New Case Studies of Successful School Principals: International Study in Five Countries

Author(s):

Lawrence DrysdaleDorit TubinPetros PashiardisVassos SavvidesESMAHAN AGAOGLURoss NotmanBetty MerchantElizabeth Murakami RamalhoEncarnacion GarzaPearl Sims

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

26. Educational Leadership

Format:

Symposium

Session Information

26 SES 05, New Case Studies of Successful School Principals: International Study in Five Countries

Symposium

Time:

2009-09-29

08:30-10:00

Room:

NIG, Seminarraum, 6. Floor

Chair:

Lawrence Drysdale

Discussant:

Christopher Day

Contribution

The session will present the findings from new case studies from five countries that have recently joined the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). The case studies focus on defining what is success in each country and identify the characteristics, processes and impact of successful school principalship on the school community. The five countries represented in the symposium are Cyprus, Turkey, New Zealand, USA (Texas/Mexico) and China. The cases studies have been conducted over the past year and build on earlier research findings from the ISSPP The ISSPP is a large and important project which over the past seven years has produced more than 70 multi-perspective case studies across eight countries, an international principal leadership survey distributed in seven countries, and yearly symposiums presentations at numerous international conferences and numerous individual papers. The project was originally formed in 2001 as an eight country international study of successful school principals. Currently there are now 16 countries involved in the project. The presenters in this symposium will each present their findings. The chair of the symposium will outline how these new findings fit into the previous research findings in the project and how they contributes to our understanding of successful school principalship from an international perspective.

Method

The symposium will add new international perspectives in successful school principalship in five countries by contributing to the body of knowledge accumulated in the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). The case studies are based on an agreed protocol that uses a qualitative case study methodology using multi perspective interviews, observation and document search. Data were collected at each school using multiple sources including documents illustrating school achievements and student attainment, and interviews with a variety of people typically including the principal, school board members (where appropriate) , assistant principal, heads of departments, teachers, parents and students. The focus of the interviews was the exploration of perceptions of the success of the school, and particularly the principal’s contribution to the success.

Expected Outcomes

The symposium will identify the characteristics, processes and effects of successful school principalship in five countries. The findings will add the body of knowlwedge that has accumulated through the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). During the session presenters from each country will present their findings from case studies in relationship to: 1. Outline the context of case studies 2. Principal profile 3. How was success measured? 4. To what extent did the principals contribute to the success of the school? 5. What were the key strategies or interventions? 6. Outline key achievements 7. Leadership characteristics, style, philosophy/values. At the conclusion of the symposium there will be an assessment of how the new findings fit into the earlier findings

References

All listed authors have numerous pubilications The following are associated with the ISSPP. Day, C and Leithwood, K. (editors) 2007 Successful Principal Leadership in Times of Change: International Perspective, Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands Successful Principal Leadership Special Issue Journal of Educational Administration Vol. 43 No. 6, 2005 pp. 619-629 Case studies from USA, Australia, Shanghai, China, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Ylimaki, R.M., Jacobson, S.L. & Drysdale, L. (2007) Making a difference in challenging, high-poverty schools: Successful principals in the USA, England, and Australia, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 18(4), pp. 361-381 Gurr, D., Drysdale, L. & Mulford, B. (2007) Instructional Leadership in Three Australian Schools, International Studies in Educational Administration, 35(3), pp. 20-29. Gurr, D., Drysdale, L. & Mulford, B. (2006) Models of Successful Principal Leadership, School Leadership and Management, 26(4), pp. 371-395 Gurr, D. & Drysdale, L. (2003). Successful School Leadership: Victorian case studies, International Journal of Learning, 10, 945-957 Gurr, D., Drysdale, L. & Mulford, B. (2005) Successful principal leadership: Australian case studies, Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 43, No. 6, pp. 539-551 Gurr, D. & Drysdale, L. (2007) Models of Successful School Leadership: Victorian Case Studies, in Ken Leithwood & Chris Day (Eds) Successful School Leadership in Times of Change (Toronto: Springer), pp. 39-58

Author Information

Lawrence Drysdale

University of Melbourne

Centre for Organisational Learning and Leadership

Melbourne

Dorit Tubin

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Education

Beer-Sheva

Petros Pashiardis

Open University of Cyprus

Nicosia

Vassos Savvides

Open University of Cyprus

Education

Nicosia

ESMAHAN AGAOGLU

ANADOLU UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

ESKISEHIR

212

Ross Notman

University of Otago, New Zealand

Betty Merchant

University of Texas at San Antonio

Elizabeth Murakami Ramalho

University of Texas at San Antonio

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

San Atnonio

220

Encarnacion Garza

University of Texas at San Antonio

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

San Antonio

220

Pearl Sims

Vanderbilt University, USA

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