Introduction
The objective that I have for this paper is to present the integration and synthesis of at least three grounded theories and conceptual principles of the educational leadership field. Then, according with guidelines, I will compare and contrast those theories by using different authors’ perspectives, to critically analyze the body of knowledge achieved by those principles and explain how those theories in educational leadership add knowledge through the implementation of their premises and the interaction among them in the area of education. Subsequently, I will be selecting one of the theories examined previously and provide details on how the theory may or may not contribute to the understanding of the educational leadership. As part of this process I will include a discussion with disagreements or unanswered questions of the selected postulation.
Literature Review
The use of theories, according to Antoniou (2013), helps researchers organize and use recurring results for the creation of knowledge or conceptual principles. Thus, from the intention to improve the school academic performance and adjust protocols to new circumstances many investigations have been carried out deriving in new theories (Onorato, 2013). For instance, as a consequence of the increasing demands in academic state standards, complex changes in society, school administrators have seen the compelling need to possess other specific characteristics, such as administrative leadership skills in education (Onorato, 2013). Thus, educational theories that embrace organizational learning, school vision, and school leadership styles have been produce and used for that purpose. In the following section I will synthesize some of those theories that I deem...
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Onorato, M. (2013). Transformational leadership style in the educational sector: An empirical study of corporate manager and education leaders. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 17(1), 33-47.
Urick, A., & Bowers, A. J. (2013). What are the different types of principals across the United States? A latent class analysis of principal perception of leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/0013161X13489019
Velasco, I., Edmonson, S. L., & Slate, J. R. (2012). Principal leadership behaviors and school climate: A conceptual analysis. Journal of Education Research, 6(3), 315-336.
Yoeli, R., & Berkovich, I. (2010). From personal ethos to organizational vision: Narratives of visionary educational leaders. Journal of Educational Administration, 48(4), 451. doi:10.1108/09578231011054716
One regular factor in most of the effective schools research is an emphasis on strong, instructional leadership (Edmonds, 1979ab, 1982; Purkey & Smith, 1983; Weber, 1971; Brookover& Lezotte, 1979). Leadership theories, such as trait, behavior, contingency, and charismatic, provide a theoretical framework for viewing the total development of instructional leadership. Instructional leadership has many different definitions and models that intellectualize it starting from the early 1900’s. The current study synthesizes the many meanings and models of instructional leadership using theoretical and empirical contemplations. The instructional leadership construct is defined in terms of principal behaviors that lead a school to educate all students to higher student achievement.
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.
Two years ago School District 74 organized a series of leadership workshops designed to strengthen the leadership performance of school administration and teaching staff. Participants were encouraged to think of themselves as leaders and to identify situations in which they were or could be leaders. The idea seemed to be not only that our school system will be improved through the development of strong leadership (on its own an important recognition), but also that anyone (and everyone) can be a leader in his or her own position within the system. This is a ridiculous idea. If leadership is approached as the only label that designates personal merit or importance, then the implication is that followers are less capable, less thoughtful and less important than leaders. If everyone is a leader, then the idea of leadership quickly loses its meaning; leadership implies followership, and without followers leaders could never lead effectively. Past emphasis on leadership has largely ignored the reciprocal relationship between leadership and followership. The purpose of this paper is to briefly discuss followership, and to acknowledge its importance to organizations, especially school systems.
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.
Leadership is an important factor in managing change in organizations (Sarros & Santora, 2001). Leadership is one of the most vital success factors in organization (Murphy & Ensher, 2008). At any time in history of any community, there has always been a great leader and leadership has always been practiced (Leech & Fulton, 2008). For all successful organizations, there has been an effective leader who is able to mobilize all the resources in the organization to achieve its goals (Malusu, 2003). Schools, like other organizations, require effective leadership to achieve their goals (Barnet, McCormick & Conners, 2001). In an educational system, a principal as the coordinator of all educational and training activities
the concept of the principal as a leader or as manager (Brookover, et al., 1979; Rutteret al., 1979; Greenfield, 1982; Rutherford, et al., 1983 and De Beroise, 1984). Recent research on high school has also focused on the principal as a leader (Boyer, 1983; Sizer, 1984; Oad, 1995; Black, 2001; Madhusudan, 2002; Saiyadain, 2008).An enterprise without a manager’s leadership is not able to transmute input resources into competitive advantage. Therefore, it is clear that the leadership style of a manager has a close relation to the development of organization It’sBased on this, theory that leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal the quality and performance of managers are the key criteria in deciding organizational success (Drucker, 1993).The wide-ranging of three types of leadership styles is extensively used byresearchers in the leadership field. Moreover, the major leadership constructs of transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and laissez-fair leadership form a new paradigm for understanding both the lower and higher order effects of leadership style. This paradigm builds on earlier leadership paradigms such as those of autocratic versus democratic leadership, directive versus participative leadership, and task- versus relationship oriented leadership which has dominated selection, training, development, and research in this field for the past half
This paper will describe two studies, one quantitative and the other a mixed method, which dealt with aspects of educational leadership. The studies chosen for review were conducted by Bush, et al. (2005), a study that reported participant results in a Leadership Academy, and another by Somech (2005) in which the results of an investigational study of leadership styles, participative and directive, with regard to their impact upon managing school effectiveness. To offer a deeper understanding of the respective studies, a discussion follows that details the design rationa...
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.
In developing my own educational leadership model (MELM) I began with establishing what I believe the goal of education should be, since leaders by definition are leading people towards something. The goal of education is to effectively teach students the essential skills and knowledge they will need to establish a productive, positive, self-sufficient life where they can be active members of their communities. An effective leader, while working towards this goal will need to consider the present conditions and demands of the environment they are a part of. In the field of education, both internal and external factors are of crucial importance when developing a plan to lead for success. However, one must note the variables in education are different than those the business sector face, for example; student performance, ability and cultural differences; availability/condition of supplies and materials; goal; educator’s capability, views and attitudes; conditionality of economic support; openness/hostility of influencing communities; state or government performance mandates. A leader who knows where they (students, school, district, community) are now, can approach goals more clearly and develop more effective strategies to arrive at them.
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.
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.
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
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