Introduction
Schools in the modern twenty first century have become the epicenter for the transformation of culture’s within a community and have impact for with decades of influence in how a local society progress’ to higher levels. The result of creating educational leadership through transforming school culture is a process that needs the cooperation and collaborative effort by all those involved (Green, 2013). To progressively preserve the future of our communities and be competitive in our world economy, the effectiveness of teaching the next generation has become a national priority. In essence, the events and cultures that affect our youth today shape and mold the future of each school and community they reside in. This in turn, has a lasting ripple effect that grows within the fiber of society.
Creating Educational Leaders by Transforming School Culture
The demographics of the American culture have inordinately been changing over the past century as the ethnic diversity of the public school student is reaching near 45% non white (Fallon, O’Keefe, & Sugai, 2012). This blending of ethnic and technological cultures within a school presents many challenges to the administration and teachers alike. Diversity training is well needed to educate the leaders of schools how to respect, but yet create a balance between religious faiths, the attire that a ethnic group may wear, how individuals articulate their words and thoughts, and lifestyle choices to name a few. Current educational leaders of a school may not have come from a diverse background and therefore do not have a deep understanding of why one student may act in what they may consider an inappropriate manner.
To transform the culture, first the awareness of the ...
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Behavior Interventions, 14(14), 197-208. doi: 10.1177/1098300712442242
Green, R.L. (2013). Practicing the Art of Leadership. A Problem-Based Approach to Implementing the ISLLC Standards. Pearson Education, Inc.
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Reports. Retrieved from http://www.higheredinfo.org/stateprofile/index.php
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Urban High School. High School Journal, 94(3), 82-94.
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).
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B., (2007). The leadership challenge, (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
Educational leadership is an ever-changing fast-paced profession where decisions are made continuously in the best interest of children. “In this era of accountability, final decisions are expected to reside with the person who is the top of the hierarchy” (Shapiro & Gross, 2013, p. 4). It is with these decisions that educational leaders affect the lives of hundreds of young people and their families’ every day. Ethically, educators are faced with daily dilemmas to balance personal beliefs and professional standards. Educational law is sometimes at fault for unjust or irrational rules that negatively affect some students. However, educational leadership provides strong direction in attempt to provide all students with a caring,
There is a connection between school culture and leadership styles. The literature review will also address the two basic categories of leadership. According to Cox (2001), there are two basic categories of leadership which are transactional and transformational. The following scholars (Barnett, McCormick & Conners, 2001) made the distinction between transactional and transformational leadership. James McGregor Burns’ (1998) introduces Burns the difference between ordinary (transactional) and extraordinary (transformational) leaders. According to James McGregor Burns’ (1998) transactional leaders exchanged tangible rewards for the work and loyalty of followers, and (transformational) leaders are the ones who engaged with followers. Additionally, the focused on higher order intrinsic needs, and raised consciousness about the significance of specific outcomes.
As a public school superintendent and educational leader, one is routinely required to wear many hats and take on numerous responsibilities. These responsibilities can be separated into the two categories of management and educational leadership. Educational leader responsibilities range from curriculum development, staff evaluations and professional development. Managing a school system include budgeting, facility referendum implementation and communicating to all of the stakeholders of the school district.
A leader can be described as a person who gives direction, inspiration and cause to a group of people who are striving to achieve a common or similar goal (Eacott, 2011; Siraj-Blatchford & Manni, 2013). As there are many types of leaders within an early childhood education setting, such as director, room leader and educational leader, it is important to define and dissect what each role requires (Siraj-Blatchford & Manni, 2013). An educational leader is defined in the National Quality Framework (NQF), where they have support from other documentation and literature to identify what an educational leader is (Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2014). This essay will examine the key factors that influence the education leader with links to the theories of leadership, such as contingency and transformational theories, and what being an educational leader entails.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The Leadership Challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA:
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The Leadership Challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA:
One of the topics in organizational development today is leadership. Leadership is what individuals do to mobilize other people in organizations and communities. According to Kouzes & Posner, there are five practices and ten commitments of exemplary leadership. The five practices of exemplary leadership include: Model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart. In the Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner found similar patterns and actions of leadership that created the essentials to achieve success. Utilizing the research conducted by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, I have created a leadership plan that would apply to the Admission Department at Texas Wesleyan University.
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.
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2007). The Leadership Challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA 94103-1741: Jossey-Bass.
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).
been in band for three years in middle school, high school band was a whole new world full of
Many theorists have long reported that paying attention to school culture is the most important action that a leader can perform. Impact of learning is mediated through climate and culture of the school and is not a direct effect (Hallinger and Heck 1998).
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