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1 – 10 of 40Hans W. Klar, Noelle A. Paufler and Angela D. Carter
School leaders can significantly influence the conditions that affect teacher retention. Yet, leaders in rural and high-poverty schools often face limited opportunities to develop…
Abstract
Purpose
School leaders can significantly influence the conditions that affect teacher retention. Yet, leaders in rural and high-poverty schools often face limited opportunities to develop their abilities to enhance these conditions. In this case study, we examine how participating in a professional community supported school leaders' efforts to increase teacher retention and student learning outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
We used case study methodology to study 14 leaders from rural, high-poverty or underperforming schools with greater-than-average levels of teacher turnover. The leaders were participating in a three-year research-practice partnership intended to assist them in using improvement science to address problems of practice related to teacher retention and student learning outcomes in their schools. We collected and analyzed data from interviews, exit surveys, artifacts and participant observations over a one-year period.
Findings
Participating in this professional community helped the leaders create the conditions for increased teacher retention and student learning outcomes by providing them with opportunities to collaborate with their peers, receive leadership coaching, exchange ideas and learn in a safe space.
Originality/value
These findings confirm and extend extant school leadership development research. A particularly interesting finding was the role of the professional community in reducing the leaders' feelings of isolation while providing them a safe space to learn. The findings also illustrate how universities and school districts can partner to provide professional learning opportunities that enhance school leaders' professional knowledge, leadership practices and well-being.
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Hans W. Klar, Kristin Shawn Huggins, Frederick C. Buskey, Julie K. Desmangles and Robin J. Phelps-Ward
The ever-increasing pressure for school improvement has led to a related increase in research-practice partnerships (RPPs) that address problems of practice. Yet, little research…
Abstract
Purpose
The ever-increasing pressure for school improvement has led to a related increase in research-practice partnerships (RPPs) that address problems of practice. Yet, little research has centered on how the myriad challenges to such partnerships can be overcome, such as bridging the cultural divide between universities and their school-based partners. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine how social capital was developed among the members of a steering committee in a RPP between a university and a 12-district consortium of predominantly rural, high-poverty school districts to develop and implement a professional development initiative for rural school leaders.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for this phenomenological single case study were collected over a one-year period through participant observations, document analysis and semi-structured interviews with ten steering committee members. Data were inductively and deductively coded through multiple rounds of analysis, which drew on the structural and cognitive elements of social capital (Uphoff, 2000). Findings were triangulated and member checked for trustworthiness.
Findings
The analysis of the data revealed three key ways in which social capital was developed among members of the steering committee to overcome the cultural challenges of RPPs to develop and implement a professional development initiative for rural school leaders: providing an open but focused structure, ensuring inclusive and respectful discussion and negotiating roles and ideas.
Originality/value
The findings provide a fine-grained illustration of how intentional efforts to develop social capital among members in a co-design team can assist in bridging the cultural boundaries often encountered in RPPs.
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Parker Morse Andreoli and Hans W. Klar
The purpose of this study is to examine how a school leadership team in a rural, high-poverty elementary school learned to lead continuous school improvement in a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how a school leadership team in a rural, high-poverty elementary school learned to lead continuous school improvement in a research–practice partnership.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study draws on qualitative research methods, improvement science and Deming's notion of a system of profound knowledge to identify how members of the school leadership team understood and approached their school improvement work differently as a result of engaging in continuous improvement processes in a research–practice partnership.
Findings
The findings illustrate how engaging in continuous improvement processes in the research–practice partnership enhanced the leadership team members' capacities to prioritize and solve problems, incorporate multiple and diverse perspectives in problem-solving efforts and establish a culture of increased risk-taking and ownership of teaching and learning outcomes. In sum, the members of the leadership team became the drivers of their own change processes.
Originality/value
The findings provide insight into how leaders in rural, high-poverty schools can build capacity within their schools to meet the demand for increased student achievement by leading collaborative, continuous improvement processes grounded in improvement science in research–practice partnerships.
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Kristin Shawn Huggins, Hans W. Klar and Parker M. Andreoli
The purpose of this paper was to determine what experienced school leaders learned through participating in a three-year leadership initiative, called the Leadership Learning…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to determine what experienced school leaders learned through participating in a three-year leadership initiative, called the Leadership Learning Community (LLC), that helped them coach less experienced leaders to lead school improvement efforts.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected and analyzed using a qualitative design throughout the three-year initiative.
Findings
The findings indicate the LLC leadership coaches learned to accept and navigate the leaders' developmental and contextual needs, practiced and honed their coaching skills and recognized their own developmental needs.
Originality/value
These findings address the paucity of research on leadership coach learning and development.
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Rose M. Ylimaki, Stephen Jacobson, Lauri Johnson, Hans W. Klar, Juan Nino, Margaret Terry Orr and Samantha Scribner
In this paper, the authors recap the history and evolution of ISSPP research in the USA with research teams that grew from one location in 2002 to seven teams at present. The…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, the authors recap the history and evolution of ISSPP research in the USA with research teams that grew from one location in 2002 to seven teams at present. The authors also examine the unique context of public education in America by describing its governance, key policies and funding as well as increasing student diversity due to changing internal student demographics and global population migrations. In particular, the authors describe how decentralization in American public education that has led to long-standing systemic inequities in school resource allocations and subsequently to marked gaps in performance outcomes for children from poor communities, especially for those of color. These existing inequities were the reason the USA research team was the only national ISSPP team from the original network of eight countries that choose to study exclusively leadership in challenging, high needs schools that performed beyond expectations.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors describe the common multi-case case study methodology (Merriam, 1988) and interview protocols employed in order to gather multiple perspectives on school success in high-needs communities and the principal's contribution to that success. Leithwood and Riehl's (2005) framework of core leadership practices for successful school leadership was used to analyze our data across all cases.
Findings
The authors present key findings from cases across the USA and synthesize common trends across these findings.
Research limitations/implications
The authors conclude the paper with a discussion of their overarching impressions from almost two decades of study, the importance of national and local context in examining school leadership and, lastly, suggestions for future research.
Originality/value
This article contributes to findings from the longest and largest international network on successful leadership.
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Hans W. Klar and Curtis A. Brewer
In this paper, the authors present a case study of successful school leadership at County Line Middle School. The purpose of the paper is to identify how particular leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, the authors present a case study of successful school leadership at County Line Middle School. The purpose of the paper is to identify how particular leadership practices and beliefs were adapted to increase student achievement in this rural, high-poverty school in the southeastern USA.
Design/methodology/approach
After purposefully selecting this school, the authors adapted interview protocols, questionnaires, and analysis frameworks from the International Successful School Principalship Project to develop a multi-perspective case study of principal leadership practices at the school.
Findings
The findings illustrate the practices which led to students at this school, previously the lowest-performing in the district, achieving significantly higher on state standardized tests, getting along “like a family,” and regularly participating in service learning activities and charity events. A particularly interesting finding was how the principal confronted the school's negative self-image and adapted common leadership practices to implement a school-wide reform that suited its unique context.
Research limitations/implications
While the findings of the study explicate the specific ways the principal adapted leadership strategies to enhance student learning, this study also highlights the need to understand how principals become familiar with their community's needs, cultures, norms, and values, and exercise leadership in accordance with them.
Practical implications
The case offers an example of the need for context-responsive leadership in schools. In particular, it illustrates how this principal enacted leadership strategies that successfully negotiated what Woods (2006) referred to as the changing politics of the rural. To realize this success, the principal utilized his understanding of this low income, rural community to guide his leadership practices. Critically, part of this understanding included the ways the community was connected to and isolated from dominant sub-urban and urban societies, and how to build enthusiasm and capacity through appeals to local values.
Originality/value
While it is widely acknowledged that school leaders need to consider their school and community contexts when making leadership decisions, less research has focussed on understanding how this can be achieved. This case provides rich examples of how this was accomplished in a rural, high-poverty middle school.
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Dieses Szenario befasst sich mit den wahrscheinli‐chen Entwicklungen von Freizeit und Tourismus in einem Zeithorizont von rund 20 Jahren. Es wird dabei vor allem auf die Situation…
Abstract
Dieses Szenario befasst sich mit den wahrscheinli‐chen Entwicklungen von Freizeit und Tourismus in einem Zeithorizont von rund 20 Jahren. Es wird dabei vor allem auf die Situation in den europäischen Industrieländern Bezug genommen.
Die bisherige Fremdenverkehrsdefinition der AIEST, die sich an diejenige von Hunziker/Kropf anlehnt, lautet:
Ingo Singe and Richard Croucher
New developments in trust‐based working time systems (i.e. systems whereby managers formally devolve their responsibilities for monitoring working time) in Germany are examined. A…
Abstract
New developments in trust‐based working time systems (i.e. systems whereby managers formally devolve their responsibilities for monitoring working time) in Germany are examined. A picture of these systems is presented and the main debates reviewed. It is argued that the successful introduction of such systems is contingent on a number of inter‐related factors. These are: company size and management style, external and internal pressures and effective employee representation. It is concluded that such systems are most likely to be successful in larger organisations and that effective employee representation is a key requirement. Current circumstances are not necessarily conducive to the rapid spread of trust‐based working time systems.
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