Excellence in College Teaching and Beyond (original) (raw)
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Expanding Educational Leadership Theories through Qualitative Relational Methodologies
Magis, Revista Internacional de Investigación en Educación
Educational leadership is conceptualised through a relational framework and empirically understood through qualitative relational methodologies such as relational ethics, ethics of care and narrative inquiry. Empirical data from narrative interviews revealed that in many cases where the school principals honed values such as care and relational attributes in their daily leadership practices, learners were more likely to respond to such relational and caring practices, which they witnessed and experienced. It appears that relational methodologies can elicit relational leadership styles, which set caring and supportive examples for both teachers and learners, adding much worth to a favourable educational landscape.
While issues of education reform and improving schools have long focused on the decisive role of the teacher, the critical role of the school leader has gained increasing attention in the public sphere, given shifts in federal education pohcy that have focused more explicitly on the importance of great teachers, as well as great leaders. As a result, research on educational leadership affirms that leadership matters and sets the scope, structure, and sequence of student learning and academic programmatic delivery (Brown & Hunter, 2006). The question facing all professional educator preparation programs is, what kind of leaders are we producing? It is important for schools, colleges, and departments of education to demonstrate the effectiveness and utility of their professional leadership preparation programs. The public vilification of schools and student achievement portend a unique opportunity to delineate the complex nature of our work. The piupose of this special issue of the Joumal of School Leadership is to expand the knowledge and research base on issues of educational equity, community engagement, and academic excellence as informed by leadership theory, research, and practice. It does this by featuring the work of students and faculty of the Holmes Scholars® Program and extending both the conversations and the research that deal with issues of equity, engagement, and educational excellence as perceived, valued, experienced, and informed by the educational leader.
Authentic Classroom Leaders: The Student Perspective
Journal of Leadership Education, 2016
In a qualitative study assessing students' perceptions of faculty-student interaction in the online learning environment, findings demonstrated that students make meaning of faculty-student interaction in ways that align with authentic leadership behaviors. Faculty interaction, or lack thereof, shaped students' perceptions of faculty authenticity and commitment to students' learning outcomes. Students indicated satisfaction in their leadership learning experience when instructors were perceived as authentic in their actions.
Not Dean School: Leadership Development for Faculty Where They Are
The journal of faculty development, 2018
Leadership development for faculty often is designed as training for administration, but faculty demonstrate leadership in the classroom, in their departments, college-wide, and beyond. To fully realize and leverage this leadership potential, colleges must design opportunities for faculty to hone their knowledge and skills as active participants in furthering institutional priorities. The authors set the context for faculty leadership and provide an overview of the design and implementation of the Borough of Manhattan Community College Faculty Leadership Fellows Program, which aims to strengthen faculty leadership from multiple perspectives, including pedagogy, mentoring, and high impact practices— engaging faculty where they are.
Leadership for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Understanding Bridges and Gaps in Practice
The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
The gap between the practice of individual academics based on the ideal of the SoTL—improving student learning—and the institutional infrastructure and leadership to support that work is an ongoing challenge to the development of the field (Hutchings, Huber, & Ciccone, 2011; Poole, Taylor, & Thompson, 2007; Simmons, forthcoming). To better understand how individuals in diverse roles contribute to the development of the SoTL in the context of their institutional cultures, this study examined how faculty, educational developers (EDs), and administrators enact SoTL leadership. A grounded theory approach (Leedy & Ormrod, 2001) guided the development of a survey that used closed and open-ended questions to invite respondents to share their personal conceptions and lived experiences of the SoTL. Drawing on the responses received (n=75), we identified ways faculty, educational developers, and administrators construe their SoTL leadership roles and how they can fulfill a vital role in facil...
Open journal of leadership, 2015
This case study examines pilot year implementation activities associated with an innovative school and university partnership effort to improve the instructional leadership competencies of aspiring assistant principals in an urban school district. This original study highlights the learning of multiple partners involved in a collaborative effort to create a Principal Fellows Partnership (PFP) Program, which provides aspiring school principals with one year of job-embedded and tuition-supported assistant principal internship experience in an elementary or secondary campus setting in the partnering school district. The focus of the program was on developing instructional coaching and leadership skills in administrative interns to challenge status quo practices that negated student learning mastery. Nationally recognized principal preparation programs and research findings on effective leadership along with contextual district partner needs drove the creation and goals of the program. Findings revealed that learning for both educational partners and stakeholders was crucial to reach instructional leadership goals. Mentor principals assigned to the administrative interns reflected on their own development as current school leaders, and university educational leadership faculty addressed curriculum innovation and flexibility in the professoriate to support learning in complex school environments. Recommendations for assistant principals who will be effective 21 st century instructional leaders are provided in the conclusion of the study.
New Beginnings, Repeated: The Continuing Search for Educational Leadership
Research in Educational Administration & Leadership
Article Info The purpose of this scholarly essay is to offer a number of logics of academic arguments as follows: leadership as contested/seductive theories, leadership as an organizing activity, and leadership as praxis. Each academic argument presents its own theoretical, communicative and practical challenges, often necessitating a beginning again in search of leadership's ontological status; that is, in what sense is leadership real? Methodologically, the authors rely on asking pragmatic and constructivist questions (i.e. what difference does it make?) regarding problematic relationships among diverse researchers and between themselves and practitioners. With some amount of courage and a great deal of ignorance, the authors jump into the rabbit hole of relational sociology, leaving answers as next steps to the wisdom of our readers.
The Journal of Leadership Education, 2016
This study combines multiple national datasets on leadership educator demographics, education, positions, and experiences, in order to answer the question: Who teaches leadership? Comparing leadership educators across both curricular and co-curricular contexts allows a snapshot of the diverse perspectives of leadership educators and informs a set of critical questions and challenges for the field. Questions about the preparation and socialization of leadership educators, the development of pathways for faculty from traditionally underserved backgrounds, and the multiple roles and identities of leadership educators merit further investigation.
International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 2014
Administrators in K-12 education possess the ability to effectively model and ensure quality teaching for learning for students. In order to achieve this level of student success, educational leaders must be competent and visionary as well as display transformational leadership (DeVita, Colvin, Darling-Hammond, & Haycock, 2007). As high standards and stricter measures of accountability continue, it is critical that educational leadership programs provide experiences and skills that will prepare the leaders of tomorrow and assist in creating a qualified pool of applicants filled with trained professionals who know how to envision and implement the necessary functions of a school (Bottoms & O'Neill, 2001). The discrepancy and challenge will come in identifying what the essential skills, courses, and experiences for aspiring administrators should be and in maintaining a curriculum of such that is reflective of the ever-changing needs of school divisions (Darling-Hammond, L., LaPointe, M., Meyerson, D., & Orr, M., 2007). Leadership in schools should serve as the bridge which connects the various reform efforts through specific plans and measures for assessment (DeVita et al., 2007). Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris, and Hopkins (2006) concur that the main focus of leadership is using influence to direct the organization toward an established and shared vision. Though the vision of what a successful educational leader should be might be clear, the path toward assisting individuals develop this leadership capacity is murkier. Leithwood, et al. go on to state that not all individuals possess the same capacity for leadership potential and that there is an inherent need to identify those with this potential to recruit the highest level of educational leaders rather than settling for mediocrity. Once a program has recruited quality students, there may be an additional layer of dissonance between educational leadership university faculty and the school administrators who they work to shape in regard to what takes priority. As faculty design leadership preparation programs, they often utilize common curriculum, internship and field-based experiences, and mentoring. The curriculum and projects, however, tend to lack grounding in research, according to a study that examined syllabi from exemplar programs (Davis, Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, & Meyerson, 2007). Conversely, in a 2007 study examining 200 recent graduates of principal preparation programs, participants identified an overuse of theory without practical application and irrelevant content as two critiques of their program (Edmonds, Waddle, Murphy, Ozturgut, & Caruthers, 2007). These two studies from two different perspectives assess preparation at opposite ends of a spectrum of theory and practice. As those who seek to improve leadership preparation programs strive for innovation, it is important to take the difficult first-step of acknowledging that we may need to improve and align to a new version of K-12 school leadership than what history required. Hess and Kelley (2005) reported that, "The evidence indicates that preparation has not kept pace with changes in the larger world of schooling, leaving graduates of principal preparation programs illequipped for the challenges and opportunities posed by an era of accountability" (p. 35). This kind of investigation requires regular review as the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary will evolve over time. Work done since this 2005 study by organizations such as the University Council for Educational Administration Task Force on Evaluating Leadership Preparation Programs has provided a scaffold for programs to use to self-assess their program through short and long-term outcomes. These efforts have shown pockets of improvement that are reaching a larger scale