Leadership and Decision-Making Skills of High Poverty Elementary School Principals in an Era of Reduced Resources PDF Download

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education, Elementary
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
Recently, a great deal of interest has been generated around the role of principal and its effectiveness, especially its impact on improving teacher instruction and student learning. Waters, Marzano, and McNulty (2003) concluded that one quarter of all "school effects" on achievement can be attributed to principals. While there is general agreement on the principal's importance and affect, do we understand how principals have adapted to changes in schools with reduced resources and increased learning needs of students? How have principals made decisions in an environment where resources have been reduced over time? Given the stories of retired principals from high poverty elementary schools, the purpose of this narrative inquiry is to understand how principals made sense of their experience when having to respond to decreasing resources and the need for increased student achievement. Participants in the study included retired principals from high poverty elementary schools who were employed during the time period extending from 2008 through 2014. Findings from the study make sense of the meanings elementary principals have constructed and attached to the phenomena of decision -making in times of financial reduction in order to help other principals who have been challenged by similar circumstances. Three categories of leadership styles and seven skill areas emerged in the study. Principals made use of these styles and skills in their responses to the crisis.

Author: Linda L. Lyman
Publisher: R&L Education
ISBN: 9781578860791
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Best Leadership Practices for High-Poverty Schools presents both the practice and theory of best leadership practices in high-poverty schools. Authors Linda Lyman and Christine Villani take a unique approach by inviting readers into two high-poverty elementary schools where they will experience, through in-depth case studies, how two extraordinary principals model and practice their beliefs in the ability and worth of all children. Lyman and Villani demonstrate that a successful learning community for children of low-income families is based on the beliefs and attitudes of the school leader and the entire school community. Preparation programs for school principals typically do not provide for study of the complexity of poverty or the leadership practices that contribute to successful learning and achievement for children in high-poverty schools. The concluding questions that the authors pose provide a guide to developing best leadership practices that make a difference to the learning, achievement, and lives of children who live in poverty.This book offers: an insightful overview of research about leadership strategies and beliefs in high-poverty schools, causes and remedies for the achievement gap, evidence of continuing racial and ethnic prejudice, the widespread deficit thinking that limits learning. The authors challenge leaders, teachers, staff members, and others to examine their own attitudes and beliefs and then to commit to creating successful learning communities for all children from low-income families. This book is written as a resource for aspiring and practicing principals, or anyone interested in improving educational opportunities for children from families living in poverty.

Author: Dionne V. McLaughlin
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 148338649X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Learn to make the best decisions for your school! Essential to inspiring and improving schools, principals make complex decisions on a daily basis. This invaluable resource offers extensive case studies which explore factors considered by expert principals to manage crises, navigate tough choices, and gain control of unsettling school environments. You will learn how priorities and school culture inform these decisions, and acquire powerful insights on decision-making best practices. You will find: Problem-solving strategies and cases focusing on data analysis and competing stakeholders Easy-to-use checklists, robust reflection questions, and a framework to define your professional core values Tools to coach and evaluate teachers, and bolster struggling students

Author: Donna Regina Bishop
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Elementary school principals
Languages : en
Pages : 137

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Book Description
Author's abstract: Principals of elementary schools continue to be required to perform many duties which include administrative and instructional tasks. The increased accountability for all students to achieve, including the lower achieving students, has made principals focus on their leadership behaviors and practices. Researchers of various studies on principal leadership behaviors and student achievement have found that leadership behaviors make a difference in the academic achievement for all students. Researchers also found that the principals most important role is that of an instructional leader. Principals leading elementary schools with at risk learners may assist them academically when effective strategies, programs, and organizational structures are present within the school. The demands and the complexity of the role of the principal in the 21st century make the principals job a hard task, especially when leading schools with majority at-risk students. The legislation of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 obligates elementary principals to reflect on their best leadership behaviors and practices to encourage all students to succeed. Using a qualitative, phenomenological research design, the researcher explored the common leadership behaviors of six Georgia elementary principals of high 2 performing, high poverty schools. The phenomenological research design was appropriate for this study because it provided a means for exploring the lived experiences of the elementary principals leadership behaviors in a high performing, high poverty school. The collection of data was obtained from interviews, school observation, and school artifacts. Six common themes and patterns emerged from the qualitative research study: (1) monitoring of teachers educating at-risk learners, (2) gathering and analyzing student achievement data, (3) instructional decision making using a leadership team approach, (4) appropriate use of reading resources and materials, (5) a positive school climate, and (6) an effective staff of teachers. The six common themes and patterns were identified as common leadership behaviors of Georgia elementary principals from high performing, high poverty schools.

Author: Debra J. Touchton
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319591207
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
This book provides insights into the everyday practices of school leaders as told through the real-life stories of principals. The editors and their contributors blend practice with theory, helping aspiring leaders to discover that school leadership is not simply putting prescribed solutions into action, but a constant encounter with quandaries that demand thinking, responding, and adjusting to the situations at hand. Readers build their capacities to view quandaries from multiple lenses, consider a variety of responses, and draw conclusions based on perspectives that may vary from those initially identified. The chapter authors encourage a sharper self-awareness of what scholars value and envision about education, encouraging them to think about how to navigate decision-making through a variety of theoretical frameworks and practices while balancing their own leadership platform development.

Author: Wafa Hozien
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1475836422
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
This book concerns itself with the daily dilemmas of the elementary school principal and understanding the practical application of school leadership while improving the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (2015) competency. In order to improve PSEL (2015) competency, each case study is aligned to multiple standards. The case studies in this book can be a powerful tool for learning school leadership. It gives readers the opportunity to gain experience making decisions in the face of uncertainty, much as they will have to do every day when they are in the field or when they are ready to work in their chosen field. The result of candid interviews with school officials in America’s public schools, school improvement organizations, city and state departments of education, the case studies in this book explore complex issues in school leadership from school budget management to navigating parental concerns in the social media age. Each case study tells a detailed story which stops mid-action, asking the reader to imagine themselves into the shoes of a decision-maker facing a tough choice. As a result of these case studies classroom discussions are lively, and most important, there isn’t a single right answer. Readers practice taking positions and defending them based on the available evidence, while developing communication and critical thinking skills. This book is a must read for any emerging school leader.

Author: Ronald Williamson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317480910
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
The second edition of The Principalship from A to Z provides a set of tools that can be used immediately to improve your leadership practice. Organized into 26 chapters—one for each letter of the alphabet—this book covers the most important and prevalent issues and skills for leaders in today’s schools, including matters of limited funding, juggling social media, teacher evaluation, student achievement, school safety, and collaborating with parents. This accessible guide offers specific strategies that will help you navigate the complexity of your job and help you to become a more effective principal. Topics new to this updated edition include: A renewed focus on student learning as the first priority of a principal and updated strategies for becoming a powerful instructional coach Information about restorative justice practices and other disciplinary approaches Timely new chapters on motivating teachers and students, using social media, and handling limited resources Updated resources at the end of each chapter For both new and experienced leaders, you’ll find this book to be full of practical templates and strategies to implement immediately. Many tools are available as free eResources from our website, www.routledge.com/9781138899568.

Author: Bridget Stegman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Today, students enter school with a variety of knowledge about technology. They are accustomed to using the Internet, cell phones, instant messaging, social networking, but that does not mean they have a deep understanding of the reading skills necessary to be successful at online reading (Leu et al., 2013). Reading on the Internet requires critical literacy skills and requires a different set of reading comprehension skills when compared to traditional print (Coiro & Dobler, 2007; Eaglerton & Dobler, 2007; Henry, 2006; Karchmer-Klein & Shinas, 2012; Leu et al., 2008; Leu et al., 2013). The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the knowledge, dispositions, and actions of principals perceived to be most meaningful by both the principals themselves and the teachers under their supervision in high-poverty schools with classroom teachers integrating new literacies. This study also examined the dimensions of instructional leadership (Hallinger & Murphy, 1985) and how these dimensions intersect with knowledge, dispositions, and actions of principals. Using a qualitative design, specifically a multiple-case study, the researcher interviewed teachers and principals at four, high-poverty elementary schools to gain insight into the principals' role in the integration of new literacies. This study provides a deeper understanding of the many components involved in the leadership of a high-poverty school with classroom teachers integrating new literacies. The findings of this study include that the principals were literacy leaders. They were knowledgeable about the curriculum; ensured teachers had the appropriate resources to integrate new literacies (Internet, iPads, laptops, and tablets); and had high expectations for teachers in terms of technology integration. The principals created equitable opportunities for all students to participate in the integration of technology and literacy. Finally, the principals in this study created a culture of trust and professional growth for teachers.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 760

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Author: Jean Desravines
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118801008
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
Bridge the achievement gap with proven strategies for student success Breakthrough Principals debunks the myth of the 'superhero' principal by detailing the common actions and practices of leaders at our nation's fastest-gaining public schools. Based on the authors' Transformational Leadership Framework, which they developed through in-depth study of more than 100 high-gaining, high-poverty schools, the book distills findings into a practical, action-focused plan for diagnosing school needs and implementing structures, systems and practices that accelerate student achievement. Brought to life by case studies of principals who have led dramatic gains in student achievement, the book is a how-to guide for increasing the quality of teaching and learning; improving school culture; attracting and supporting high-performing teachers; and involving parents and community to help students achieve. You'll learn how breakthrough principals make the school's mission a real part of both strategy and practice, and set up sustainable systems that support consistent, ongoing improvement. High-impact practices are organized into five broad categories: learning and teaching, school-wide culture, aligned staff, operations and systems, and personal leadership. The primary job of school leadership is to help students succeed. It begins with first recognizing and prioritizing areas of need, then finding and implementing the most effective solutions. Whether you work in a turn around environment, or want to make a good school better, this book will give you a set of concrete practices—illustrated through examples of real principals in real schools—that have been proven to work. Discover the primary drivers of student achievement Work toward the school's vision in staffing, operations, and systems Set the tone for all relationships and practices with good leadership Closing the achievement gap is a major goal of educational leadership, and principals are forever searching for viable methods that help them better serve their students. Breakthrough Principals unveils the details behind the success stories from across the nation to provide a roadmap to transformative gains.