Introduction
According to Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs (American Association of School Librarians, 2009), “The school library media program is built by professionals who model leadership and best practice for the school community” (p. 45). This leadership role is a new one for school librarians; earlier guidelines documents (AASL, 1988; AASL, 1998) embedded leadership activities within the roles of information specialist, instructional consultant or partner, teacher, and program administrator. These earlier guidelines were aligned with the larger educational culture, in which school librarians have rarely been regarded as leaders by their colleagues, administrators, or themselves (Hartzell, 2002; Ishizuka, Minkel, & St. Lifer, 2002; McCracken, 2001). Perhaps because of this perception, few researchers have studied the activities of school librarians who act as leaders.
The purpose of Empowering Learners (AASL, 2009) is to define “the future direction of school library media programs” (p. 5). Both Empowering Learners and its predecessors (AASL, 1988; AASL, 1998) serve as guidelines for exemplary school library media programs, providing a mission and vision for the program and identifying and describing the roles of the school library media coordinator (SLMC). The mission of the program is “to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information” (AASL, 2009, p. 8) and to support this mission the SLMC must take on multiple roles. The original guidelines document, Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs (AASL, 1988) defined these roles as information specialist, teacher, and instructional consultant. The 1998 version of the guidelines (AASL...
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...ndards as classroom teachers, but the SLMC standards are currently under revision and will parallel the teaching standards closely, including a leadership component (R. White, personal communication, October 8, 2010).
School library media coordinators must demonstrate leadership to meet the expectations of their national professional organization, to achieve advanced teaching credentials, and even, in North Carolina, to maintain their professional positions. Since the release of Empowering Learners (AASL, 2009), no research has examined the extent to which librarians are able to carry out the leadership practices it identifies. In this climate, however, it is important to know how school library leaders behave and to what extent they implement these practices, both to evaluate the standards and to provide examples for leadership development for school librarians.
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...
Throughout the years of being a student at Council Rock, I have come to the realization of what a true leader is. A leader is not someone that just plans events, collects money, or shows up to meetings. Rather, this is someone that has a true connection with their peers, and has unmatched passion for what they do. With this, I can confidently say that since seventh grade, as a young adult, I have been shaped into an individual that fits these traits. Since that time, I have been involved in student government,
According to Blase, Blase, and Phillips (2010) educational leaders in high preforming schools effectively balance administrative and instructional leadership and provide stability, predictability and support. The current paradigm of educational leadership is management of facility, budget, school safety, and student discipline. Administrators must place more emphasis on methods to balance the responsibility of instructional leadership. It will require effective leadership characterized by their ability to redesign their schools into an effective organization. This can be done by a leader’s willingness to take risk. Risk taking would involve the leaders’ commitment to work collaboratively with teachers to set school wide and classroom goals suited to meet the unique needs of the students. It would require educational leaders to refuse to adopt a manufactured educational program but to make a commitment to their students and teachers to create a learning environment that is unique and relevant. Educational leaders would evaluate teachers on the effectiveness of their instructional practices. Each teacher would be held accountable for data that supports the need for goals developed for their classroom and methods used to track progress, use of instructional strategies, how assessment will be incorporated to drive instruction and monitor learning, and the effective use of assessment
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).
In School Leadership that Works Marzano introduces twenty-one responsibilities of a school leader (see Appendix A). These leadership responsibilities are used in the two change orders discussed by Marzano, McNulty and Waters (2005). “Some innovations require changes that are gradual and subtle; others require changes that are dra...
Kouzes, James, and Barry Posner. The Student Leadership Challenge. San Francisco: A Wiley Imprint, 2008.
Kouzes, James, and Barry Posner. The Student Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, CA: A Wiley Imprint, 2008. Print.
Tomlinson, C. & Jarvis, J. (2006). Teaching beyond the book. Educational Leadership, ASCD Publication. p 16-21.
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D., Gordon, S. P., & Ross-Gordon, J. M. (2010). SuperVision and instructional leadership (9th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN-13: 9780132852135 Gordon, S. P. (1989).
The stated research question of this study was “whether [Texas] SLMSs engage in self-censorship as part of the collection development process with regard to YA literature having content that significantly increases the probability the materials will be challenged” (Coley, 2002, para. 11). The concept being studied is self-censorship by School Library Media Specialists. The researcher’s nominal definition of self-censorship by media specialists is “the process by which a librarian chooses not to purchase a given book because of the item's potential for being challenged” (Coley, 2002, para. 19). As defined, this is a measurable concept. The conceptualization of the research question is well developed and clear.
With the passage of NCLB, many school reform efforts have been initiated using top-down model in which each school leaders have been charged with initiating bold administrative changes to address the legislation. With the number of leadership theories and models, researchers have become interested in studying those to determine which might bring forth the most significant results for leading such change. Due to the lack of highly qualified administrators and the increasing demands for administrators, Bush, O’Brien & Spangler (2005) studied a program, the Southern Tier Leadership Academy, a collaborative of the New York Education Department. The study included three separate cohorts who completed an eight month program. Whereas, Somech (2005) chose to investigate directive and participative leadership approaches, and which would more significantly impact school effectiveness. Perhaps Somech’s reflect Scherer’s (2009, p.7) understandings as described in Educational Leadership, ‘broom-wielding leadership can indeed be beneficial’ as is putting advocates into positions of power and influence and building teams, both of which are seemingly contrasting opposites.
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
Thomas Sergiovanni (2015) describes three essential dimensions of leadership as “the heart, head, and hand of leadership.” The heart describes those characteristics within the school leader that reflect personal “beliefs, values, and dreams.” The head of leadership refers to the practice of teaching and educating. The hand of leadership reflects actions taken by school leaders with respect to management behaviors. (p. 5) Within these elements, there is room for personal choice in how leadership is practiced and it is incumbent on new principals to find an individual leadership style that responds to the uniqueness of each school.
York-Barr, J. & K. Duke (2004) what do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of educational research 74(3), 255-316.