Educational Leadership Commons^™

Evaluation Change: Building Rural Teacher Capacity Through International Partnerships, Peggy Gill, Joyce Nuner

School Leadership Review

Teachers for a Better Belize (TFABB) is a partnership of educators from North America and Belize who volunteer their time to improve the training of teachers and the education of children in the rural Toledo district of Belize. TFABB aids Toledo's primary-school teachers and principals with training, supplies, and facilities required to help their students achieve academic success and escape poverty. Toledo, in southernmost Belize, is the least populated and most remote area in Belize. In the 2007 midyear population estimate, Toledo had a population of 29,700 which included at least five distinct ethnic groups who have settled in Southern …

International Partnerships: A Model For Educational Organizations, Wesley D. Hickey, Janice M. Achtem, Joyce Nuner

School Leadership Review

Opportunities exist for faculty and students within educational leadership preparation programs to participate in international initiatives within developing countries. One way to do this is through collaboration with organizations that already have an established presence in the country. Working within these organizations provides opportunities for learning and research for the educational leadership program. If done well, such work also helps host organizations meet their mission and goals. An understanding of effective behaviors in international partnerships may benefit educational leadership programs that develop these types of service opportunities. The behaviors mirror the scholar-practitioner philosophy, of which some prominent educational leadership programs …

Professional Development Principles For Teachers Of English Language Learners, Beverly J. Irby, Cindy Guerrero, Rafael Lara-Alecio, Fuhui Tong, Linda Rodriguez

School Leadership Review

Since effective professional development is logically embedded in the reality of schools and teachers‘ work, it stands to reason that the principal would consider that reality for teachers of English language learners (ELL). Certainly, in general, professional development would incorporate principles of adult learning as reported by Knowles (1980): (1) adult learners need to be self-directed; (2) they display readiness to learn when they have a perceived need; and (3) they desire immediate application of new skills and knowledge. Based on adult learning theory, then, principals would provide teachers of ELLs professional development that addresses a need for self-direction, that …

Setting Sights On Campus Safety: The Possibility Of Firearms On Campus And Campus Violence Prevention, Casey Graham Brown

School Leadership Review

PK-12 school leaders spend a sizeable amount of time discussing, facilitating, and contemplating school safety and security. University administrators do as well, although their discussion and contemplation in some states has been scattered with controversies of allowing weapons on university campuses. School administrators seek to keep weapons out; many university administrators do also, although the legislatures of multiple states have allowed their presence on university campuses.

The Relationship Between Principal Leadership Behaviors And School Climate, Ivan Velasco, Stacey L. Edmonson

School Leadership Review

The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) revised the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 by making substantial modifications in the major federal programs that support schools‘ efforts to educate all children (U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Deputy Secretary, 2004). Since the inception of this law, demand for greater accountability for student achievement from politicians and legislators has increased exponentially (Carnoy, Elmore, & Siskin, 2003). Strict accountability measures, developed and implemented with limited if any consent or involvement of educators, were imposed on students, teachers, schools, and school districts (Waite, Boone, & NcGgee, 2001). The increased emphasis …

Constructing A Theory Of Educational Administration, Don M. Beach

School Leadership Review

The development of administrative theory has long been a quest for scholars in the field of educational administration. The beginnings of the development of a theory of educational administration began with Griffiths‘ (1959) now classic Administrative Theory, where he outlined the problem and noted, ―The field [of educational administration] is no longer neatly defined [and] textbooks are characterized by a search for the substance of administration and for a theory which binds the substance together‖ (p. 1-2). The need for such a theory has been important because a theory could serve to guide and support practice, even though the link …

Maintaining The Human Touch In Educational Leadership, Sandra Harris

School Leadership Review

It is a pleasure to be invited to contribute to this special edition of the TCPEA School Leadership Review. TCPEA has been a valuable organization for me as the relationships that have been fostered through it have enabled me to grow personally and professionally. This has led me to consider some of the issues that educational leaders are facing today and will continue to face in the years to come which are focused on the notion of how to effectively maintain human relationships. While few leaders agree on everything, there is no doubt that we all agree this is a …

A Celebration Of The Past And Synergy For The Future, Timothy B. Jones, Pauline M. Sampson

School Leadership Review

No abstract provided.

Modern-Day Slavery: Equipping The Next Generation For Social Change, Margaret Tienhaara

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Margaret Tienhaara is a freshman at Purdue University in the College of Liberal Arts majoring in global studies and political science. Her dream is to promote education for impoverished children in underdeveloped nations. In this article, she describes her process of organizing a presentation about modern-day slavery for 100 eighth grade students from Tecumseh Junior High School. The goal was to challenge the students to consider a major such as Purdue’s Global Studies and learn about creating social change.

Democracy And Education: The Philosophy Of Theorist Carl D. Glickman, Dina L. Rowe

School Leadership Review

Dr. Carl D. Glickman started in education as a Teacher Corps intern in the south. He went on to become a principal and university professor. Over his career, Glickman has won many awards including the faculty career award from the University of Georgia. He has served in a leadership capacity on many university, state, and national organizations focused on improving education. He founded The Georgia League of Professional Schools and has served on the National Commission on Service Learning. Among his accomplishments he has authored numerous books and articles on educational renewal and school leadership (Glickman, 1993). Glickman’s life and …

Student Perceptions Of Online Courses For School Administrators, Robert Thiede

School Leadership Review

Online courses are the fastest growing student enrollment at the university level during the last decade. Between the time period 2003-2009, the number of students who had taken online courses doubled to 3.9 million which outpaced the growth in traditional college settings by a 12% margin (Mashable/Tech,2010). However, this online programming movement still remains in its early stages of development. Thus, faculty members and designers of online education need to know more about online courses. Momin (2003) stated that this growth, in online education, has been accompanied by increased questions about the effectiveness of online courses. More research needs to …

Principal Preparation Program Redesign: How Universities May Be Required To Redesign Their Programs, Ralph L. Marshall

School Leadership Review

With the advent of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) there has been a greater emphasis on the quality of those individuals who lead the efforts within each of our school buildings across the country. Even more so than district level leadership, an effort has been made to research the effectiveness and improve the quality of the principals who lead school level reforms that are being promoted by business leaders and mandated by legislatures throughout the country. Legislators at both the national and state levels have encouraged these efforts and have even passed legislation that have increased requirements and promoted a …

Connecting Response To Intervention And Grade Retention: Implications For School Leaders, Bret G. Range, Dorothy Jean Yocom

School Leadership Review

Within all classrooms of public schools, teachers greet general education students acknowledging broad differences in their learning readiness and social skills (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Compton, 2010; Martin, 2010). The needs of some students may be so diverse that educators find implementing differentiated instructional strategies with integrity extremely difficult. Many individually research-based strategies have been implemented to provide helpful instruction to all learners. This paper presents the concept of a merger between two of these strategies: Response to Intervention (RTI) and grade retention. As a result, the conceptual framework for this manuscript is anchored within the RTI and grade retention literatures, …

Leadership For The Long-Haul: The Impact Of Administrator Longevity On Student Achievement, W. Sean Kearney, Albert Valadez, Larry Garcia

School Leadership Review

The average turnover of the principal position at public schools in the state of Texas is 3 ½ years (Fuller, Young, & Shoho, 2010). This fact raises a number of important questions. Perhaps the most important of which is also the simplest – So what? Does principal turnover matter? What is the impact of high principal turnover? Does this leadership shuffle lead to lower test scores? This study was conducted in order to find out.

Effective Instructional Tools Or Costly Distractions: An Examination On The Effective Implementation Of Technology In The Classroom, Jonathon Archer, Alison Childs, Sharon Covaciu, Chad Deyoung

School Leadership Review

Technological advances have proliferated in the workplace, our daily lives, and even in the area of research. With each passing day different forms of technology are becoming increasingly available to people all around the world. The quick influx of technology has resulted in little time for technological professional development in the field of education. Although the majority of today’s youth have grown up in a technological world, the adults educating these students have little exposure and understanding of these new advances (Christensen & Knezek, 1999).

A Case For An Online Educational Administrator Practicum Experience, Texas Council Of Professors Of Educational Administration Compiled By Lloyd Goldsmith

School Leadership Review

The principal and superintendent practicum experiences have traditionally been entirely face-to-face (f2f) between university professors, interns and site mentors – typically a campus or district administrator (Figure 1). Advancements in technology combined with the exponential growth of online graduate programs give rise to additional incorporation of technology into the practicum experience.

Educational Leadership Back To The Future, Timothy B. Jones, Pauline M. Sampson

School Leadership Review

There is no doubt that our discipline as well as our programs are under fire and involved in the largest wave of change in history. This issue of School Leadership Review offers brief discussion as we work together as a discipline.

Dennis Littky, The Educational Activist: Can His Model Revamp The Public Educational System?, Dana Mitchell Barnes

School Leadership Review

When an individual observes a classroom of today, he will see many elements that are recognizable to anyone who attended school during the last one hundred years, students working from textbooks, repetitive worksheets, and rows of desks holding students completing tasks directed by the teacher. Even though societal and technological advancements are increasing rapidly, our school system has stayed stagnant. What this means for students is the lack of individuality, teachers’ non acceptance of personal interests, lack of personal voice, and in many cases, a non relationship between teacher and student beyond the classroom assignment (Castleman & Littky, 2007).

What Students Tell Us About School If We Ask, Nancy K. Votteler, Mary E. Robbins, Debra Price

School Leadership Review

This article examines what school climate factors students perceive as helping them be successful in school, and what school administrators can do to aid the process. Specifically, the questions that drove this inquiry were

• How does sociocultural theory impact student voice and student engagement in the classroom?
• How does caring pedagogy impact student voice and student engagement in the classroom?
• What school climate factors do students perceive as helping them to be successful in school?

Framework For Understanding The Legal Structure Of Texas Public Schools, Gary Bigham

School Leadership Review

Texas public school stakeholders consist primarily of students, parents, faculty and staff, administrators, school board members, business leaders, community members, and taxpayers. While each of these stakeholders has a vested interest in the local school district, many fail to understand how public schools came into existence and the legal rationale upon which they operate. The problem lies in the structural complexity of schools, which is prohibitive to a complete understanding by its entire constituency. While the multiple layers of politics and numerous laws and policies that define the Texas public school structure may be necessary for proper operation, the intricacy …

A Messenger For Change, Mary Ann Whiteker

School Leadership Review

It is now time for all educators to embrace the power of a social epidemic. Schools across Texas are embracing a “New Vision for Texas Public Schools”. This vision embraces schools where all students are engaged in relevant, rigorous, meaningful activities and where classrooms reflect innovation, creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. In this new vision, daily standardized test preparation and boring fact-memorization skills are replaced with digital learning, curriculum standards relevant to real-world challenges, multiple assessments for student performance, and accountability that’s based on a combination of measures, not just one state mandated test. It is about creating …

Continuing To Step Forward Even If We Fall Backward, Timothy B. Jones

School Leadership Review

No abstract provided.

Mentoring New Faculty On The Road To Tenure, Fred C. Lunenburg, Beverly J. Irby

School Leadership Review

One of the first mentoring steps is to help new faculty members determine how many articles can be published from their dissertations. We contend that any dissertation of seminal importance can produce multiple journal articles. For example, the literature review may be suitable for publication if it is a critique of the literature with major issues raised on the specific topic of interest. If the new faculty member did not conduct a critique of the literature, then that may be a suggestion; and as that is done, references can be updated as well. The dissertation may have resulted in a …

Student Evaluation Of Teaching: The Inequity Of Faculty Scores In Online Versus Face-To-Face Courses, Sam L. Sullivan, Barbara Polnick, Lautrice Nickson, Robert Maninger, J. Yasmine Butler

School Leadership Review

Researchers have conducted a multitude of studies over the last century on Student Evaluations of Teaching (SET); however, very few have been conducted in the new digital age (Loveland, 2007). More work is in progress as researchers try to define the differences in student responses and thoughts about the online teaching environment. The unfortunate side of this can be the administrative decision to use a one-size-fits-all mentality when many authors including Dziuban and Moskal (2011) have outlined several research-based alternatives for evaluation of online instructional effectiveness. SETs are important to faculty because they often are the determining factor in merit …

Holistic, Ethical Leadership For The 21st Century, David C. Barrett

School Leadership Review

The New Oxford American Dictionary (2001) delineates two definitions for a leader: “1) The person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country; a person followed by others. 2) A short strip of nonfunctioning material at each end of a reel of film or recording tape for connection to the spool.” How often does the latter definition seem more applicable for many of our educational leaders than the former? What are the philosophical foundations of leadership? What does a modern, ethical leader look like? These are just a few questions that will be explored in this article. The challenge …

Partnering With Districts In Principal Preparation: Key Program Features In Strengthening Aspiring Principals’ Understanding Of Issues Of Equity And Excellence, Betty Alford, Stacy Hendricks

School Leadership Review

The need for increased numbers of students of all ethnic groups to access and succeed in postsecondary education is a 21st century reality (Swail, Cabrera, & Lee, 2004). As Swail, Cabreraet al. (2004) reported, The act of going to college and earning a degree is more important than ever to today’s youth and our society. . . . Unfortunately, access to a postsecondary education is not equal in America. Students historically underrepresented at the postsecondary level – students of color, those from low-income backgrounds, and first-generation students- are still less likely to prepare for, apply for, enroll in, and persist …

Education Cannot Get Where It Wants To Go Because It Cannot See Where It Needs To Go: Seeing “Learning” In A New Light, Geoffrey Caine

School Leadership Review

Educational leaders and teachers are in a no-win situation. That is because most of the current tools and programs for improving education, ranging from the Common Core State Standards to iPads, cannot work. At least, as currently conceived.

Do Resources Matter? The Relationship Between Instructional Expenditures And College Readiness Indicators, Treva Franklin, Casey Graham Brown

School Leadership Review

Public schools face seemingly endless scrutiny. Educators have experienced an increased level of accountability and demand to graduate students who are college ready or well prepared to enter the workforce. The topic of educational funding is often at the forefront of public discussion and debate in Texas. While policymakers recurrently examine the way public schools have been funded (Fermanich, 2009), school district leaders are forced to unrelentingly evaluate and assess the efficacy and results of instructional programs and performance measures. With the push for college readiness for all students, the topic of funding adequacy has continued to be an issue.

The Texas School Finance Battle: “Ground Hog Day” All Over Again, Guy M. Sconzo

School Leadership Review

Like Bill Murray in “Ground Hog Day,” it was as if I were awakening to start the same day I had experienced the day before, only seven years later. It was time to head to court and testify again in the seemingly on-going constitutional challenge to the Texas school finance system. The names were different, many of the planned witnesses were different, the number of plaintiff groups grew to an all-time high, but the challenges to change an inadequate, inequitable and unconstitutional system of funding Texas public schools remained. The stakes for the children of Texas, and the future of …

The Beat Goes On!, Timothy B. Jones

School Leadership Review

One thing Texans can count on for 140 days every odd year is an interesting legislative session. Not only did the 83rd legislative session deliver on interesting, it continues since as of this writing, the second called special session is “in-session.” Whether the children of Texas have benefited from this session I will leave to others to decide.