Quality Leadership for School Improvement

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Quality Leadership for School Improvement

• Jody C. Isernhagen
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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Goal

• To provide leadership that improves student
  achievement

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The World of Education is Changing

• From
• A focus on teaching
• To
• A focus on learning

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SIX CONDITIONS THAT DEMAND WE CHANGE

• Historically, weve moved from access to
  knowledge to acquisition of knowledge.
• The publics perception of schools has shifted
  from TRUST ME to SHOW ME.
• The purpose of the public schools has changed
  from sorting/selecting students to providing
  higher levels of achievement for all
  students.

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SIX CONDITIONS THAT DEMAND WE CHANGE

• The gap in achievement levels between the highest
  and lowest performing students is too wide.
• An increasingly high percentage of students are
  being passed through the system without
  demonstrating mastery of valued results.
• A radical change in the nature of the student
  population over the past ten years requires a
  similar change in the educational system.

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Leadership

• Leadership is the exercise of high-level
  conceptual skills and decisiveness. It is
  envisioning mission, developing strategy,
  inspiring people, and changing culture.
• Evans (1996). The Human Side of Change

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Effective Leadership

• Fullan (2001) states that two things can
• aid us in our pursuit for effective leadership
• Knowledge base for what makes success under
  conditions of complexity is getting better-deeper
  and more insightful.
• There are more examples of large scale
  transformation of organizations in both business
  and education to learn from.
• (p. x-xi)

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Complexity

• Fullan (2001) emphasized
• The more complex society gets, the more
  sophisticated leadership must become. (p.ix)

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Framework for Leadership

• Fullan based this framework on 5 components
• Moral Purpose
• Understand the change process
• Relationship building
• Knowledge creation and sharing
• Coherence making

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1. Moral purpose

• Acting with intention of making a positive
  difference!
• Develop a basis for the single standard
  Commit to absolute values
• Leaders have the greatest responsibility.
  Without the compass of absolute values, what
  instrument do they have to guide others? Nair,
  1997, p. 20

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Moral Purpose

• Acknowledge the ideal Commit to the journey
• Doing what we believe is right is what keeps us
  on the path toward the ideal. Nair, 1997,
  P. 27
• The object is to try to do everything a little
  better tomorrow than it was done today.
  Continuous improvement is the path to a higher
  standard of leadership.
• Nair(1997) p. 28

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Moral Purpose

• Develop the guide that will keep you on the
  journey Commit to training your conscience!
• It is easy to stay on the path we all need
  assistance. It is important that we associate
  with colleagues who share our commitment to be on
  the path. Nair (1997), p.30
• Disciplined reflection does not take time away
  from work it sustains the spirit and increases
  the intensity and quality of work.
• Nair (1997) p.36

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Moral Purpose

• Be willing to stand scrutiny Commit to
  minimizing secrecy
• Secrecy is the enemy of trust and is responsible
  for much of the distrust that exists between
  business and society, corporations and customers,
  management and employers, (schools and
  stakeholders) Nair (1994),p. 43
• Making it difficult for others to get
  information is an indirect way to maintain
  secrecy. Nair (1994), p.46

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Moral Principle of Leadership

• No teacher or staff member will be more
  accountable than the leaders in the system.
• No child in any school will be more accountable
  than the adults in the system.
• Reeves (2004), Accountability for
  Learning, p. 20

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2. Understand the change process

• The goal is not to innovate the most.
• It is not enough to have the best ideas.
• Appreciate the implementation dip.
• Redefine resistance.
• Reculturing is the name of the game.
• Never a checklist, always a complexity.
• Understanding the change process is less about
  innovation and more about innovativeness
  (Fullan, p.31)
• Change can be led, and leadership does make
• a difference. (p.34)

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Understanding ChangeCommon Mistakes

• Allowing too much complexity
• Failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding
  coalition
• Underestimating the power of vision
• Under communicating the vision
• Permitting structural and cultural obstacles to
  block change
• Failing to create short term wins
• Declaring victory too soon
• Neglecting to anchor changes firmly in culture
• DuFour Eaker (1998) Professional Learning
  Communities At Work

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3. Relationship Building

• Fullan stated. Lets talk about schools as if
  they had minds
• Shared experience creates the deepest
  understanding and the most lasting bonds
  (Nair(1997) p. 87
• The greatest source of power in any organization
  is personal power the character, courage,
  determination, knowledge, and skills of the
  individual members of the organization.
• Nair (1997) p.91

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4. Knowledge creation and sharing

• The logic of what we are talking about should be
  clear
• Complex, turbulent environments constantly
  generate messiness and reams of ideas
• Interacting individuals are the key to accessing
  and sorting out these ideas
• Individuals will not engage in sharing unless
  they find it motivating to do so. Fullan,
  p.86-87
• By acknowledging the truth in the collection and
  interpretation of data, leaders not only see
  issues in a broader context, they create
  integrity in the process.
• Nair (1997) p. 113

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5. Coherence Making

• In schools, the main problem is not the
  absence of innovations but the presence of too
  many disconnected, episodic, piecemeal,
  superficially adorned projects. Fullan, p. 109
• When you combine your personal commitment with
  respect of the commitment of others, you will
  initiate a compounding effect that will create a
  commitment to service throughout the
  organization. Nair, p. 81

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Ultimate Test and Goal of a Leader

• Whether your leadership mobilizes peoples
  commitment to putting their energy into actions
  designed to improve things. Both individual and
  collective mobilization is needed to cause more
  good things to happen and fewer bad things to
  happen. (Fullan, p. 10)

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Think about the children you care for everyday

• (Those little darlings)