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Book part
Publication date: 26 October 2015

Edward J. Fuller and Lindsey Schrott

Policymakers have focused on improving STEM outcomes for US high school students for over 50 years. Much of this focus has centered on improving the quality of STEM teachers

Abstract

Policymakers have focused on improving STEM outcomes for US high school students for over 50 years. Much of this focus has centered on improving the quality of STEM teachers, particularly in poor and minority schools. Few, if any, of these efforts have considered the importance of the content knowledge of those providing instructional leadership in schools – namely, principals and assistant principals. This chapter examines the percentage of school leaders with teacher certification in mathematics or science and the degree to which teacher and school leader turnover interrupts the leadership–teacher relationships. The study concludes relatively few school leaders have the content knowledge to provide deep instructional leadership. Moreover, the study finds combined teacher and school leader turnover greatly diminishes the sustained relationships between instructional leaders and teachers, particularly in lower-performing schools.

Details

Promoting and Sustaining a Quality Teacher Workforce
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-016-2

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 September 2023

Taeyeon Kim, Minseok Yang and Yujin Oh

This study aims to explore how educational leaders in South Korea adopted equity mindsets and how they organized changes to support students' deeper learning during COVID-19.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore how educational leaders in South Korea adopted equity mindsets and how they organized changes to support students' deeper learning during COVID-19.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors developed a comprehensive framework of Equity Leadership for Deeper Learning, by revising the existing model of Darling-Hammond and Darling-Hammond (2022) and synthesizing equity leadership literature. Drawing upon this framework, this study analyzed data collected from individual interviews and a focus group with school and district administrators in the K-12 Korean education system.

Findings

The participants prioritized an equity stance of their leadership by critically understanding socio-political conditions, challenging unjust policies, and envisioning the big picture of equity-centered education. This led them to operationalize equity leadership in practice and create a more inclusive and supportive environment for student-centered deeper learning. District leaders established well-resourced systems by creating/developing instructional resources and making policies more useful. School leaders promoted quality teaching by strengthening access, developing student-centered curricula, and establishing individualized programs for more equitable deeper learning.

Research limitations/implications

This study builds on scholarship of deeper learning and equity leadership by adding evidence from Korean educational leaders during COVID-19. First, the findings highlight the significance of leaders' equity mindsets in creating a safe and inclusive environment for deeper learning. This study further suggests that sharing an equity stance as a collective norm at the system level, spanning across districts and schools is important, which is instrumental to scale up innovation and reform initiatives. Second, this research also extends comparative, culturally informed perspectives to understand educational leadership. Most contemporary leadership theories originated from and are informed by Western and English-speaking contexts despite being widely applied to other contexts across the culture. This study's analysis underscores the importance of contextualizing leadership practices within the socio-historical contexts that influence how education systems are established and operate.

Practical implications

Leaders' adopting equity mindsets, utilizing bureaucratic resources in creative ways and implementing a school-wide quality curriculum are crucial to supporting students' deeper learning. District leaders can leverage existing vertical and horizontal networks to effectively communicate with teachers and local communities to establish well-recourced systems. As deeper learning is timeless and requires high levels of student engagement, school leaders' efforts to establish school-wide curricula is critical to facilitate deeper learning for students.

Originality/value

The study provides a nuanced understanding of how equity focused leaders responded to difficulties caused by the pandemic and strategized to support students' deeper learning. Existing studies tend to prioritize teacher effects on student learning, positing leadership effects as secondary or indirect. Alternatively, the authors argue that, without leadership supporting an inclusive environment, resourceful systems and student-centered school culture, deeper learning cannot be fully achieved in equitable ways.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 62 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 April 2021

Sara Dexter and Emily A. Barton

The authors tested the efficacy of a team-based instructional leadership intervention designed to increase middle school mathematics and science teachers' use of educational…

Abstract

Purpose

The authors tested the efficacy of a team-based instructional leadership intervention designed to increase middle school mathematics and science teachers' use of educational technologies for multiple representations of content to foster students' conceptual understandings. Each school's leadership team comprised an administrator, a technology instructional specialist role, and a mathematics and a science teacher leader.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors tested the intervention in a quasi-experimental design with five treatment and five matched comparison schools. Participants included 48 leadership team members and 100 grade 6–8 teachers and their students. The authors analyzed data using two-level, nested multiple regressions to determine the effect of treatment on leaders' practices; leaders' practices on teachers' learning and integration; and teachers' learning and integration on students' learning. Leaders and teachers completed monthly self-reports of practices; students completed pre- and post-tests of knowledge in science and math.

Findings

Significant treatment effects at the leader, teacher and student levels establish the efficacy of this team-based approach to school leadership of an educational technology integration innovation. Leaders at treatment schools participated in a significantly higher total frequency and a wider variety of leadership activities, with large effect sizes. Teachers participated in a significantly wider variety of learning modes focused on technology integration and integrated technology significantly more frequently, with a wider variety of technologies, all with moderate effect sizes. Students in treatment schools significantly outperformed students in comparison schools in terms of science achievement but not in mathematics.

Research limitations/implications

The overall sample size is small and the approach to participant recruitment did not allow for randomized assignment to the treatment condition. The authors tested the influence of treatment on leader practices, on teacher practices, and on student achievement. Future work is needed to identify the core components of treatment that influence practice and investigate the causal relationships between specific leaders' practices, teacher practices and student achievement.

Originality/value

This study establishes the efficacy of a replicable approach to developing team-based instructional leaders addressing educational technology. It contributes to the knowledge base about how district leaders and leadership educators might foster school leaders' instructional leadership, and more specifically technology leadership capacity.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 59 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

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Article
Publication date: 5 May 2020

Ellen Daniëls, Annie Hondeghem and Jan Heystek

The purpose of this paper is to offer insight into school leaders' and teachers' perspectives on leadership behaviour and its impact on their mutual relationships. Research papers…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to offer insight into school leaders' and teachers' perspectives on leadership behaviour and its impact on their mutual relationships. Research papers that include perspectives from both school leaders and teachers are relatively scarce in the field of education. However, it is important to take account of both perspectives because if they align, school leaders can be expected to be more successful. Moreover, positive teacher perceptions about school leaders result in lower levels of teacher burnout and enhanced teacher collaboration.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study employed qualitative data drawn from 24 primary schools in Belgium. The data set was assembled from 24 interviews with school leaders and 22 focus groups with teachers. The research analyses the interviews and focus groups from an inductive approach in order to let theory emerge, to refine existing theories in the field of education and to get an in-depth understanding of agreements and disagreements in the perspectives of school leaders and teachers.

Findings

The results show that school leaders and teachers perceive school leadership principally as relation- and task-oriented. However, there are differences in the perceptions about the subcategories of relation-oriented behaviour between school leaders and teachers. School leaders refer to consulting with members when making decisions and providing feedback. On the other hand, teachers indicate the importance of support and encouragement and recognition. The perceptions of the relationships between school leaders and teachers seem to match, with both valuing trust, openness and contribution.

Originality/value

This study addresses the relative scarcity of research relating to school leadersand teachers’ perspectives regarding school leadership. The study clarifies concepts in order to facilitate further research on school leaders' effectiveness.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 58 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Policy Matters
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-481-9

Article
Publication date: 12 December 2023

Leslie Ann Williams, Linda Atkinson, Sharon Dean, Tracy Watts McCarty, Emmett Mathews and Shelley Jaques-McMillin

To meet the needs of under-resourced, rural schools where teacher attrition is high, this case study examined how a school–university partnership strengthened teacher and leader

Abstract

Purpose

To meet the needs of under-resourced, rural schools where teacher attrition is high, this case study examined how a school–university partnership strengthened teacher and leader abilities to support deeper learning for students.

Design/methodology/approach

This research focused on a 17-year collaborative partnership between one rural school district and a university research and outreach organization to develop deeper learning experiences for students through shared and supportive leadership and learning of teachers and leaders. The researchers utilized documents, field notes and interviews with administrators to validate the data.

Findings

The study’s findings suggest that participation in authentic, researched-based professional development through the partnership improved the skills of leaders and teachers to support deeper learning for students. This partnership heightened teacher and leader capacity to promote and support continued change and sustainability.

Originality/value

This case study explored how one university center collaboratively engaged with a district by sharing research and strategies to support the development of leaders and teachers to create deeper learning for students. Through these experiences, the district evolved its deeper learning system and improved its organizational effectiveness, leadership development and learning for all.

Article
Publication date: 22 March 2021

Matthew Militello, Lynda Tredway, Lawrence Hodgkins and Ken Simon

The purpose of this study was to explore the utility of a virtual reality (VR) classroom experience for improving the capacity of instructional leaders. Specifically, school

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the utility of a virtual reality (VR) classroom experience for improving the capacity of instructional leaders. Specifically, school leaders used VR to build their classroom observation and analysis skills to prepare to have more effective post-observation conversations with teachers. The authors provide insights from multiple data points that highlight the affordances of the virtual setting for improving classroom observation skills.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the application of simulations to practice classroom observations, the authors developed a VR experience in which participants tag observable elements of academic discourse using codes from two observation protocols. The protocols identify elements of equitable student access: how teachers call on students and how they design questions. Seventy-five school leaders used the VR platform to observe a classroom scenario and code evidence of equitable classroom access. The authors analyzed data from tagging in the virtual reality scenario and triangulated these data with survey data focused on observation practices from participants' schools. A reflection component is included on the platform to collect these qualitative data.

Findings

The study results indicate that the virtual reality platform provides an innovative process for leadership professional development focused on building school leaders' capacity to identify elements of academic discourse during classroom observations. Participants reported that the opportunity to practice classroom observations in a risk-free environment was useful. However, for school leaders to fully transfer the data to using in conversations with teachers, they benefit from leadership coaching.

Originality/value

This study ascertains the potential effectiveness of an advanced technology for enhancing instructional leadership by using evidence-based classrooms observations to drive improvements in teaching practice. Beyond the utility of the virtual reality tool, this study provides a proof of concept for the next generation of instructional leadership through teacher observations with augmented reality.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 59 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 May 2015

Marytza A. Gawlik

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which charter school leaders influence the understanding and conception of accountability policy and how that understanding…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which charter school leaders influence the understanding and conception of accountability policy and how that understanding translates into practice. In particular, this paper draws from sense-making theory and research on charter school leaders to identify their pre-existing understandings, their shared interactions, and their interpretations of accountability policy as they relate to professional development and instructional practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses the qualitative case study approach to document the organizational processes of charter schools. Data for the study were collected in two elementary charter schools over the course of 18 months. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data because this method is compatible with the inductive, concept-building orientation of all qualitative research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two charter school leaders and twelve charter school teachers. In-depth interviews with the leaders were also conducted to gain a deeper understanding of sense-making. In addition pertinent staff meetings, professional development sessions, and informal interactions between charter leaders and teachers were observed.

Findings

While the charter school leaders in this study were inclined to adopt approaches that reinforced their pre-existing understandings, they did so using interpretative frameworks that sought to enact policies they deemed most crucial at the school level. These frameworks included metaphors and modeling, both of which reflected the policy signals received from the institutional environment. The leaders’ use of metaphors and modeling incorporated accountability policy into messages that encouraged constructive instructional practices, including data-driven analysis, project-based learning, and technology use.

Originality/value

This paper broadens discussions about charter school leaders and accountability in three ways. First, it explores how school leaders interpret and adapt policy signals. Second, it delineates the frameworks used by charter school leaders to identify and make sense of accountability policy. Finally, this paper highlights the ways in which charter school leaders influence the teachers in their school buildings through shared sense-making.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 53 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 June 2022

Jisu Ryu, Jeff Walls and Karen Seashore Louis

The purpose of this study is to examine how context shapes leaders' caring approach in ways that influence organizational learning and the cultivation of professional capital.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine how context shapes leaders' caring approach in ways that influence organizational learning and the cultivation of professional capital.

Design/methodology/approach

This exploratory study draws on case study data from two schools. Within each school, the authors draw primarily on semi-structured interviews with teachers and leaders.

Findings

The authors found that school context and the accompanying leader beliefs shaped the structures and practices where organizational learning occurred, and thereby influence the diffusion of organizational learning in the school and the flexibility by which organizational lessons can be applied.

Research limitations/implications

This research demonstrates that the context and place in which schools are situated influence how problems are apprehended and addressed. Leaders' relational approach, bounded by this context, influences how members of the school develop professional capacity. Larger scale studies would help clarify the nature of these effects.

Originality/value

Although context has been shown to influence leadership, no study has examined the links between context, leaders' relational approach and organizational learning.

Details

Journal of Professional Capital and Community, vol. 7 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-9548

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 April 2020

Dana Specker Watts and Jayson W. Richardson

The purpose of this study was to investigate the connection between professional development and professional capital within international schools in Asia.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the connection between professional development and professional capital within international schools in Asia.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was an exploratory multisite case study. Teachers and leaders in six high performing international schools in Asia were surveyed to measure their professional capital. Three leaders with the highest professional capital from different schools were interviewed to better understand how professional development fosters professional capital of their teachers.

Findings

International school leaders tended to have high professional capital while teachers reported having less professional capital. Leaders fostered professional capital of their teachers through professional development by supporting the intellectual passions of individuals, fostering collaborative learning within and across international schools and creating a culture of safety and vulnerability for teachers to try new things.

Research limitations/implications

This study showed that a short version of the professional capital survey tested well in this context with items just focused on professional development. However, more work needs to be done to make the individual constructs more robust as it pertains to professional development. This research also highlighted the need to look at how international school teachers foster their own professional capital through professional development.

Originality/value

This is the first study that focused on the intersection of professional capital and professional development. Additionally, this article serves as one of the few studies of professional capital in international schools.

Details

Journal of Professional Capital and Community, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-9548

Keywords

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