AuthorMaggie Kay Hall-Librarian, Mother, Life-Long-Learner and Literacy Advocate |
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Leadership Learning from Lamar U, Part I7/13/2021 Defining Leadership
“The effective mobilization of human resources always requires their voluntary participation (Matthews, p. 40).” It does not take long to search and find a list of adjectives describing characteristics of what one would consider to be a successful leader. It is a little more complex however, to truly break down the specific components that drive the success of an effective leader in any organization, including the wonderful world of education. In short, leadership is all about human interactions. Effective leaders seem to find ways to understand the purposes and goals of those around them while also recognizing the implications of their decisions and remaining open to reflect on their practices. Leaders must continually consider the influence and impression they are making on others and the effect this may have on common goals. Effective leaders take the time required to build meaningful relationships. People do not like feeling like a subordinate, taking orders from another person without having the ability to provide input in the decision-making process. Effective leaders have to embrace and conform to the many misconceptions they know exist among diverse people groups. Effective leaders provide ample opportunities for others to utilize any professional potential they may have to increase in their own capacity. They also give credit and recognition to employees when it is due as consistently as possible. Effective leaders understand that the teaching and learning process continues as adults in our professional roles, and ensure this growth continues throughout an organizational body. Effective leaders attain the ability to recognize a specific set of skills in others and can think of ways to utilize them for the greater good of the group. I personally believe that a leader’s goal should be democratic, in the sense that boundaries are set with well-defined goals and clear expectations, while also providing growth opportunities to each worker willing to seize them. Reference: Forming Impressions of Personality (1946). Pgs 56-72. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. Mathews J. (2016). Toward a conceptual model of global leadership. IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior. 15:38. Leadership Styles Servant Leadership Approach The terminology of servant leadership was coined in 1970 by a man named Robert Greenleaf, although these same practices occurred long before. Since then, this leadership style has been applied in various contexts. Instead of commanding or enforcing authority, the servant leader holds a ‘serve first’ mindset in an effort to uplift, empower, enhance the professional development of their employees. This leadership style seems to move past the aspects of the transactional leadership approach. Two core principles of this leadership style are to first pose meaningful questions, and second is to truly listen (with the intent of understanding) to and act upon staff’s needs based on the responses to these questions. The servant leader does not hold themselves above or better than anyone else. Additional characteristics of servant leadership include community building, foresight, wholehearted attention, persuasion, and empathy. Quincy Adams (6th US President) once said “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” The overarching idea is that if a leader focuses on the desires and needs of their employees, then these actions will be reciprocated, leading to enhanced productivity and professional performance (Gregory, 2006). Transactional Leadership Approach German sociologist Max Weber determined that there are three primary categories of leadership in 1947, one of them later referred to as transactional leadership. Used quite frequently post World War II, transactional leadership can be described as taking charge, giving directive, being in command, being resistant to change, and structured. This leadership style may not be the best fit if the goal is to encourage initiative or creativity. These leaders focus on the day-to-day task at hand, which can mean gains in organizational productivity levels. Transactional leadership is all about exchanges and reinforcement from top to bottom. This type of leader expects a certain number of products or outcomes in exchange for predetermined rewards, such as a paycheck. Another name used for transactional leadership is managerial leadership as it is about managing through monitoring employees. This leader is usually the sole decision maker while staff is expected to follow suit (Gregory, 2006). Transformational Leadership Approach Initially coined in the 1970s by J.V. Downton, the success of transformational leadership can be measured by the impact it has on employees and organization as a whole. James M. Burns later added that through this form of leadership, “leaders and their followers raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation.” This style can be further described as promoting intellectual stimulation, holding consideration for various employee viewpoints, using a clear vision to inspire motivation, positive influence, and stakeholder empowerment while also building upon staff trust and respect. Similar to servant leadership, there are many factors of relationship and team building through effort to create a professional culture responsive to change. In this leadership approach, the goal of the leader is to perpetuate the cycle, creating additional leaders by increasing professional capacity through various initiatives. One goal of this style is the hope that through positivity, goal setting, collaboration, and encouragement, that employees will begin to view themselves and their work more meaningfully. Influence comes from affecting the way staff members perceive their roles and contributions to the organization. The transformational leader believes in the power of persuasion first and foremost (Purvanova, 2006). Comparing Leadership Styles Based on this week’s readings and findings the primary differences between all the leadership styles is that some focus more on individual employee needs and while the other focuses more on the overall organizational goals. On the other side from the perspective of the employee, one style may be preferred as a follower of someone inspirational and motivating, while others are primarily focused on monetary gains or transactional exchanges. Data-Driven Decision-Making Bambrick-Santoyo (2018), explained the Data-driven Instruction as identifying what our students needs are and finding ways to meet them where they are. I can appreciate the mind-shift-thinking from “Did we teach the concept?” to “Did students learn the concept?” (p.28). Using data to drive instruction is all about tracking skills mastered or skills that require more focus or interventions so that these things can be considered when creating/selecting curriculums, lesson planning, and classroom instructional practices. Having student data to analyze can help educators to identify the what, why, and the how. Student data can help drive the overall objective focus, direct the selection of academic activities, and guide progress monitoring. Bambrick-Santoyo (2018) also explained that assessments are the starting point for how we plan to develop our instruction. If mastery is set by the assessment our students take, then they need to become a common implementation practice across grade levels and content areas, occurring at least quarterly. The text also recommends that assessments should be available for educators to analyze prior to testing so that they are able to build their instruction to the level of questioning and rigor reflected on the test. The next criteria area requires that assessments are aligned with TEKs (Texas Knowledge and Skills standards) with the long-term goal of preparing students to be future ready (college and beyond). Finally, assessment should include the same TEKs subsequently throughout the school year in order to determine a growth or decline with a specific TEK. Studies have shown that using student assessment data to drive instruction works. While there is no substitute for solid teaching, the data can help us focus on specific student needs and to implement strategies that will increase student learning outcomes (Bambrick-Santoya, 2018). Mandinach (2012) stated that, “Data-driven decision making is a generic process that can be applied in classrooms to improve instruction as well as in administrative and policy setting.” (p71). Per the Institute of Education Sciences (2017), it is better to use the data as appropriate to “inform the goals rather than letting the goals be driven by what happens to be in the data that we collect.” Our Smith School Family Community (SFC) data reveals several areas needing improvement such as with our communication with families and ability to get our community and stakeholders together in such a way that will impact and promote student learning. The data showed that we could improve by including our families in campus-wide decision-making and in developing a more diverse and inclusive parent community group. I was a bit surprised by many of the responses received from the members of our community, and I needed their honest responses to make appropriate changes. Stakeholders who are committed and engaged in school activities are not always aware of everything the school has to offer or how to access all the resources available to them. I began to consider the data analysis process with a focus on the data just collected. The Institute of Education Sciences (2017), sates that there are several steps to be followed when making using data for decision-making. These steps include: Ø data must be collected from a variety of sources. Ø Data must be reviewed, and a hypothesis must be drawn from it. Ø The hypothesis must be tested through a plan of action. Ø The cycle starts all over. In the area of Improving Communication, the data shows that our school communicates well through the varied forms of technology usage. I was surprised that our parents' responses show that we are failing to conduct annual surveys to share information and concerns about students’ needs and perceptions of school programs. Although our school communicates with our parents regularly weekly, communication is mostly in send mode and does not provide for the parents to return any meaningful feedback. Parents feel they are not involved in many school-based decisions. Aldine ISD started a Family Engagement Plan asking that all campuses to engage families in the instructional processes. Aldine ISD has an At-Home Learning plan to foster parental involvement through the online district Aldine Cares initiative. Our school also used other social media types such as the district Let’s Talk site, Class Dojo, Twitter, Remind App, phone calls, e-mail, etc. In the area of Promoting Positive Parenting, the survey revealed that our parents appreciate that our campus newsletter and website include a calendar of school events information. However, the survey revealed that our families would also like information about their student’s goals, strengths, and skills as it relates to academics as well. A feedback survey could be initiated during school enrollment procedures or individual parent-teacher conferences. This initiative will align our campus with the district’s initiative to promote family engagement. This should provide tools and resources to our families that need to help their children with their schoolwork, as well as additional workshops, and volunteer opportunities will give parents options to participate in. In the area of Increasing Volunteerism, we do recognize our volunteers for their time and efforts. We also encourage families to be involved on our campus by helping with events and planning and scheduling school events at more convenient times for families. We may also want to consider ways to match our parent volunteers' interests and skill set to our school staff so that they can effectively assist in the classroom too. We should do to get more volunteers involved. I believe that opening the school library, cafeteria, and gym to volunteers during school hours to complete tasks usually assigned to staff would greatly assist in this effort. Increasing parent volunteer’s involvement would improve our school climate and have a positive ripple effect within our local community and partners. In the area of Collaborating with the Community, the school works well with local businesses, industries, and community organizations on programs to enhance student skills. We also provide information on community activities that link to learning skills and talents, including summer programs for students. However, we need to improve on sponsoring inter-generational programs with local senior citizens. We will solicit resources for volunteer training and offer afterschool programs for any and all individuals that may be interested in attending. Those programs could be extended to include more senior citizens residing within the community and target new areas such as local senior citizen complexes. The school building could also be utilized for more community events such as after-school tutorial programs offered through the local civic centner, the Boys and Girls Club, and the Girl and Boy Scouts. Mandinach (2012) says that “the use of data at the local level include making sure that the right data exists in determining the right data elements are used to make data-driven practices possible” (p 82). I think that Smith Elementary is on the right path regarding the use of data to make the well-informed decisions for our Stallion students and stakeholders. Value of Professional Self-Reflection Reflection on the present can help us as leaders to prepare for the future. Good leaders are visionaries. The process of self-reflecting for the intent of bringing about more self-awareness can unlock serious potential in yourself which in turn can benefit those that you lead. It is difficult to inspire and motivate others as a leader if one’s own emotions are continually getting in the way. Understanding that this process is ongoing must also be realized. Good leaders embrace and work towards improvement (Mabe, 1982). Often leaders have the intent of remaining completely objective in various situations, but it remains possible that they do not have the perfect understanding of how their behavior is impacting others or their perspectives. There are also times where leaders are expected to react constructively to bad news. When this is achieved, teams can move towards problem-solving instead of backpedaling (Mabe, 1982). Research studies have shown that leaders who take the time to self-reflect and become increasingly self-aware reported having better relationships with staff members, increased ability to regulate emotions, reduced stress, and greater effectiveness at work. However, the caveat to this is that self-assessment works only if being completely honest with yourself to the extent acknowledging strengths and weaknesses. This can be difficult to do as well (Parlakian & Seibel, 2001). There are various action steps that can be taken in the self-assessment process, including: completing self-assessment questionnaires, self-observation via video recording, peer observation, requesting honest feedback from others, reflective journaling, progress monitoring or success tracking, building a robust network of professional peers, and intentionally making the practice of targeted self-reflection a part of your evolving leadership style. Self-assessment leads to self-awareness, which leads to individual behavior reform, which leads to a positive catalyst of change from the top down (Parlakian & Seibel, 2001). One mantra that educators seem to share is that of being ‘lifelong learners’ and that is what self-reflection and awareness bring to the table. The realization that there is need for improvement or development in a specific area and taking action steps required to make it happen. How can I be a more effective leader? Now that is the question! This week’s discussion prompt invites another quote from psychologist Abraham. Maslow, who once stated “you will either step forward into growth, or you will step backward into safety.” References: Mabe, P. A., West, S. G. (1982). Validity of self-evaluation of ability: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67, 280–286. Parlakian, R., & Seibel, N. L. (2001). Being in charge: Reflective leadership in infant/family programs. Washington, DC: ZERO TO THREE Throughout the self-assessment and self-reflection process, it has been beneficial to consider my typical behaviors throughout the workday. It causes one to consider how and why we invest our time and efforts the way that we do through an honest and eye-opening lens. The purpose of these assessment activities seems to ascertain an accurate picture of the state our leadership approach is in currently in relation to our habits that either positively (or in need of improvement) contribute to the school’s overall vision for improved teaching and learning. Effective administrations focus on methods of shifting school culture by reflecting on their own best practices in addition to collaboration with other professional stakeholders. Soren Kierkegaard once wrote, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards” which applies to this week’s research and application in great length (McMillan & Hearn, 2008) I feel that with these self-assessments, there is not necessarily a right or wrong response. I also believe in balance and that a little of both people and task thinking in our leadership personalities. Both bring various strengths of leadership traits to the table to move the needle forward. Task oriented leaders tend to prioritize their to-do list, are concerned with efficiency, productivity, and obtaining goals. People oriented leaders are more people focused, work towards building relationships and a sense of community. At the end of the day, we as leaders do not want to neglect relationships or our to-do-list, thus priority and time management is such a crucial part of navigating leadership in general (Henkel & Marion, 2017). To move the direction of my intersected lines on the graph more towards the middle of that Team Leader quadrant, I would consider working towards the following action items: ● Add relationship building activities to to-do list ● Continually lead by positive example ● Find ways to foster team collaboration and sense of professional comradery ● Ensure a clear vision has been effectively communicated to all ● Cultivate a passion and sense of urgency for continuous learning and improvement opportunities for every student ● Sustain the need for positive improvement through the practice of assessment, reflection, anddata analysis beginning with myself ● (Henkel & Marion, 2017) Oftentimes we all seem so caught up in meeting daily demands that it can become difficult to pause long enough to reflect on how things went and what it means for the way we need to approach the next day. This is just as true for the campus administrator as it is for the classroom teacher. This assessment in conjunction with the others shows me that I am very much a work in progress. I am not certain if any of us contribute to the success of others to the extent that we would like to, but it is something the reflective administrator can strive for and move close to a little more each and every day (Desravines & Fenton, 2016). Moving forward I plan to make an aggressive commitment to practice the following: ● Begin with self-awareness ● Think and act intentionally ● Assess the impact of my actions ● Be responsive in relation to collected information The Value of Professional Collaboration I feel that much of what we have learned about throughout this course pertains to both collaboration and creating a certain type of culture/climate on campus. Collaborative cultures take the brakes off and accelerate a faculty’s capacity to improve upon instruction. Information is the lifeblood of any well-structured and successful organization, and it must be communicated clearly. A true brainstorm is not possible without collaboration. According to Berman and McLaughlin (1992), for schools to change and to succeed, educators must be collectively involved in the implementation of practices and processes. Working among your professional peers allows you to develop new or small ideas into real action plans. The collaborative instructional leader must prioritize creating school wide opportunities for collaborative, partnerships, and leadership. These practices are necessary for discovering new ideas, initiatives, or research-proven instructional strategies. Leaders that tap into their teacher’s experiences and expertise are more likely to achieve success. Collaboration often requires a leader to become vulnerable enough to seek input and help from others. This also may lead to some discomfort as stakeholders work through conflicting opinions or viewpoints. While principals are the learning leaders on their campus, they require support from other teachers, skills, and community members in addition to district-level administrators in order to drive the bus forward. Research suggests that effective administrators facilitate collaborative shared leadership among staff and stakeholders. As an administrator, I plan to place priority focus on the following:
School leaders realize that they cannot reach their instructional goals in isolation. A collaborative culture is more than attending meetings, lesson plan sharing, or attending professional development sessions. Creating a collaborative culture is developed by the principal's transparency, humility, integrity, accountability, honesty, and a commitment to inviting others into the mission of achieving shared goals. Academic Calendar Planning When meeting with the campus leadership team to discuss plans for the upcoming academic calendar, it is important to consider the knowledge, experience, and recommendations made from your professionals that will truly allow students to become and remain successful in school. As a new school administrator, I would first ensure that my leadership team is made up of the most appropriate stakeholders including assistant principals, skills support specialists across content areas, department heads or teacher team leads, our school counselor, ILS/Librarian, and myself to ensure that we are receiving feedback from a diverse group of student advocates which each contribute to our school in unique and meaningful ways. During the first planning meeting we will discuss the things that worked well and perhaps not so well from the calendar implemented from the prior academic school year. I would suggest that we meet either virtual or in-person 3-5 times prior to the start of the new school year or until we feel confident with our action plans. Next action steps will be based on our evaluation, discussions, ideas, and findings so that we can create and align our new goals to our priority focus areas (Desravines et al., 2016). I agree that it is important to collectively look for specific areas seemingly stuck at a level of under-performance among sub-populations, across particular content areas or grade levels, and continue looking for similar trends throughout priority items. By doing this, we are able to use data to justify our decision-making and explain to teachers the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ and then can also support them in the ‘how’ as well throughout the school year. I think that the Diagnosis Process Guide is solid although it would require a considerable amount of time to coordinate and conduct with the campus leadership team. As our text states, “school leaders often jump to judgements that can distract them from a deeper understanding of school action” and I would want to do all that I can to prevent this from occurring. I also agree that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ planning approach, and it is vital to the success of your particular school to ensure that developed targets, goals, and action steps are appropriate and realistic for your specific staff, students, and school community. It makes sense to use student data as a benchmark to work from in order to help teachers set attainable targets. I also agree that to have a holistic understanding of your students, it is important to use ‘multiple data points to diagnose school practices’ (Desravines et al., 2016). I am not certain I would say anything is necessarily missing from the ‘diagnostic’ process, but I would add how incredibly valuable it is to have ‘pausing points’ where the leadership team has ample time to reflect and review what action/priority items are working well, what needs to be scrapped, or perhaps just tweaked slightly to remain in place as most beneficial for student’s academic achievement at our school. I have also seen firsthand how easy it is to fall into the habit of comparing your campus to a sister campus or thinking everything should be apples to apples across your district, when the reality is that the community and students that we serve can be quite unique compared to the school ‘next door’. For example, our testing coordinator has to work between two campuses and we are only about a 10 minute drive apart from one another. One campus where I teach, over half of the student population are English Language Learners (many of them newcomers) while down the road there are a total of 4 ELLs at the ‘sister campus’. Needless to say, our academic/curriculum needs are not going to be identical- all the way to the type of teacher certifications we need to hire and the bi-lingual paraprofessionals we will need to support these students. Reference Desravines, J., Aquino, J., & Fenton, B. (2016). Diagnosis and action planning. Breakthrough principals: A step-by-step guide to building stronger schools. (pp. 27-48). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Campus Improvement Planning The Campus Improvement Plan serves to align objectives, goals, strategies, and actions, combined will increase student academic achievement and performance for all students. Following a Campus Improvement Plan should help to close learning gaps through implementing necessary supports. From this week’s simulated Campus Improvement Plan, the highlights that I appreciated the most include: The data considered, questions posed (Root Cause Analysis process), and the three-year time frame required to effectively implement big change. When considering key elements to keep in mind when building a Campus Improvement Plan independently, these are the items which have been documented as best practices for the CIP development process:
The evaluation process when reviewing your CIP should include: listing your needs, identifying strategies, identifying funds, reviewing current data, and evaluating the current impact of your Campus Improvement Plan. The Campus Improvement Process works best within a positive school climate with a focus on culture. The ideal supporting environment includes a quality of relations between school staff, students, families, and the community. The idea of developing a ‘whole school’ is a common theme that drives many campus improvement initiatives. Reference: Bambrick-Santoyo, P. (2018). Staff culture. Leverage leadership: A practical guide to building exceptional schools (pp. 263 - 288). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Campus Culture Your personal definition of school culture- School culture refers to shared behaviors and beliefs that are held by staff, teachers, students, and the community used to develop a positive school climate/environment for all. School culture goes beyond the parents and students- it also refers to the way that teachers and staff interact and treat each other. A positive school culture is evident when:
While all parties play a part in the everyday development of a positive school culture, it starts with the school principal. While the principal sets the tone for the culture, they also recognize that this is a shared responsibility and creates the catalyst for positive change so that all stakeholders also take on responsibility. Who has to “buy in” to a change in school culture and why? Research confirms that school culture has the power to influence and affect student learning. Everyone who works at a school regardless of position leaves their fingerprint on the campus culture. I believe that the ‘buy-in’ factor has to have a trickle down effect, and while it does not require 100% to have the desired impact, it does need to be owned by the majority. It begins with the principal making a commitment to the cause, then buy-in from the leadership team, then buy-in from the teachers and staff, and then trickles down to students and families. One of the best ways to obtain buy-in from others is by including their voice, thoughts, and opinions in the big decision making process. The more that your team and teachers feel that they have a valid part in shifting campus culture for the better, the more likely they are to be motivated to act as champions of this change. Much like students, teachers and staff also like to be recognized and rewarded for their efforts and contributions. Another part of buy-in is educating your stakeholders on all the elements of campus culture to better understand the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ (Reichers & Schneider, 1990). Reference: Desravines, J., Aquino, J., & Fenton, B. (2016). School culture. Breakthrough principals: A step-by-step guide to building stronger schools. (pp. 120-144). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Leverage Leadership, Chapter 5: "Student Culture", pp 221 - 261 Reichers, A. E. & Schneider, B. (1990). Climate and culture: An evolution of constructs. In B. Schneider (ed) Organizational Climate and Culture (pp.5-39). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Mission and Vision It is important that every school (and any type of organization really) have their own mission and vision statements. According to Desravines (2016), various organizations and schools may use the term vision and mission differently. The mission should guide the organization’s strategy and a vision statement should summarize the direction in which you are headed. The mission statement, on the other hand should define how you plan to arrive to your predetermined destination. I do feel that if developing a vision is done with the right intentions and ingredients for success, it can push a school in the right direction for the betterment of staff, students, and the local community. A vision statement is a clearly defined outline explaining where you want to be as every school aims to be the best, or so one should hope. Vision statements should be clear, concise, and describe where you want to be in the future, so it explains the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ keeping the specific needs of the school in mind. The mission statement you generate defines the ‘how’ you plan to arrive at your targeted goals stated in your vision. Your vision is your desired destination and your mission explain your travel plans and what is needed in the suitcase to make it there, sort-to-speak. Every school wants to make it to an “A” rated performance status (or should). We all want for every learner to have the opportunity to become academically successful. The data sets provided this week can be used to formulate both a mission and a vision statement by looking at the data as it allows us to identify trends over the course of two years which shows us which students need the most support and in which areas. In the development of the vision and mission statement for this junior high school, the following items should be considered: · What is our purpose as an educational organization? · What qualities do we want for our campus to hold academically and otherwise? · What do we want our core values to look like and why? · Who is our core audience in the community and how are we best serving them as a public school? Implementing data-driven decision making as school leaders helps to know whether the schools realizing their mission, vision, and purpose.
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