the existence of mechanisms for involving teachers, students, and parents in decision making; (3) opportunities for leadership development among the members of the school community; (4) the sharing of information and open flow of communications; and (5) school administrators actively listening to and soliciting the input of others. [This document was produced by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory at Edvantia, formerly the Appalachian Educational Laboratory (AEL, Inc.).].

Author: Harris, Alma
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
ISBN: 033521178X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
Offers a perspective on the relationship between leadership and school improvement. This book emphasises the importance of maximising the leadership capabilities of all those within the organization, and provides guidance about the way in which this is achieved. It contains case study illustrations.