Elementary Principals' Instructional Leadership Role in International Schools

Elementary Principals' Instructional Leadership Role in International Schools PDF Author: Hafida Belkacem Becker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Elementary school principals
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Globally, elementary principals have similar responsibilities and duties. Some of their obligations include clerical tasks, other managerial assignments, and instructional leadership duties. All of these jobs require attention and can be time consuming. The researcher aimed to understand the perceptions which challenge elementary principals’ beliefs about student grouping strategies and the impact on reading achievement within a network of 35 schools located around the world. Principals at these schools have the challenge of creating student groups with limited numbers of students and a wide range of abilities. At most of the schools in this network, there are only enough enrolled students to develop one homeroom per age level. The purpose of this research was to explore the decision making elementary principals used for student grouping and understand more clearly and comprehensively the challenges school leaders had with grouping strategies to meet each student’s needs. The intent for exploring this problem was to support the organization to move schools closer to closing the reading achievement gap for elementary students. The researcher conducted an exploratory study using generic inductive qualitative methods and solicited all of the elementary principals from the 35 schools to participate, sending a “what is” and “what should be” gap assessment survey for those who consented to participate. A short-answer gap assessment questionnaire followed to determine the practices and perceptions of each principal and if they were able to share reading data with me. The survey and questionnaire led to semistructured individual interviews to dig deeper into the thought process and beliefs of what strategies principals use for student grouping. The researcher also addressed the expectations of principals’ student grouping for their teachers. Due to the Covid pandemic, there were some challenges collecting the reading data as schools went online for distance learning and did not follow the assessment protocols with fidelity. However, there were patterns of challenges from the principals related to parental expectations and ensuring success for intensive English students. Keywords: elementary principals, student grouping, grouping strategies, perceptions and challenges of elementary principals

School Leadership - International Perspectives

School Leadership - International Perspectives PDF Author: Stephan Huber
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 904813501X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
Recent research into school effectiveness has corroborated the theory that the school leader plays a pivotal role making their school a successful institution, and is most often cited as the key factor in a school’s development. Reflecting the importance it is given in the today’s education landscape, this book explores the latest trends in school leadership from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Each chapter provides insight into an aspect of current research, with detailed case studies coming from as far afield as Hong Kong and Canada. In the context of the ever-increasing burden of responsibility placed on education management to safeguard and enhance the quality of education they provide, school leadership is now a core concern of policy makers. In addition, most countries are undertaking fundamental education reforms that will have a major influence on the nature of school leadership. Offering the most up-to-date research on this central issue, this book will both inform and shape the debate.

Successful Principal Leadership in Times of Change

Successful Principal Leadership in Times of Change PDF Author: Christopher Day
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402055161
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
This book contributes significantly to our understanding of successful school leaders by describing similarities and differences in the work of such leaders in countries ranging from England to Australia, the United States to Norway, and Sweden to Hong Kong. Bringing together case study research, the book helps explain what all successful principals do and the ways in which context shapes some of their work.

School and District Leadership in an Era of Accountability

School and District Leadership in an Era of Accountability PDF Author: Bruce G. Barnett
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1623963842
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
Our fourth book in the International Research on School Leadership series focuses on school leadership in an era of high stakes accountability. Fueled by sweeping federal education accountability reforms, such as the United States’ No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (R2T) and Australia’s Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce, school systems around the world are being forced to increase academic standards, participate in high-stakes testing, and raise evaluation standards for teachers and principals. These results-driven reforms are intended to hold educators “accountable for student learning and accountable to the public” (Anderson, 2005, p. 2, emphasis in original). While policymakers and the public debate the merits of student achievement accountability measures, P-12 educational leaders do not have the luxury to wait for clear guidance and resources to improve their schools and operating systems. Instead, successful leaders must balance the need to create learning communities, manage the organizational climate, and encourage community involvement with the consequences testing has on teacher morale and public scrutiny. The chapters in this volume clearly indicate that as school leaders attend to these potentially competing forces, this affects their problem-solving strategies, ability to facilitate change, and encourage community involvement. We were delighted with the responses from colleagues around the world who were eager to share their research dealing with how leaders are functioning effectively within a high-accountability environment. The nine chapters in this volume provide empirical evidence of the strategies school leaders use to cope with problems and negotiate external demands while improving student performance. In particular, the voices and actions of principals, superintendents, and school board members are captured in a blend of quantitative and qualitative studies. The breadth of studies is impressive, ranging from case studies of individual principals to cross-district comparisons to national data from the National Center for Education Statistics. To highlight important findings, we have organized the book into five sections. The first section (Chapters 2, 3, and 4) highlights the problem-solving strategies used by principals and superintendents when pressured to turn around low-performing schools. In the second section (Chapters 5 and 6), attention is devoted to ways in which school leaders act as “buffers” by reducing the impact of external demands within their local school contexts. Next, Chapters 7 and 8 explore creative ways in which financial analyses can be used to assess the cost effectiveness of programs and services. Chapters 9 and 10 examine how principals enact their instructional leadership roles in managing curriculum reforms and evaluating teachers. Finally, in the last section (Chapter 11), Kenneth Leithwood synthesizes the major themes and ideas emerging across these chapters, paying particular attention to practical issues influencing school leaders in this era of school reform and accountability as well as promising areas for future research.

Assessing Instructional Leadership with the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale

Assessing Instructional Leadership with the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale PDF Author: Philip Hallinger
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319155334
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
This volume provides a succinct up-to-date summary of global research on principal instructional leadership as it has evolved over the past 50 years. The book’s particular focus is on the development and use of the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS). The PIMRS is the most widely used survey instrument designed for assessing instructional leadership for research and practice. It has been used in more than 250 studies in more than 30 countries around the world. The authors provide a detailed conceptual and data-based description of the rationale and development of the instrument as well as the ways in which it has been used in practice. The book also provides, for the first time, a comprehensive assessment of the scale’s measurement properties. This represents essential information for future users of the instrument across different national contexts. Finally, the volume outlines an agenda for improving future research on the role of principal instructional leadership in student learning and school effectiveness.

How School Principals Sustain Success over Time

How School Principals Sustain Success over Time PDF Author: Lejf Moos
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400713355
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
This work represents a publishing event in education research. Genuinely groundbreaking, it is the result of longitudinal research from five nations over five years. The authors set themselves an unprecedented task: to analyze how it is that successful school principals sustain positive outcomes over a significant period of time. To find out, they initiated the International Successful School Principal Project (ISSPP) assembling 30 multinational case histories and numerous comparative analyses. In doing so, they recorded fresh perspectives on the influence school principals can have on their schools, the quality of teaching in their classrooms, and student outcomes. Revisiting the subject schools in 2007, they found many principals still in place, having steered their organizations through various minefields of political, governance and educational reform. As the most penetrating longitudinal investigation of the subject, this research has unearthed fascinating new insights into school leadership that add real substance to the sum of our knowledge. It incorporates data from educational systems in Australia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, England and the USA. One key finding is that while all principals delegate a range of leadership tasks, successful ones distribute responsibility on a case-by-case basis founded on personal assessments of their staff as well as on organizational and policy contexts. The research also demonstrates that successful principals maintain close communication with their staff and the wider school environment, and that they are adaptive, maximizing the opportunities presented by new political contexts and expectations, yet without losing sight of their school’s core moral and ethical principles. The volume’s international thematic analysis has allowed comparative conclusions to be drawn on what the principals do to sustain and foster pedagogical and institutional success.

A Study of the Expected Instructional Leadership Role of Elementary Principals as Viewed by Elementary School Teachers and Principals

A Study of the Expected Instructional Leadership Role of Elementary Principals as Viewed by Elementary School Teachers and Principals PDF Author: Mark Vaden Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Elementary school principals
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description


Handbook of Instructional Leadership

Handbook of Instructional Leadership PDF Author: Jo Blase
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 148336240X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Updated Edition of Bestseller! The updated and expanded second edition of this classic text provides new research and insights into how principals can encourage the teacher development that enhances student learning.

Educational Leadership for Social Justice and Improving High-Needs Schools

Educational Leadership for Social Justice and Improving High-Needs Schools PDF Author: Bruce G. Barnett
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1648023746
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the International School Leadership Development Network (ISLDN), this book is a compilation of the work conducted by network scholars. This volume is the first comprehensive overview of the studies conducted by ISLDN members engaged in examining how social justice leaders and leaders of high-needs schools address the social conditions, learning experiences, and performance of their students. Other international school leadership research consortia have emerged in the 21st century; however, the ISLDN is the second longest operating project, after the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). Since its creation in 2010, ISLDN scholars have delivered papers at a variety of international conferences and shared findings in research publications, including books and special issues of journals. Until now, ISLDN research findings have been disseminated separately for the project’s two strands: (a) social justice leadership and (b) leadership in underperforming high-needs schools. Therefore, the purpose of the book is to document the history and evolution of the ISLDN and to provide descriptions and reflections of the project’s research findings, methodologies, and collaborative processes across the two strands. This volume captures studies of school leaders from 19 countries representing six continents - Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America. The authors examine important external and internal contextual factors influencing schools in different cultural settings and provide insights about the values and practices of social justice leaders working in high-needs school settings. Numerous practical strategies are provided for school leaders working in schools with similar conditions. The concluding chapter by the co-editors synthesizes the structural factors, personal beliefs and values, and contextualized change management strategies that shape school leaders’ actions aimed at ensuring the best learning outcomes for their students. Besides capturing the range of findings emerging from various ISLDN studies conducted over the past decade, several chapters critically examine the project’s current contributions to the field. Authors suggest broadening the dissemination of our findings to increase the visibility of the project, expanding the research methods beyond qualitative interviews, incorporating studies from non-Anglophone countries, and augmenting the scope of our analyses and research focus. These researchers’ journeys also reveal the obstacles to and benefits of engaging in these types of international collaborative research ventures.

Instructional Leadership

Instructional Leadership PDF Author: Peter M. DeWitt
Publisher: Corwin
ISBN: 1544381425
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
This step-by-step how-to guide presents the six driving forces of instructional leadership within a multi-stage model for implementation, delivering lasting improvement through small, collaborative changes.