The following information was gathered during an interview with Dr. Clayton Mork from the Crescent School District. Dr. Mork shared information about his leadership style and characteristics as an administrator. This discussion assisted me in the development of a personal theory-based model of school leadership.
Leadership Style of Administrator Seyfarth reports the conditions which produce engaging, effective work environments generally have the following essential qualities. First condition is an administrator that provides supportive leadership. Second condition is an administrator that allows collaboration within the work environment. Another condition is an administrator that displays respect for each person as individuals. An additional
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Mork admitted that feeling comfortable with the various types of leadership theories have greatly impacted his leadership style. Dr. Mork, being more of a “laid back” person, is able to be a relaxed administrator due to his feeling comfortable with the strategies of the leadership styles. Dr. Mork shared at the beginning of his administration career it was very difficult to not be as directive, given his military background. As he had more and more experience as an administrator, Dr. Mork learned to feel more and more comfortable with his leadership style. Being one of the staff members under his current leadership position, I have observed Dr. Mork’s leadership at the Crescent School District. Due to the education program that I am completing, I understand the different leadership styles that Dr. Mork uses in certain circumstances. However, there are several of my co-workers that do not understand why and have spoken about how certain people at Crescent School are treated differently than others.
Personal Leadership
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Mork taking the time to share his views of administration leadership styles and strategies allowed me to gain knowledge of the reasons why certain decisions were made at Crescent School and why information was presented in the manner it was. This discussion also helped me to develop some of my own thoughts about how I would like to have things run when I am an administrator. Dr. Mork has worked as an administrator at Crescent School for the past four years. During that time there have been many instances that I have wondered why things happened the way they did. For instance, when Dr. Mork shared the requirements of the Washington State’s Teacher and Principal Evaluation Program (TPEP), a new evaluation program for teachers and principals, Dr. Mork presented general information about the program to the teaching staff. I was able to question his decision to present the information this way. I learned that Dr. Mork wanted to allow the teachers to have some freedom to complete the TPEP as they wanted to. The program was a new set-up and was open ended. Dr. Mork mentioned he did not want to stress his staff out by setting strict parameters on TPEP completion. In order to help teachers to feel comfortable with the program, Dr. Mork allowed teachers to learn the program at their pace and gently guide them to the finish
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...
Chad Miller, manager of Buffalo Wild Wings in Dubuque, excellently showcases leadership characteristics each time I work with him. Throughout my one and a half years working underneath him, I have witnessed many great exchanges of leadership from Chad to customers, employees, and his other managers. He remains professional, shows his passion for the sports within the restaurant, as well as the food and atmosphere, clearly communicates effectively, and has inspired many people to move up within the company. However, another great example of leadership comes from the Director of Student Life, Diversity, and Leadership of Northeast Iowa Community College, Kara Popp. She exudes professionalism, while maintaining a light atmosphere during the time I work with her. Her communication style clearly shows her passion for the school by consistently instilling excitement and enthusiasm into her audiences. As president underneath of Kara, I have transformed into a proper leader. Although my previous leadership experience, as an 18 year old manager at a McDonald’s restaurant, showed my immaturity throughout my tenure, but beca...
During an interview with Dr. Clayton Mork, Superintendent/Principal, from the Crescent School District, the topics discussed included the impact of, assessment of, and improvement of stakeholder loyalty. Also discussed was how the district determines, monitors, and improves stakeholder satisfaction.
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,
As a leader candidate, I can understand the challenges and multiplicity of complications that administrators must face each day. However, I will not accept any remote possibility that the students must be affected by some flaws of the school organization. We all as leaders, must be strategic with people, time, and money to guide our students towards an academic success.
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).
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.
Leaders in the school have hard decisions to help make on a daily basis. They need to evaluate their decisions to make sure they are ethical and effective. Administrators need to listen to all sides of a situation and evaluate all options before they make a decision. This process is difficult because administrators need to make sure that all parties involved are satisfied with the decision that was formed.
It sets the wrong example for everyone and is not a characteristic of an exemplary leader. According to standard ten of the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (2015), a school leader should continuously seek the improvement of every aspect of schools. The superintendent should be addressing any misconceptions that are brought to the superintendents’ cabinets. The weekly meetings that were being held should be to discover methods and strategies to improve student success and develop professional and knowledgeable employees. Instead, this superintendent seems to protect others from being held accountable for what they say and do. According to standard two, school leaders should promote effective communication, set professional norms, promote integrity, fairness, transparency, trust, collaboration, perseverance, learning, continuous improvement, and professional behavior. This superintendent does not conduct himself as an example for others to follow and does not uphold professionalism while conducting meetings with the assistant superintendent; therefore, one must wonder what other business affairs have been conducted in an unprofessional manner and to what
Yarbrough, R., & Gilman, D. A. (2006, October). From five days to four. Educational Leadership, 64(2), 80-85.
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.
I was initially skeptical about interviewing a school administrator concerning leadership qualities because she is consistently ridiculed about the decisions she has made for the school. However, after conducting my interview, I was happy to hear that her views of leadership were consistent with a lot of our readings. I also learned that despite what I have seen in the past, my principal recognizes important leadership characteristics and works to be an ideal leader. Despite my concerns, my principal was excited to talk with me about leadership qualities and how she viewed herself as a leader.
Over the course of my twenty-two years as an educator, I have had many people to thank for shaping me into the leader I am today. Over the course of a career, you have many people giving you advice on how to be effective. The best set of lessons I learned about leadership came from my mentor from New York, Dr. Norman Wechsler. His philosophy was simple: No one rises to low expectations. His job was to empower his school community to make decisions based on data and research. He did not micromanage; he supported his staff, even when he sometimes disagreed. You never entered his office with a problem without a viable solution. He trusted his staff and they, in turn, trusted him to lead. His staff got better because he taught us how to think and solve major issues by ensuring we had the proper data to support an idea. Because of his leadership, DeWitt Clinton High School went from a school ready to close to one of the nation’s most improved high schools.
In every institution the type of leadership style is important for a successful environment. In order to establish a successful school environment to compete globally, the leader should comprehend the basic leadership theories and styles (Glickman et al., 2010). The cultures at schools are important to the success of the students and overall of the school, but also can be very difficult to establish and maintain without the proper leadership knowledge (Waite, 1995). In United States many schools could be place in the categories of conventional, congenial, or collegial, because the strategies used for their leadership (Glickman et al., 2010).The chosen school could be classified according to different criteria and could be determine in which area their leadership pertains more. In order to analyzed and classify the leadership, it was imperative to observed the way the leader make decisions, the approached with the stakeholders, how the instruction is delivered, and how they realized their job (Marshall, 2005). In this analysis will be identify the category that this school will be, the school climate, the type of supervision and leadership.
As mentioned before, leadership styles take an important role in running a school. Unfortunately, many principals have not yet defined their leadership style and struggle to administrate their school. They are responsible not only of teachers and students, but of every employee in the school. They have the power to control all the resources available to improve and meet academic goals. Despite their power, principals need to identify appropriate leadership styles to succeed as