Comparative Perspectives on Leadership Preparation for Organizational Learning, Instructional Leadership, and Culturally Responsive Practice

Author(s):

Rose Ylimaki(presenting / submitting)Stephen Jacobson(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

26. Educational Leadership

Format:

Paper

Session Information

26 SES 03 A, Educational Leadership

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-18

17:15-18:45

Room:

FFL - Aula 8

Chair:

Lawrence Drysdale

Contribution

Research Questions, Objectives, and Theoretical Framework. This paper has two primarily objects: 1) to report on leadership practices in successful schools across seven countries, focusing on organizational learning, instructional and culturally responsive leadership, and 2) to consider the implications of each for leadership preparation.

Our analyses are based upon cases from the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP), comparing leadership practices from case studies in three countries for each of the areas, specifically the U.S., England and Sweden for organizational learning; U.S., Australia and Denmark for instructional leadership; and U.S., Norway and Cyprus for culturally responsive practice. The ISSPP is a large and important body of research that currently contains more than 100 case studies and several-thousand survey responses across eight countries, and has produced three books (Leithwood & Day, 2007; Møller & Fuglestad, 2006; Authors Citation) many additional book chapters, two special journal issues (Journal of Educational Administration, 43(6), 2005; International Studies in Educational Administration, 35(3), 2007), and more than 60 refereed journal papers. Research questions for this study are: What leadership practices contribute to school success? What are the similarities and differences in successful leadership practice across national contexts?

Our theoretical framework draws on effective leadership studies across several national contexts. In the USA, successful school leadership was conducted in the context of effective schools research on ‘outlier’ schools that were providing children with a quality education regardless of socioeconomic background (e.g. Levine & Lezotte, 1990; Purkey & Smith, 1983). Across these early effective leadership studies (e.g. Levine & Lezotte, 1990; Purkey & Smith, 1983), findings indicated that “successful” principals exhibited strong, even directive, instructional leadership in the creation of safe, orderly and positive school environments conducive to learning in challenging contexts. These scholars also frequently identified the importance of a clear and focused school mission, high expectations for everyone, student time on task, and positive home-school relations to any notion of school success. A more recent effective leadership metanalysis (Leithwood & Riehl, 2005) indicated the importance of four core leadership practices that were necessary but not sufficient for success in any context: 1) setting directions; 2) developing people; 3) redesigning the organization; and 4) managing the instructional program. Likewise, researchers in England (Day, 2005), Canada, Australia (Mulford et al., 2008) and Cyprus (Johnson, Møller, Pashiardis, Vedøy, & Savvides, 2011) noted the importance of shared direction, organizational capacity building, and strong community-school relationships.

Method

Research Methods and Design. The International Successful School Principal Study has been conducted in four phases: 1) development of a common interview protocol based on the extant literature reviewed above; 2) construction of case studies; 3) development of a survey, using case study findings; and 4) digital videos. Findings in this paper were derived from the case study phase. Since the ISSPP involves contextually sensitive data concerning individual perceptions about the work of each principal, a multi-case study methodology was employed. Case studies provide an opportunity to uncover causation through “insight, discovery and interpretation” (Merriam, 1988, p.10). Sampling criteria for cases featured gains in student outcomes since the beginning of the principal/head teacher’s tenure, school reputation, and principal / head teacher’s reputation among peers. In these cases, data were collected at each school using multiple sources including documents from central governing bodies illustrating school achievements and student attainment; ethnographic notes made during visits by the research team to each school, local school documents, and most importantly, interviews with a variety of people, typically including the principal/headteacher, teachers, staff members, parents, and students.

Expected Outcomes

Results First, understanding global, national, and local contexts is essential to understanding successful school leadership. While there was a convergence of policies across nations with regard to accountability, local control, democratic education and leadership preparation, underlying assumptions about what successful leadership means vary. Second, successful practices are layered, multi-dimensional and socially constructed. Leadership contributions to school success occur through continuous development in different phases over time. Leaders give multi-focal attention to academic improvement, accountability policies, and democratic education. Third, leaders’ values, emotional and intellectual qualities, as well as their influence skills enable school success. How well schools function as communities of values and the extent to which school members are able to achieve a collective sense of purpose appears to influence the extent to which schools are able to achieve their organizational, instructional, and social purposes. Finally, the leadership qualities and practices reported have important implications for leadership preparation. Despite differences in preparation, the importance of mentors who provide models of how “successful” principals lead was noted. Across all seven countries, findings also revealed the importance of hands-on experience and teamwork.

References

References Day, C. (2005). Sustaining school success in challenging contexts: Leadership in English schools. Journal of Educational Administration, 43(6), 573-583. Johnson, L., Møller, J., Pashiardis, P., Vedøy, G., & Savvides, V. (2011). Culturally responsive practices. In R. Ylimaki & S. Jacobson (Eds.) US and cross-national policies, practices and preparation: Implications for successful instructional leadership, organizational learning, and culturally responsive practices. Netherlands: Springer-Kluwer. Leithwood, K., & Riehl, C. (2005). What we know about successful school leadership. In W. Firestone & C. Riehl (eds.), A New Agenda: Directions for research on educational leadership (pp. 22–47). New York: Teachers College Press. Leithwood, K., & Day, C. (eds.). (2007). Successful School Leadership in Times of Change. Toronto: Springer. Levine, D. & Lezotte, L. (1990). Unusually effective schools: An analysis of research and practice. Madison, WI: National Center for Effective Schools Research and Development. Merriam, S. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Møller, J. & Fuglestad, O.L (2006) (red.): Ledelse i anerkjente skoler. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Mulford, B., Kendall, D., Ewington, J., Edmunds, B., Kendall, L., Halia, S. (2008). Successful principalship of high-performance schools in high-poverty communities. Journal of Educational Administration, 46(4), pp.461 – 480. Purkey & Smith (1983). Effective schools: A review. The Elementary School Journal, 83(4), 426-452.

Author Information

Rose Ylimaki (presenting / submitting)

University of Arizona

Educational Policies and Practice

Tucson

Stephen Jacobson (presenting)

University at Buffalo

Educational Leadership and Policy

Buffalo

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