Review of Literature
Effective leadership is critical to an organization's success. Organizations "seek those with leadership ability because they believe they bring special assets to their organizations, and ultimately, improve the bottom line" (Northouse, 2012, p. 1). Taking the educational system as one such organization allows the systematic study of leadership styles and their effect on what is arguably a school’s bottom line—student achievement. Thus, to improve student success, it is necessary to begin with an analysis of leadership styles within the education system. Principals have been and will continue to be the primary leaders in K-12 schools throughout the 21st century. Their thoughts, behaviors, actions, and decisions significantly impact how school culture is shaped, staff and student achievement, and overall school success. Much of a principal’s tenets stem from the particular leadership style he or she promotes, be it transformational, transactional, democratic, autocratic, laissez-faire or situational. What complicates a potentially linear relationship between one particular leadership style and student achievement is that principals often combine two or more styles depending on the needs of their environment. However, despite the increased difficulty for analysis, combining leadership styles can lead to increased efficiency and effectiveness of the faculty and staff, students, and the school as a whole (Van, Coleman, & Simpson, 2014).
This past school year I have been social chair of Nursing Students Without Borders. I have organized, implemented and hosted social events throughout the Fall of 2016 and the Spring of 2017. This past year the leadership of NSWB has worked to make NSWB community focused which is why the position I held was added this past year. I have been able to mentor a pre-nursing student through NSWB. I was able to answer the questions honestly from a pre-nursing student and provide support during the application process. I have been able to participate in leadership meetings and have learned how to plan well and how to improve event planning.
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
Who school leaders are – what they do, attend to, or seem to appreciate is constantly watched by students, teachers, parents, and members of the community. Their interests and actions send powerful messages. They signal the values they hold. Above all else, leaders are cultural “teachers” in the best sense of the word. (Deal & Peterson, 1990, p. 201)
According to former Indiana state superintendent of schools Dr. Suellen Reed, “We know from our research that there’s no turnaround school without a turnaround principal” (as cited in Gammil, 2007, para. 2), further supporting the fact that “school leaders have an essential role in cultivating a positive school culture in public schools” (Peterson and Deal, 2002, p.30). However, it is imperative to improve our understanding as to how principal leadership impacts the school culture in high poverty schools to ensure that all children receive a quality education, regardless of zip code, in an environment conducive to learning. The six measured factors are as follows:
“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.
In the book, The Moral Imperative of School Leadership, the author, Michael Fullan, discusses how a school ran with moral imperative will benefit everyone involved. Fullan summarizes how principals who share the leadership role and work collectively with others find success. He lays out the ways to change the context of your campus, defines some barriers of school leadership, and how to make a difference at the individual level and at the school level. He also discusses how to make a difference beyond your campus, expanding to regionally and society. Lastly he demonstrates how a new direction and new context require the individual and system to work together towards successfully changing the culture of your campus.
The watching of the videos “The Principal Story” and “North Grand” in combination with reading the textbook “Leading in a Culture of Change” by Michael Fullan and our class discussions have provided me with many insights about my future as a high school principal. I have served as a mathematics teacher for almost twenty-three years and have served in many leadership roles throughout my career, however my participation in this course has verified that, although I have a strong foundation of knowledge, I still have much to learn about leading a school. I am coming to understand the position of principal is a monumental task and should be entered with into with much thought. Holding this role as principal requires that I use this position to
Number of studies have asserted that teaching experience of principal positively associates with his/her instructional leadership (Eberts & Stone, 1988; Glasman, 1984; Hallinger, 1983; Leithwood et al., 1990). Studies have identified personal values of principal to indirectly shape his/her attention to varying aspects of educational programs (Barth, 1980, 1990; Cuban, 1988; Glasman, 1984; Leithwood et al., 1990, 1992). “Research on effects of principal leadership on student learning draws its conceptual lineage more directly from research on school effectiveness and school improvement.” (Hallinger, Bickman and Davis,
Masters of Arts in educational leadership is a study field that interested me deciding on the master program to pursue (Green, 2010). The program is essential in academic institutions since it views leadership as a relational process. In other words, it has an all-inclusive attitude towards people and their diverse points of views sharing a common goal and vision among individuals in the institution. The strong interest and desire of pursuing the art program resulted from the interest of understanding the cultural aspects of people that leads to their diversified points of view. Additional interests in educational leadership arose from the increased urge of expounding knowledge on leadership. Furthermore, based on the dynamic nature of the modern society, pursuing the master program aimed at understanding different management styles and required skills for these styles (Green, 2010). The discussion paper has the objective of expounding and reflecting on the different aspects of educational leadership learnt in the MA in educational leadership program.
There needs to be at least 50 participants chosen for this study. A sample of convenience was used which limited the scope of the study to high poverty and low poverty schools in the South Carolina Lowcountry. These participants were all South Carolina certified teachers in multiple secondary disciplines. Teachers who had only been employed for one year were not included in the study because it is possible they did not have enough personal experience with their current principal to accurately determine their leadership behaviors. This was done to protect the integrity of the study and to gain an accurate depiction of the principal’s leadership behaviors over time. This exclusion also ensures that answers to the school climate survey are referencing the perception of the school climate from a perspective of a person that has experienced it for a significant period of time.
Each school in Australia strives to create an environment in which all students have equal access to quality education which can enable them to become successful contributors to society. This paper aims to examine the research on the effect of leadership and teachers on student achievement. It will examine the research on leadership styles and the effects that leadership has on teachers and student achievement.
Turk, C. P III. (2001) ‘A study of the leadership qualities, behaviours, and characteristics of Principals from California’s distinguished and underperforming high schools’, Ed.D., University of La Verne.
Leadership Evaluation and Philosophy: An Appraisal of Angela Merkel’s Leadership during the Euro Crisis and My Leadership Philosophy
According to the authors of this article (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009), principals need to concentrate on the development of skills and behaviors in order to be successful in motivating, leading, and changing the direction of a school. The successful principal understands that there exists a fine balance of caring for others and the need to accomplish specific tasks (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009).
Effective school leadership today must combine the traditional school leadership duties such as teacher evaluation, budgeting, scheduling, and facilities maintenance with a deep involvement with specific aspects of teaching and learning. Effective instructional leaders are intensely involved in curricular and instructional issues that directly affect student achievement (Cotton, 2003). The writer of this paper acknowledges that school principals should play the role of instructional leaders, not just a school manager. The reality is that are many demands on a principals time and management skills making it difficult for most of them to spend time in classrooms, when performing teacher evaluation. Principals often make sure that teachers