The Impact Of Principal Leadership On Supporting Data Inquiry PDF Download
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Author | : Andrew Gray Houlihan |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 326 |
Release | : 2010 |
Genre | : |
ISBN | : |
Download The Impact of Principal Leadership on Supporting Data Inquiry Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Recent research surrounding educational leadership indicates that among school-related factors, leadership is second only to the classroom teacher as a variable associated with improving student achievement (Leithwood et al., 2004). Given the current climate of high stakes testing and accountability, the role that the principal plays in fostering continuous school improvement and ensuring academic success for all students has become increasingly important. To enhance school performance, the literature proposes that school leaders serve as instructional leaders and distribute their leadership responsibilities. One significant element of such leadership models is the ability of the school principal to support and promote inquiry by teachers and school administrators into student and school data. Wayman and Stringfield (2006) note that a campus culture that values and practices data-based decision making is marked by collaborative inquiry into student data. Advocates of data-driven decision making and data use suggest that inquiry into student data has been shown to be useful in improving overall school practice (Bernhardt, 2003; Wayman and Stringfield, 2006). Furthermore, using data to focus on specific goals will improve student learning (Schmoker, 1999). To explore how principals can foster the development of structures that allow for inquiry into student and school data, a case study of one purposely-selected high school was conducted. The four primary research questions this study addressed were: (1). What structures can high school principals develop and implement that promote inquiry by teachers and administrators into data? (2). What structures positively impact student academic achievement, as perceived by high school teachers and principals? (3). How are teachers using student achievement data in their instructional decision-making? (4). What are the qualitative data elements that school leaders might consider to inform the ongoing planning and decision-making process? Over the course of four months, data was gathered through individual interviews, observations, a survey, and analysis of pertinent documents. Several themes surrounding data analysis and leadership practices emerged. These included: the benefits of using structures to empower school staff to own data, the use of structures to allow for time for collaboration, using data to improve teaching practices, and the benefits of providing teachers greater access to pertinent data.
Author | : Alex J. Bowers |
Publisher | : IAP |
Total Pages | : 281 |
Release | : 2014-11-01 |
Genre | : Education |
ISBN | : 1623967880 |
Download Using Data in Schools to Inform Leadership and Decision Making Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Our fifth book in the International Research on School Leadership series focuses on the use of data in schools and districts as useful information for leadership and decision making. Schools are awash in data and information, from test scores, to grades, to discipline reports, and attendance as just a short list of student information sources, while additional streams of data feed into schools and districts from teachers and parents as well as local, regional and national policy levels. To deal with the data, schools have implemented a variety of data practices, from data rooms, to data days, data walks, and data protocols. However, despite the flood of data, successful school leaders are leveraging an analysis of their school’s data as a means to bring about continuous improvement in an effort to improve instruction for all students. Nevertheless, some drown, some swim, while others find success. Our goal in this book volume is to bring together a set of chapters by authors who examine successful data use as it relates to leadership and school improvement. In particular, the chapters in this volume consider important issues in this domain, including: • How educational leaders use data to inform their practice. • What types of data and data analysis are most useful to successful school leaders. • To what extent are data driven and data informed practices helping school leaders positively change instructional practice? • In what ways does good data collection and analysis feed into successful continuous improvement and holistic systems thinking? • How have school leadership practices changed as more data and data analysis techniques have become available? • What are the major obstacles facing school leaders when using data for decision making and how do they overcome them?
Author | : Sheryl Boris-Schacter |
Publisher | : Teachers College Press |
Total Pages | : 126 |
Release | : 2006 |
Genre | : Education |
ISBN | : 9780807746981 |
Download Balanced Leadership Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Alarmed by mounting evidence of a national shortage of qualified and willing principals, the authors surveyed or interviewed over 200 school principals from across the country to find out why so many are leaving the profession and how those who stay manage their work. They discovered that regardless of a principal's race, gender, school level, geographic region, or tenure, there was a remarkable consistency in the challenges identified and suggestions given for revamping the role of the American principal. Featuring stories shared by practicing principals, this timely volume: offers fresh insights on ways to both attract and retain good principals; shows how successful principals reconcile their expectations and hopes with the realities and disappointments encountered in their work; examines issues common to all principals, such as time management, staff evaluations, keeping the focus on instruction, community expectations, and pursuing a balanced life; presents strategies that principals have used to make their role more effective and more attractive; and provides practical ideas for coping with the present and envisioning the future, including alternative principal models.
Author | : Matthew Militello |
Publisher | : Corwin Press |
Total Pages | : 169 |
Release | : 2009-07-23 |
Genre | : Education |
ISBN | : 1452272948 |
Download Leading With Inquiry and Action Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
"This essential guide for educational leaders skillfully blends scholarship with practice and integrates theory with real-world examples. Through case studies, the authors show the reader how to develop, support, and improve a collaborative, inquiry-action process for improving teaching and learning. If we are going to have schools that successfully educate all students to high standards, then we need principals who translate the lessons of this book into practice." —Andrew Lachman, Executive Director Connecticut Center for School Change Enhance learning with a collaborative, inquiry-based system of leadership! With sociopolitical forces prompting calls for school improvement, school leaders look for ways to expand their expertise in instructional leadership and strengthen their role in shaping classroom practice. Leading With Inquiry and Action presents a systematic, ongoing process for collecting information, making decisions, and taking action to improve instruction and raise student achievement. The authors illustrate this collaborative inquiry-action cycle with a running vignette of an experienced principal and offer questions and exercises to guide individual reflection and group discussion. Thoroughly grounded in research, this book helps administrators: Identify areas for instructional improvement Determine community-supported solutions and build stakeholder commitment Articulate an action plan based on multiple data sources Take steps that support teacher development Systematically evaluate program results Educational improvement requires informed leadership. This practical guide provides an efficient and functional framework for transforming current or aspiring principals into inquiry-minded, action-oriented instructional leaders.
Author | : Julie Christine Gawerecki |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 430 |
Release | : 2003 |
Genre | : School principals |
ISBN | : |
Download The Impact of Principal Leadership on Student Academic Achievement Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Purpose of the study . The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of principal leadership on student academic achievement at the middle level. The method of analysis was qualitative, with data collected from interviews, observations, and official documents to understand the relationship between principal leadership and student academic achievement. Specifically, an explanatory case study approach was used to study one principal of a middle level school considered "exemplary" by a national study of leadership in middle level schools conducted by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, The Middle Level Leadership Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and by a national panel of experts representing the Middle-Grades Forum. Research procedures . A case study was conducted with data about principal leadership, culture, curriculum, instruction, and student academic achievement collected during several site visits to Southside Intermediate School. Site visits to Southside Intermediate occurred during the 2002-2003 academic school year. Multiple site visits were conducted for data collection with a minimum of five weeks of data collection. Qualitative data were collected from multiple sources at the school site in an effort to get multiple perspectives and ensure triangulation within the school. Fieldnotes and data were compiled and entered into a qualitative software program in an effort to categorize and reference the data as necessary. Methods of data collection included interviews with organizational stakeholders, non-participant observations, and the collection of official documents. Findings . With the changing economic, political, and social context of society, the role of the school leader is continually changing. The results of this case study explicate the impact of principal leadership behaviors on student academic achievement. The analysis of qualitative data established the importance of the school leader in developing a strong collaborative culture that fosters an effective instructional and curricular program. The results of this study suggest that principals must be transformational leaders who also serve as and share the responsibility for instructional and curricular leadership. Principals must learn to share leadership responsibilities with their staff. Shared leadership builds a collaborative culture and allows teachers to feel empowered when making decisions regarding the student learning. The principal's transformational leadership behaviors of empowerment, charismatic leadership, providing intellectual stimulation, being an appropriate model, and maintaining high performance expectations serve as a foundation for all leadership behavior. The findings are also supportive of a current movement in education toward shared leadership. These behaviors combined characterize an effective school that promotes a culture that fosters student learning.
Author | : Catherine H. Augustine |
Publisher | : Rand Corporation |
Total Pages | : 179 |
Release | : 2009 |
Genre | : Business & Economics |
ISBN | : 0833048910 |
Download Improving School Leadership Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Improving the nation's public schools is one of the highest priorities of federal, state, and local government in America. Recent research has shown that the quality of the principal is, among school-based factors, second only to the quality of the teacher in contributing to what students learn in the classroom. New programs to develop school leaders who can exercise vigilance over instruction and support effective teaching practices are not likely to succeed, however, if they are inconsistent with other state and district policies affecting school leadership. The Wallace Foundation, which focuses its grantmaking in education primarily on school leadership, has posited that well-coordinated policies and initiatives to develop leadership standards, provide high-quality training, and improve the conditions that affect principals' work will increase their ability to improve instruction in their schools. This study documents the actions taken by the Foundation's grantees to create a more cohesive set of policies and initiatives to improve instructional leadership in schools; describes how states and districts have worked together to forge such policies and initiatives around school leadership; and examines the hypothesis that more-cohesive systems do in fact improve school leadership. The study found that it is possible to build more-cohesive leadership systems and that such efforts appear to be a promising approach to developing school leaders engaged in improving instruction. Although the study did not find evidence that the full underlying theory behind this initiative is sound, it did find a correlation between improved conditions for principals and their engagement in instructional practices.
Author | : Anthony Bryk |
Publisher | : Russell Sage Foundation |
Total Pages | : 240 |
Release | : 2002-09-05 |
Genre | : Education |
ISBN | : 161044096X |
Download Trust in Schools Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Most Americans agree on the necessity of education reform, but there is little consensus about how this goal might be achieved. The rhetoric of standards and vouchers has occupied center stage, polarizing public opinion and affording little room for reflection on the intangible conditions that make for good schools. Trust in Schools engages this debate with a compelling examination of the importance of social relationships in the successful implementation of school reform. Over the course of three years, Bryk and Schneider, together with a diverse team of other researchers and school practitioners, studied reform in twelve Chicago elementary schools. Each school was undergoing extensive reorganization in response to the Chicago School Reform Act of 1988, which called for greater involvement of parents and local community leaders in their neighborhood schools. Drawing on years longitudinal survey and achievement data, as well as in-depth interviews with principals, teachers, parents, and local community leaders, the authors develop a thorough account of how effective social relationships—which they term relational trust—can serve as a prime resource for school improvement. Using case studies of the network of relationships that make up the school community, Bryk and Schneider examine how the myriad social exchanges that make up daily life in a school community generate, or fail to generate, a successful educational environment. The personal dynamics among teachers, students, and their parents, for example, influence whether students regularly attend school and sustain their efforts in the difficult task of learning. In schools characterized by high relational trust, educators were more likely to experiment with new practices and work together with parents to advance improvements. As a result, these schools were also more likely to demonstrate marked gains in student learning. In contrast, schools with weak trust relations saw virtually no improvement in their reading or mathematics scores. Trust in Schools demonstrates convincingly that the quality of social relationships operating in and around schools is central to their functioning, and strongly predicts positive student outcomes. This book offer insights into how trust can be built and sustained in school communities, and identifies some features of public school systems that can impede such development. Bryk and Schneider show how a broad base of trust across a school community can provide a critical resource as education professional and parents embark on major school reforms. A Volume in the American Sociological Association's Rose Series in Sociology
Author | : Robert J. Marzano |
Publisher | : Solution Tree Press |
Total Pages | : 297 |
Release | : 2009-11-01 |
Genre | : Education |
ISBN | : 1935542362 |
Download District Leadership That Works Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Bridge the great divide between distanced administrative duties and daily classroom impact. This book introduces a top-down power mechanism called defined autonomy, a concept that focuses on district-defined, nonnegotiable, common goals and a system of accountability supported by assessment tools. Defined autonomy creates an effective balance of centralized direction and individualized empowerment that allows building-level staff the stylistic freedom to respond quickly and effectively to student failure.
Author | : Nicole Patricia Ramos-Beban |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : |
Release | : 2013 |
Genre | : |
ISBN | : |
Download Data-driven Instructional Leadership and the Necessity of Relational Trust Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
This case study of a small high school demonstrates the effects of principal leadership dispositions and activities on relational trust within a school community and especially between the principal and school faculty. Through an analysis of evidence from site observations and interviews of classroom teachers and site administrators over three school years, the author concludes that the school-based outcomes of data-driven instructional leadership correlate with extant levels of relational trust among faculty, and correlate with the principal's approach to collecting and employing data during the process of school reform. Teacher reports of instructional reform activities as well as student standardized test outcomes and teacher retention data all support the conclusion that teachers are more engaged in professional improvement, work longer days and weeks voluntarily, and adopt a "whatever it takes attitude" towards school reform when led by a principal who builds relational trust by collecting and using data to support teacher professional development, communicate respect for teachers and augment teacher voice and inclusion in site-based decision-making.
Author | : Linda Darling-Hammond |
Publisher | : John Wiley & Sons |
Total Pages | : 426 |
Release | : 2009-11-04 |
Genre | : Education |
ISBN | : 0470579951 |
Download Preparing Principals for a Changing World Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Preparing Principals for a Changing World provides a hands-on resource for creating and implementing effective policies and programs for developing expert school leaders. Written by acclaimed author and educator Linda Darling-Hammond and experts Debra Meyerson, Michelle LaPointe, and Margaret Terry Orr, this important book examines the characteristics of successful educational leadership programs and offers concrete recommendations to improve programs nationwide. In a study funded by the Wallace Foundation, Darling-Hammond and the team examined eight exemplary principal development programs, as well as state policies and principals' experiences across the country. Using the data from the study, they reveal how successful programs are structured, the skills and knowledge participants gain, and what they are able to do in practice as school leaders as a result. What do these exemplary programs have in common? Aggressive recruitment; close ties with schools in the community; on-the-ground training under the wing of expert principals, and a strong emphasis on the cutting-edge theories of instructional and transformational leadership. In addition to highlighting the programs' similarities, the study also explains the differences among the programs and sheds light on the effectiveness of approaches and models from different states and contexts?East, West, North, and South; urban and rural; pre-service and in-service. The authors analyze program outcomes for principals and their schools, including illustrative case studies and educators' voices on the influence of programs' strategies for recruitment, internships, mentoring, and coursework. The ideas and suggestions outlined in Preparing Principals for a Changing World are presented with the goal of increasing the number of highly qualified, thoughtful, and innovative educational leaders.