My Interest And Choice Of Educational Leadership

The importance of effective leadership and its impact on improving student achievement are evident in today’s schools (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, and Wahlstrom, 2004). While the school principal is traditionally thought to be the school leader, Glickman (1989) proposes that “the principal of successful schools is not the instructional leader but the educational leader who mobilizes the expertise, talent, and care of others” (p. 8). Lumpkin, Claxton, and Wilson (2014) contend that helping “each school fulfill its mission and energize and expand the professionalism and professional contributions of teachers, the expertise of all teachers, especially teacher leaders, is needed” (p. 59). Teachers directly impact student learning, and

As one leads with integrity, fairness and in an ethical manner, they lead by modeling those values and beliefs that belong in an educational setting. They show concern and care personally for the students, staff and communities learning, behaviors, and lives. Leaders promote a culture of openness and trust. They model appropriate behavior and skills to improve learning and engage others to share in this process through collaboration.

Being an Educational Leader is where I have chosen to land. Educational leadership will often bring me back to the classroom, helping teachers, coaching students and planning curriculum. A master’s degree in Educational Leadership will deliver a fresh perspective

I am seeking admission to Concordia University-Chicago’s Educational Leadership Doctoral program. Currently I am an Instructional Leader with the Rockford Public School District. I would like to pursue a Doctorate degree in Educational Leadership to further my knowledge of the required leadership traits, essential skills and educational systems, practices and laws so that I may ultimately become a contributing member of a school district’s administrative cabinet.

The leaders and managers are the pillars of any educational setting on which the success and failure of the setting depend. Before discussing the leadership and

“The approach to the study of leadership usually has been and perhaps always must be through the study of traits. Leadership obviously is not a simple trait but rather a complex of many traits fashioned together as a unity (Cowley, 1928, p. 144).” Leadership can be defined as the position or function of a leader, a person who guides or directs a group. Leadership is a process that occurs in a group setting. Leadership involves influence and goal attainment. Leadership styles and theories are vast in number and detail. This paper will examine leadership from the perspective of college and university presidents. Presidents of institutions of higher education are considered leaders. Each institution is different meaning that presidents have to be diverse in their leadership knowledge and style in order to effectively lead the institution. It is necessary to have a general knowledge of leadership theories and styles in order to properly examine the traits and behaviors of college and university presidents.

Create a personal, professional mission statement summarizing philosophy, knowledge and skills of instructional supervision from which to guide future leadership actions.

Similar to other leadership settings, educational leadership has a reliance on individual traits such as respect, trustworthiness, and fairness. Similarly, skills are essential since they determine the effectiveness of headship. Cooperation of staff members requires leaders to have strong awareness and understanding of their complex organizational environment. Concurrently, choice of management style is essential while focusing on maximum effectiveness of educational leadership. Lastly, as postulated, educational leadership is a great influencer towards students

I think and every successful teacher will agree with me that promoting the success of every student is the main value of any educational professional and it is very important for a leader to demonstrate these traits. What is leadership? Some people think that it is good to be a boss and it is easy to rule any organization. Leadership is more than just to rule any organization. It is the development of a practice around a mission or vision and an ability to inspire others to do the same. There are three sets of practices make up this basic core of successful leadership practices: setting directions, developing people and redesigning the organization. Foster (1989) says, “Leadership differs from conventional administration in much the same way that education differs from training (p.10).” This speaks to results- to the why of teaching. And the value of a leader can be determined by their results. If their aim is high-quality education (an admittedly vague term), academic success, and well-being of each student then this is the standard by which they should be judged. Burns admonishes that “power and leadership are measured by the degree of

According to Hans Urs von Balthasar “a vocation is something lived, something enacted and a concrete life story” (Contino, 2004, p. 85). My vocational life story has developed over the past forty years with my first job at twelve babysitting six children to where I stand today teaching home economics at Chowchilla high school. “I build my own life story through the decisions of projects I undertake” and the choices I have made regarding my career path (Contino, 2004, p. 85). Someone looking from the outside at my wandering path might believe of my career changes seem a bit radical. Moving bicoastal, leaving a stable career of twenty five plus years to go back to college, take a pay cut and joining the unstable labor market of Home

As the leader of a 21st century school one must embody the qualities that best reflect the ever-changing face of education. Traditionally, the leader of a school focused a large portion of time and energy on typical managerial functions within the school. These tasks, although important, will not propel a school to achieve excellence. Today’s school leaders must be visionaries who create a sense of purpose driven unity. As a transformational leader, one must also be the beacon of learning in establishing and effectively cultivating professional learning communities. One must recognize and further develop the leadership skills of those within the school in order to ensure the vision and mission of the school is achieved. Keeping in

Leadership comes from various aspects of resources. Some of these resources are based on scholarly articles. Each individual that is interested in becoming a leader should be able to pick up on various traits and characteristics so they can develop into strong

As I began this Leadership in Education course, I entered with an open mind and eagerness to learn about varying leadership styles and approaches. Over the years, I have fortunately been exposed to numerous genuine, caring, exceptional leaders in higher education. They all shared one commonality: student-centeredness. This has been my compass and guides me in my work. Through this course, I wanted to learn how I can better support students, whether directly or indirectly by leading other professionals and para-professionals in their work with students.

Those who learn to be instructional leaders acquire many characteristics that are beneficial to their schools and communities. The writer concurs that Instructional leaders exhibit a clear sense of direction for their schools and prioritize and focus attention on the things that really

There is a positive correlation between leadership styles and the job-satisfaction in education providers. The determinants of job satisfaction, leadership is viewed as an important predictor and plays a central role. Leadership is a management function, which is mostly directed towards people and social interaction, as well as the process of influencing people so that they will achieve the goals of the organization.Leader is leading the human resource function, collaborating with other functions and providing leadership to them, setting and enhancing the standards for strategic thinking (Armstrong (2006). Leadership effectiveness many different types of outcomes havebeen used, including the performance and growth of the leader’s group or organization, its preparedness to deal with challenges or crises, follower satisfaction with the leader, follower commitment to the group objectives, the psychological well-being and development of followers, the leaders’ possession of high status in the group, and theleader’s advancement to higher positions of authority in the organization (Oad, 1999).