Search results
1 – 10 of over 50000Jayson W. Richardson, Justin Bathon and Scott McLeod
This article details findings on how leaders of deeper learning schools establish, maintain, and propel unique teaching and learning environments. In this case study, the authors…
Abstract
Purpose
This article details findings on how leaders of deeper learning schools establish, maintain, and propel unique teaching and learning environments. In this case study, the authors present findings from data collected through interviews with 30 leaders of self-proclaimed deeper learning initiatives and site visits to those elementary and secondary schools.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a case study approach, the authors collected data from interviews and observations of 30 school leaders.
Findings
The study's findings indicate how leaders of schools that engage in deeper learning tend to adhere to three core practices. First, the leaders of deeper learning schools in this study intently listened to the community to ascertain needs and desires; this drove the vision. Second, leaders of deeper learning schools created learning spaces that empowered students and gave them voice, agency, and choice. Third, leaders of deeper learning schools sought to humanize the schooling experience.
Practical implications
This study provides actionable examples of what leaders currently do to engage kids and teachers in deeper learning. These leaders offer insights into specific actions and practices that they espoused to make the schooling experience markedly different.
Originality/value
Previous studies focused on the deeper learning of schools and students. This is one of the first studies to focus on the inteplay between deeper learning and school leaders.
Details
Keywords
Fadzliyati Kamarudin and Donnie Adams
Mentoring is a crucial aspect of leadership development. However, the knowledge base about mentoring with regard to student leadership development is still emerging and has yet to…
Abstract
Purpose
Mentoring is a crucial aspect of leadership development. However, the knowledge base about mentoring with regard to student leadership development is still emerging and has yet to be explored in depth. Thus, this paper explores college directors' mentorship, as a form of faculty mentoring, in developing students' leadership in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research design was utilized, by which semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from four college directors. Data were analyzed and coded using ATLAS.ti 9.
Findings
The findings provide new insights into how college directors mentor students to develop them as leaders. Specifically, the findings show that directors, as transformational leaders, can play a significant mentoring function in enhancing students' leadership via role-modeling for students to accumulate leadership-related knowledge and skills.
Research limitations/implications
This study centered on the role of college directors who are transformational leaders, mentoring with authority, vision and role-modeling for student leaders' leadership development.
Originality/value
The study offers empirical evidence about the significance of college directors' mentorship in enhancing student leadership in Malaysia.
Details
Keywords
Ericka L. Galegher, Petrina M. Davidson, Joseph Elefante, Guadalupe Bright and Lisa Damaschke-Deitrick
The objective of this chapter is to analyze educational leadership policy in New Jersey, US, and Ontario, Canada, focusing on the inclusion of the unique needs of systematically…
Abstract
The objective of this chapter is to analyze educational leadership policy in New Jersey, US, and Ontario, Canada, focusing on the inclusion of the unique needs of systematically marginalized students, specifically refugees and forced immigrant (RFI) youth. Modes of inquiry are qualitative document analysis of New Jersey and Ontario leadership policies, preparation requirements, and standards. The objective of this paper is to present an extensive literature review of policies related to educational leadership and supporting RFI youth and their teachers as well as to reveal gaps in policies and examine pre- and in-service training requirements. Within the field of comparative and international education, this chapter highlights the institutionalization of trends in educational leadership at state or provincial levels and how these macro-level policies influence educators’ abilities to meet the needs of students from marginalized communities, such as refugees and immigrants.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this manuscript is to demonstrate how school and district leaders supported the youth of color leadership initiatives at the district and school levels in ways to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this manuscript is to demonstrate how school and district leaders supported the youth of color leadership initiatives at the district and school levels in ways to advance youth agencies and transformative change. The specific research question guiding this study was What actions do formalized leaders engage in to share leadership opportunities with the youth of color that protect student agencies and control?
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-site qualitative case study design was used, drawing on the understanding of shared leadership and student voice as analytical lenses.
Findings
Leaders across both sites supported the youth of color leadership in three ways: (1) being open to new and different sources of knowledge related to persistent issues of inequity in their schools; (2) initiating spaces for the youth of color to engage in leadership and (3) buffering student leaders from outside pressures.
Research limitations/implications
This research demonstrates the ways leaders with positional power can support youth of color leadership while not removing youth agencies and independence.
Originality/value
This manuscript contributes to existing scholarship by demonstrating how the understanding of shared leadership and student voice scholarship combines to deepen understanding of supporting youth of color leadership.
Details
Keywords
Bity Salwana Alias, Mohd Radzi Ishak and Muhammad Nur Asyraf Nordin
The main purpose of this study was to determine school leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs, the level of achievement of these students and the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this study was to determine school leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs, the level of achievement of these students and the relationship between the two variables.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative methodology comprising a questionnaire instrument was utilized to collect data from 239 underprivileged students attending schools in Kelantan, Malaysia. Descriptive statistics comprising mean values and standard deviations were calculated to determine school leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs and the level of achievement of these students. Inferential statistics comprising a Pearson correlation was calculated to determine the relationship between the two variables.
Findings
School leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs was high, whereas the achievement of underprivileged students was moderate. A weak positive relationship was observed between the two variables.
Research limitations/implications
The sample was limited to 15–16-year-old students in one state in Malaysia. Further research is therefore needed on samples from across Malaysia. This paper enhances knowledge of the relationship between school leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs and the level of achievement of these students. This study also has implications for Maslow's human needs theory.
Practical implications
The implications of the findings for school management practices are that an ability to manage underprivileged students' needs can increase the level of achievement of these students. The findings also indicate that adhering to Sustainable Development Goals, the Malaysian Education Blueprint and the Eleventh Malaysian Plan to ensure quality education for underprivileged students is relevant and should be continued. The findings can also be used as input in training school leaders.
Social implications
The findings suggest that the community needs to take more responsibility for underprivileged students, especially in managing their needs, in order to increase the achievement. The findings can usefully be employed to reduce the social gap between underprivileged and privileged groups.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the relationship between school leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs and the students' achievement.
Details
Keywords
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
Keywords
Rebecca A. Thacker and Christine A. Yost
Employers often comment on the lack of good team leadership skills exhibited by newly graduated business students. While an understanding of the factors that contribute to…
Abstract
Employers often comment on the lack of good team leadership skills exhibited by newly graduated business students. While an understanding of the factors that contribute to effective communication in workplace teams does exist, are we certain that the factors influencing quality of communication between student team leaders and team members are the same as the factors influencing quality of communication in workplace teams? To investigate this issue, students were surveyed. Results indicate that student team leaders mirror workplace team leaders in all but one important factor: the use of exchange as a tactic of influence. Use of supportive influence tactics and recognition that assertive tactics are not effective was consistent with workplace team leader tactics. As with workplace team leaders, trust was an important determinant with satisfaction with the team leader’s communication. Implications and suggestions for training students to become effective team members in the work world are discussed.
Details
Keywords
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.
Details
Keywords
Antonia Issa Lahera, Stefanie Holzman and Pamela Robinson
Great schools are created and thrive as a result of great leadership. Great school leaders are prepared in carefully designed preparation programs. Carefully crafted school…
Abstract
Great schools are created and thrive as a result of great leadership. Great school leaders are prepared in carefully designed preparation programs. Carefully crafted school leadership programs prepare leaders who are ready to lead. What is it that must be taught and learned in order to prepare leaders who are ready to lead? It is certain that school leadership must be clearly articulated, taught, and measured. With research clearly highlighting the impact of school leaders on school success, preparation programs have the responsibility to prepare new leaders to be skilled in leadership (Seashore Louis et al., 2010). It was with this in mind that the development of the Charter and Autonomous Leadership Academy (CASLA) program was created. CASLA was specifically built for an underserved population of administrators and future leaders in the charter world. By delivering the program using a hybrid format, cultivating a strong community component, and implementing a field-based project requiring students to use all that they learn in the program, CASLA is creating a pathway that ensures competency in all aspects of leadership, not just management (Issa Lahera & Normore, 2012). Crafting a relevant, rigorous, and thorough program proved to be a heroes journey. This chapter will provide an overview of CASLA: the leadership preparation program that claims to graduate leaders who are “Ready to Lead.”
Jane Skalicky, Harriet Speed, Jacques van der Meer and Dallin George Young
This paper describes an exploratory, international research collaboration that seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the development and experiences of peer leaders in higher…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper describes an exploratory, international research collaboration that seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the development and experiences of peer leaders in higher education across different international contexts, namely the USA, Canada (CAN), Australasia (Australia and New Zealand) (ANZ), the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa (SA).
Design/methodology/approach
Data are summarized and compared across each of the participating countries, providing a more global context and depth of perspective on peer leadership (PL) in higher education than is currently available in the literature.
Findings
The findings highlight some apparent differences between countries in relation to student engagement in peer leader roles and the ways in which PL is supported by higher education institutions, as well as some similarities across the different international contexts, particularly in the way peer leaders view the benefits of their involvement in PL.
Originality/value
These insights provide a valuable addition to the literature on PL and practical information to higher education institutions for supporting student leadership development and involvement.
Details