The Theory Of Leadership Behavior

The ever-changing landscape of education and school accountability has given rise to a renewed focus on shared leadership. In the past, the principal was viewed as the primary decision maker within a school. However, Glickman (1989) points out that it is impossible for school principals to effectively complete all the necessary instructional and managerial tasks within schools. He contends that some teachers have more leadership abilities than the actual administrators and that “in successful schools, principals aren’t threatened by the wisdom of others, instead, they cherish it by distributing leadership” (Glickman, 1989, p. 8).

Achieving a school district’s mission and vision requires the commitment of its stakeholders. In order to involve them in the process, it is necessary for educational leaders to “motivate staff, parents, students, board and community members” (Educational Leadership Constituencies Council, 2002, p. 4). The transformational leadership theory emphasizes the importance of educational leaders acting as role-models in order to motivate and inspire the school community. This approach has the potential to involve all stakeholders, leading to increased student success (Bush, 2007). The Assistant Director of Special Education in Northwest ISD directly supervised the school district’s assessment staff. Her education, experience, and passion set an example for her subordinates, stimulating them to achieve more, leading to her promotion to Executive Director of Student Services.

Michael Fullan begins The Principal – Three Keys to Maximizing Impact with some sobering statistics about the drop in morale among principals:

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)

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

In Moral Leadership, Sergiovanni shows how creating a new leadership practice--one with a moral dimension built around purpose, values, and beliefs--can transform a school from just an organization to a community. He believes that this "community" can inspire the kinds of commitment, devotion, and service from all stakeholders that can make our schools great. Sergiovanni explains the importance of justifying emotion and getting in touch with basic values and connections with others. He reveals how true collegiality, based on shared work and common goals, leads to an interdependence occurring naturally among

In the Article, The Reflective Principal: Foundations of a Strong School Culture, Peggy Scott illustrated many ways in which effective leadership teams can keep their teachers growing

Although administrative support is often included in school climate, research has focused specifically on principal leadership and its relation to teacher retention (Hirsch, 2005). Effective leaders foster collaboration and create opportunities for teachers to learn from one another throughout their careers (Wong, 2004). While ineffective principal leadership often leads to teacher attrition, effective principal leadership often leads to teacher retention. School leaders can control the quality of teaching force at their school by hiring high-quality teachers, strategically retaining good teachers and removing poor teachers, and developing the teachers already at their school (Loeb, Kalogrides and Beteille (2012). How principals execute

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).

Leadership is a very broad topic; I never knew just how many different traits and skills that it takes to become an effective leader. Some of which I was familiar with, and others that I was not aware of, but now from taking this course, they all seem to be necessary for the role of leadership. The attached paper, will explain of some of the important theories and concepts that I thought were most important to be able to become and effective leader.

Working with several principals of my seventeen years in the classroom have given me a perspective on effective practices of principalship. Now that I am out of the classroom and work directly with dozens principals, I hope to get a very close look and improved understanding of the principal's role in a school. In my role as a project facilitator I have already experienced firsthand how educational leader sets its priorities for their school . Combining this work assignment with CSUN's administrative credential program will provide excellent preparation.

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

This particular research is an attempt to determine how leadership influences teaching and learning in schools. The collection of quantitative data began at the beginning and the end of the 5-year study. The collection of qualitative data was administered with three rounds in between the quantitative data gathering. The quantitative data included teacher surveys, principal surveys, student achievement data and demographic data. The sampling was conducted in nine states that were randomly selected from four quadrants throughout the United States with variation in organization size, socio-economic status (SES), and achievement status. The sampling design was to represent 180 schools in 45 school districts. The actual quantitative sample included teachers and principals in 157 schools and in 43 school districts. The sample represented equal representation from elementary and secondary schools. This study investigated the data from teachers after the first and second rounds the surveys were administered.

The principal must have knowledge and understanding of effective communication strategies when collaborating with staff, educators, and students (O 'Connor & Jackson, 2017). The teacher’s morale is ultimately impacted by the principal 's open-line of communication; therefore, the school environment affects how the principal is perceived by the teachers and staff morale can influence student learning. However, the principal should focus on developing a collaborative relationship among the teachers, which foster new ways of exchanging view points and ideas (Whyte & Karabon, 2016). The principal plays a major role in how effective the vision or goals are followed by subordinates. In other words, how the perception of the principal ethical and values are aligned with the teachers. Hence, collaboration in schools is, the result of teachers and principals working together for the end results, which are student’s high achievement in learning. When the skillful principals and the sagacious educators “walk the talk” effective leadership and the strategic guidance is a must in the collaborative community of succeed.

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