Shared Leadership for School and Community Relations
The Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) standards serve to provide a skillset that administrators can employ in order to work towards obtaining continuous, fundamental change. It is clear that its primary goal is to identify standards and dispensations that, when implemented by a visionary leader, initiate a transformational process in schools whereby the core beliefs, norms, and values of the organization are analyzed and restructured in an effort to produce more effective schools
(Pitre & Smith, 2004).
This paper assesses Standard Elements 2.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4
2.1 Candidates understand and can sustain a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning
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4.4 Candidates understand and can respond to community interests and needs by building and sustaining productive school relationships with community partners.
SHARED LEADERSHIP FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS
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Contemporary school administrators play a daunting array of roles. They must be educational visionaries and change agents, instructional leaders, curriculum and assessment experts, budget analysts, facility managers, special program administrators, and community builders (Darling-Hammond, et al. 2007).
Research on educational leadership has to date focused largely on the work of teachers and principals. Many other people, however—including parents, students, and other members of the community—have the potential to influence education policy and practice (Wahlstrom et al. 2010), thus highlighting the importance of principals being able to work with a wide variety of stakeholders in order to provide quality leadership to improve the school culture. This paper will examine the standards and provide examples of how as a future educational leader, using the skills of distributed leadership; I
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The quote that it takes a village to raise a child, although over-used, seems appropriate. It takes a culture of teachers, parents, and community to attain success for our students. It is essential that as an educational leader, that an essential characteristic in building a
SHARED LEADERSHIP FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS
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positive school culture lies in having educators build their own capacities for leadership in this area. By employing a distributive leadership, I hope to build such capacities.
Distributive leadership encourages contributions from a variety of people to work toward student success. Distributed leadership assumes a set of practices that “are enacted by people at all levels rather than a set of personal characteristics and attributes located in people at the top.” (Wahlstrom et al. 2010) Research has shown that school leadership has a greater influence on schools and students when it is widely distributed.
(Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004) Additionally, the researchers summarized that almost all successful leaders draw on the same specific practices
Ms. Hall has had many years of public education experience and higher education training in which to hone her leadership style and framework. She started her career as a teacher in the Kirkwood School District. She then served as an assistant elementary principal at both Ritenour and Pattonville School Districts before being selected to serve as the assistant superintendent of the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District in 2008. Throughout her career she continued to pursue her education as a means o...
Leading organizations of school administrators offer educators various opportunities to encourage educators to become leaders. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has mandated that leaders be better prepared for the task of providing quality education to all. NCLB “… is forcing all educational stakeholders to face the weakness of contemporary school leadership and is making it impossible to ignore the need for higher quality principals” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). It is believed that all educators can be and are leaders in their own right. A leader is a visionary and has the ability to inspire others to aspire to greatness. Of the numerous opportunities that are offered, those that are most beneficial include but are not limited to leadership training programs, professional development, and creating shared leadership opportunities for teachers to become leaders. The systems “…that produce our nation’s principals are complex and interrelated – and governed by the states. Each state establishes licensing, certification and re-certification” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). States use the ISLLC standards “…as the framework for preparation programs and in service professional development of school superintendents, principals, and other leaders” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.3).
Stader, D. (2006). The 'Standard'. The Bayou High School Blues. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership Volume 9 Number 2. Retrieved from www.ecollegeasu.edu.
Frank, V. V. (2009, September). Framework for Improvement: Effective School Leadership Translates into Increased Student Learning. The Learning Principal: National Staff Development Council , pp. 2, 6-7.
Standard 1 of the Florida Principal Leadership Standards (2011) describe the priority of the school leader as, “effective school leaders demonstrate that the student learning is their top priority through leadership actions that build and support a learning organization focus on student success”. Our number one priority and focus is and always should be our students. They are the reason behind our professions. It is the faculty the ones who should be supported by the administrators. The leaders should celebrate their success, encourage them, support their assertive instructional decisions, and motivate them each day to create the right conditions for learning. The principals must plan to project growth the most accurate possible, employing all the help that they could get for this challenging task. Students should not be affected because qualified teachers are not available. Strategic schools use the resources at had to relocate, and alleviate the human resources problems.
School administrators are important in setting the path for a successful school (Glickman, et al., 2014). The principals could play a dynamic leadership depending on how they exercise their beliefs of the organizational and social environment (McNair, 2011). The principals are the primary facilitators for developing the foundations in learning that will last, to manage the student’s performance at schools, and seeking the improvement at school that will cause great impacts in school‘s education (Gordon,1989). In the recent years in the U.S., education has change in a more cultural diversity population, it is imperative that school supervisors, are trained to encounter this cultural issues, but also assisting others with the opportunities to develop appropriate abilities to deal with different cultures (Glickman, et al., 2014).
Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) Standards Development The Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) standards are a guide that was developed to assist future school leaders with meeting the growing demands of education. The standards help prepare future school leaders who will have the ability to promote the success of all students by supporting them and maintaining a positive school environment for learning. The standards strive to create school leaders that have the ability to operate a safe learning their rights and working collaboratively with their families and other community members for the benefit of the students. The following internship activities demonstrate the growth and mastery I have achieved in each
Before entering the education field, I worked in the nonprofit arena for an educational association over 16 years. I moved through the ranks and ended up as vice president of personnel and special events. The association president believed in training, therefore, I attended many, many workshops aimed at training those promoted to become strong and competent leaders within the organization. It also helped that I was young and anxious to make a successful track record so, I devoured every class that could move me further up the ladder of leadership. Analyzing the standards of The Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, suggest that this is an attempt to define what school excellence and successful teaching of students looks like.
p. 96). Hypothesis The hypothesis presented by the researchers is that one effective way for schools to address the shortage of candidates qualified to fill leadership positions is that they implement leadership sessions that will afford potential leaders formation activities with the purpose of informing them about the reality of school leadership roles. These same activities are proposed to create a heightened awareness of individual leadership abilities. Sample Participants It is unclear what type of method was used to select the sample and whether the sample was a simple random sample. The participants are the individuals of three different cohorts.
It is important that educational leaders work together with stakeholders to create positive relationships with a variety of people in a variety of ways. This opens opportunities for resources, and allows for the leader to be open to new ideas. Relationships are not just built for student growth, leaders are also mentors, coaches, and support to teachers as well. The educational leader relationship should provide the school facility with positive rewards, but first a relationship must be built between the two. A community has to be established inside of the school and throughout the community.
10. Describe the distributed approach to leadership. Changing from a traditional “topdown” model of leadership to a more shared model of leadership across the organization. In contrast to the limitations of formal leadership theory, only one leader in an exclusively top-down process between the leader and the group, the distributed approach is decentralized; through shared power and responsibility, without formal leadership, it seeks to discover a means for increased production and effectiveness. The notion is that leadership can be distributed across a number of individuals rather than being focused in a single leader and that there can be multiple leaders within an organization (Van Wart, 2015).
The role of teacher leader has been defined as “teachers who aspire to stretch beyond their classrooms to engage in leadership roles that take many shapes and forms, both “informal and formal”. (ECS, 2010). Teacher leadership has also been described as “the process by which teachers, individually and collectively, influence their colleagues, principals, and other members of the school community to improve learning practices with the aim of increased student learning and achievement.” (ECS, 2010). In years past, a majority of teacher leadership roles took the form of department chair, committee chair, grade level chair, etc. It was more of a representative role versus a leadership role. Their responsibility primarily involved dispersing information from administration to their counterparts and taking information back to administration from the group. Their position lacked decision-making power and true leadership that brings about “real” change. These tasks are still viewed as opportunities for teacher leadership; however, recently, the
It means, rather, that the job of administrative leaders is primarily about enhancing the skills and knowledge of people in the organization, creating a common culture of expectations around the use of those skills and knowledge, holding the various pieces of the organization together in a productive relationship with each other, and holding individuals accountable for their contributions to the collective result “(Elmore, 2000, p. 15). Distributed leadership in short is, transforming of the leadership from a traditional, leader-follower style to a collaborative, power with style. As a new principal, I would promote the distributive leadership through the three phase developmental process proposed by MacBeath in the Distributive Leadership: A Development Process (MacBeath, 2005). Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy, a place where one can learn anything for free, and at their own pace, that help thousands of students across the globe, is one of my favorite leaders. Bill and Melinda Gates, who support the education through their foundation, who believes in, all lives having equal value, and practice the distributed leadership model, inspires me as education is nothing but closing the gap between races and
In building leadership capacity it is important to ensure that there is broad-based skillful participation. We want the students, parents, community, and staff to be participants. This is important because it allows for staff to take responsibility for the growth and development for not only themselves but for their peers in doing the work of leadership. It is helpful to have the community working together towards the common goal as opposed to ...
Education is a very important aspect in the life of a child. The level of success a student has in the classroom is greatly influenced by their teachers. Students, as well as their parents, depend on the teachers to guide them through their education. But who guides a teacher to perform successfully in the classroom? Principals and teachers play an important role in schools. A good relationship among school leaders and teachers is necessary and play an important role in making improvements in the school. Leadership refers to the “process in which one person successfully exerts influence over others to reach desired objectives”. (Okoji, 2015) Good leadership involves honesty, vision, confidence and commitment. It is the ability to inspire a