Educational Leadership Commons^™

Meeting The Challenge Of Educational Leadership: A Historical And Biographical Examination Of Minority Women Who Have Made Major Contributions To The Education Of Students In The South Texas Rio Grande Valley, Kathleen Neal Carroll

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This paper addresses the accomplishments of Melissa Dotson Betts, Emilia Schunior Ramírez, Estella Minerva Cuéllar, and Silvina Solís Hinojosa, in the field of education in the South Texas Rio Grande Valley. The paper reflects the difficulties encountered by women rising to challenges in education from the 1930s until the present day, and examines legislative actions that served as the impetus for allowing all of these women to excel in the area of educational leadership. The salary discrepancies Melissa Dotson Betts suffered in the Edinburg CISD because she was an African American were investigated, along with her mentoring of African American …

A Principal’S Dilemma: Instructional Leader Or Manager, Bettye Grigsby, Gary Schumacher, John Decman, Felix Iii Simieou

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

This study focuses on the emphasis principals’ place on the design and delivery of curriculum and instruction on individual campuses and the extent federal regulation has impacted principal behaviors as instructional leaders. The transformation from the principal’s role of manager to that which is inclusive of instructional leadership is due to the steady increase of the regulations governing the accountability system culminating in No Child Left Behind. In fact, “ … one in three principals says implementation of NCLB is the most pressing issue he or she is facing” (Sergiovanni, 2009, p. 44).

Leadership In Tunisian Higher Education From The Perspective Of The Efqm Excellence Model, Raoudha Kammoun, Omar Ben-Ayed

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Since the early 1980s, the concept of quality has been a central focus of attention in the debate of higher education (HE). Over time, many developed countries have experienced a growing concern for quality in HE such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, and the United States of America, amongst others (Anyamele 2004, Becket and Brookes 2005). The focus on quality leads many developed countries to acknowledge the benefits of the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) within their institutions (Kanji and Tambi, 1999). However, quality movement is rather slow in the HE of developing countries. Indeed, some HEIs have …

Leadership To Run The World: A Mandate For Higher Education, Gregory Eastwood

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

“Leadership is an essentially moral act,” said A. Bartlett Giamatti, former president of Yale University, who later became Commissioner of Baseball. But consider these few news items, selected from a multitude of candidates: Eliot Spitzer, former governor of New York, resigned after his involvement with a prostitute was made public. Rod Blagojevich, former governor of Illinois, was removed from office by unanimous vote of the Illinois State Senate after conviction on federal corruption charges. Bernard Madoff, former Wall Street executive and NASDAQ chair, currently is incarcerated in federal prison after conviction for investment fraud. Rev. Jeffrey Sarkies, a popular pastor …

What Is Quality Leadership?, Misty Lacour, Laura Tissington

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Leaders can get others on board with decision making through either delegation or empowerment. Through delegation, a leader will, through an expression of authority, determine which tasks will be completed by which employees (Billikopf, 2003). Followers are delegated tasks and actions. On the other hand, when followers are empowered, followers have the freedom to complete tasks for the purpose of achieving the goals and vision of the institution (Billikopf, 2003). Empowerment shares the decision making process between the leader and the followers. “Shared decision making can improve the quality and acceptance of decisions, bolster worker motivation and self-esteem, increase sense …

Going Beyond Contemporary Leader Development Practices: Assessing Leader Readiness Using Cognitive Stage Development And Experiential Learning Theories, Elizabeth Turesky, Leigh Mundhenk

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Consider the employee who is highly engaged and self-directed in her work, manages ambiguity well, genuinely engages in the journey of becoming an agent of change, seeks ways to understand herself as a leader, and relishes the possibilities of ideas. On the other hand, there is the employee who looks to others for direction and answers, finds the lack of clarity and ambiguity unbearable, resists new ideas, has difficulty making decisions, or jumps right into the decision-making process without careful reflection. These disparate behaviors in employees seem to occur unrelated to age, gender, and socioeconomic level. As teachers, managers, and …

Perception Of Good Leadership Among The Academics In Nigeria: Case Of Benue State University, Makurdi, Umbur Demekaa

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The objectives of the study were: i. To determine the influence of gender on the academics perception of good leadership. ii. To examine the influence of status on the academics perception of good leadership. iii. To determine the influence of religion on the academics perception of good leadership iv. To determine the influence of discipline on the academics perception of good leadership.

A Comparative Study Of Leadership Behavior Of Principals In Relation To Job Satisfaction Of Teachers In Govt. And Non-Govt. Schools Of U.T., Maninder Khanna

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The study was designed to achieve the following objectives: 1. To compare the Leadership Behavior of Principals in Govt. and non-govt. schools . 2. To compare the job satisfaction of teachers in Govt. and non-govt. schools . 3. To ascertain the relationship between Leadership Behavior of Principals with job satisfaction of teachers in Govt. and non-govt. schools .

Perceptions Of Leadership Attributes Of South Carolina Technical College Presidents, Kevin Mckenzie

All Dissertations

This study examined the leadership attributes perceived to be possessed by the presidents in South Carolina's Technical College System. The participants consisted of 16 presidents and 80 subordinates that were selected by the presidents. All participants were asked to complete the Leader Attribute Inventory . Additionally, each participant was requested to identify and rank attributes needed for future leadership at their institution. Demographic data were also gathered about the participants and summarized. The survey responses were collected via United States Postal Service, transposed into spreadsheets and analyzed to determine what relationships existed between the presidents' self perception and the subordinates …

Professional Development To Promote Employee Engagement: A Multi-Case Study, Starrin Shafer

All Dissertations

ABSTRACT
Organizations with high employee engagement have positive outcomes in their organizational results. These organizations attained greater satisfaction from their customers, employees were more productive, and increased profits. Employee disengagement is detrimental to businesses, costing companies billions of dollars every year as a result. The suffered losses are a result of high turnover, low employee and customer satisfaction, and decreased productivity. Disengaged employees affected the overall economy in the United States by approximately $300 billion. Because employee engagement has an extensive influence on an organization's financial position, many organizations designed professional development training programs targeted at enhancing the engagement skills …

The Need For Awareness Of Servant Leadership In Business Schools, Salih Usun

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Every year, thousands of students graduate from business schools all over the world. These graduates become the leaders in multinational companies, business establishments and corporations. In recent years there have been many scandals and frauds in multinational businesses like Enron, WorldCom, Hollinger International, Marsh & McLennan and Satyam Computers Services Ltd. Experience has shown that these establishments crashed because the top leaders failed miserably in areas like honesty, humility, reliability and trustworthiness even though they were educated in reputed educational institutions.

Attrition – A Sign Of Leadership Problems, Sheila Bassoppo-Moyo

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Universities are learning organizations of the highest level. Thus, it is essential that they retain and recruit faculty that will maintain and push the growth of the organization. Carruthers (n.d.) in addressing why attrition is an important organizational issue stated, “an American Management Association survey showed that four out of five CEOs view employee retention as a serious issue for organizational success” (p.1). Kaye and Jordan-Evans (1999) after examining countless research studies concluded “the cost of replacing key people runs between 70 percent and 200 percent of their annual salary. Hard costs can include advertising, search firms, interviewing and relocation …

Student And Facilitator Engagement To Develop Leadership Competencies In A Project-Based Learning Environment, Amany Saleh, David Cox, Tammy Fowler, Bridget Duncan-Shemwell

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The purpose of this article is to examine how graduate educational leadership students engaged and developed competencies in a project-based learning environment. The project-based curriculum was designed to facilitate the development of team leadership skills as doctoral students applied the course concepts learned throughout their two-year cohort experience. The facilitator introduced the project-based group endeavor to the doctoral students in their first semester of course work. Periodically, the facilitator would meet with the students to acquire feedback on their progress. The group endeavor concluded in the last semester of coursework with students presenting their results before the doctoral faculty and …

The Impact Of Evaluation Upon Teacher Leadership, Ismael Abujarad, Noraini Yusof

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Mary Olsen took over the Principalship of a large elementary school of over 1500 students in a crowded urban area. From day one, things did not go as she had planned. The first day it rained, upsetting her plans to have an outdoor line up and greet the students and parents together. When meeting the teachers, she expected a sense of collaboration and willingness to work hard. Instead she faced two diverse groups of educators: one was the veteran work force who did not want any changes, having been at the job for twenty plus years. The second group was …

Authentic Leadership For Democracy In Schools, Farah Rahman, Muhammad Abiodullah, Uzma Quraishi

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Authentic leadership is relatively a new concept. Extant literature puts forward the notion of authentic leadership as important trajectory of leadership in organizations. George (2004) argues that “leadership begins and ends with authenticity”. It is well established in literature that good leadership is essential for effective and better performing schools (Pashiardis, 2000). This paper argues that in the context of education authentic leadership is more important as it has the same set of values as democratic education. Objectives of the Study The main objectives of the study are: 1. To investigate the pattern of authentic leadership in schools in a …

Chinese Women Administrators In Higher Education: Developing Leadership Throughout Life, Susan Madsen

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The development of leadership has been a critical concern of many organizational leaders in various sectors (public, private, and social) across the globe. To better understand this complex phenomenon, researchers (e.g., Bass, 1990; Bennis, 1989) have been conducting leadership studies for decades in various disciplines (e.g., education, management, psychology). Yet, studies in these disciplines on developing women leaders are just emerging as an important focus of researchers and practitioners in many countries throughout the world. In many regions it has become evident that the process of developing women leaders is particularly multifaceted and challenging. There are numerous complexities inherent in …

Are You A Charismatic Leader?, M.S. Rao

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

When you look at leaders like Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, John F. Kennedy, Vladimir Lenin and Barrack Obama they all have one common style of leadership – charismatic leadership. They stand out from the pack of leaders because of their extraordinary qualities that are rarely found among leaders. For instance, the solders of Alexander blindly followed him because of his charismatic leadership. The soldiers marched towards victory during Second World War under the charismatic leadership of Winston Churchill. Similarly the Germans were inspired with the vision of Adolf Hitler. The Americans were influenced with the charismatic leadership …

The Effect Of Leadership Style On Student Achievement In Title I Elementary Schools, Fredrick Scott Crain

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the different types of leadership styles of public school administrators of Title I elementary schools in order to determine how these different types of leadership styles may affect student academic achievement. Specifically, the leadership style behaviors of flexibility and effectiveness were considered. A casual-comparative research design was used in this study. The participants in the study included 61 principals and 301 teachers from 28 school districts in Regions VI, VII, and VIII in Louisiana. Data were analyzed using Standard Multiple Regression.

The study suggested that perceived leadership styles, flexibility and effectiveness, did …

Overcoming Adversity: Resilience Development Strategies For Educational Leaders, Tod Allen Farmer

Georgia Educational Researcher

School leadership has never been easy. However, some experts like Garcia (2005) wrote that current school leaders are facing a variety of difficulties that make sustaining school reform efforts exceedingly difficult. Collectively, these modern day challenges have the capacity to form the perfect storm. School leaders need effective strategies to cope with these difficult circumstances and to continue the thrust toward school reform. Effective coping mechanisms and resiliency development strategies that can be used by educational leaders to overcome adversity include a routine of exercise and healthy diet, a positive life view, a sustained focus on building bridges between stakeholders, …

Spirituality And School Leadership: A Grounded Theory Study, Karen Musick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The job of public school principal can feel overwhelming and frustrating. Principals are faced with ensuring their school is meeting the academic achievement needs of students along with the social, emotional, and physical needs of students, particularly if they are serving in high poverty, high needs schools. Most principals question, at least once in their career, whether to stay in the position. While some stay, many more leave the position especially if they are at a high needs school. This study was interested in principals serving, and staying, in difficult or diverse elementary schools. Knowing the emotional toll that the …

Impact Of Variations In Distributed Leadership Frameworks On Implementing A Professional Development Initiative, Jeffrey Pedersen, Stuart Yager, Robert Yager

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Educators, principals, and teachers alike, are being challenged with higher demands and requirements in preparing our future generations for the 21st century. Professional development for teachers is a key focus in school transformation efforts. School transformation in today’s educational system is dependent, in part, by how well teachers work together with their principal and colleagues (Louis, Leithwood, Wahlstrom, & Anderson, 2010). Recent research has focused on the role of the school principal and other site-based leaders in the implementation of professional development initiatives (Pedersen, Yager, & Yager, 2010). Principals play a key role in supporting and encouraging teachers’ professional development …

The Relationship Between Selected Leadership Behaviors And Attitudes Toward Behavioral And Social Inclusive Practices Among Middle School Principals In North Carolina, Mary A. Houser, Genniver Bell, Virginia Dickens, Terence Hicks

Faculty Working Papers from the School of Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between selected leadership behaviors (transformational and transactional) and attitudes toward selectedinclusive practices (behavioral and social) for students with disabilities. Determining how transformational and transactional leadership behaviors are related to principals’ attitudes toward inclusive practices is needed because such understanding will assist administrators and other professionals in deciding what type of leader is best suited for leading inclusive schools. There are few studies related to administrators’ leadership behaviors and their attitudes toward inclusion in any form. The results of this study provide an opportunity to examine North Carolina principals’ leadership behaviors …

Presenting The Servant Leadership Model As A Panacea To Bad Leadership In Tertiary Education In West Africa, John Ekundayo

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Tertiary education in West Africa presently is fading in value compared with the last two or three decades when graduates of universities in Nigeria and Ghana were highly rated by world ranked institutions in Europe and North America. In many West African tertiary institutions there are chronic and critical challenges impeding quality delivery of education to the citizens. Some of these lead to avoidable wastes in time, financial and human resources. In Nigeria for instance, there are many cases of students’ unrest leading to wanton and unwarranted destruction of properties and sometimes human lives. In addition, lecturers and non-academic employees …

Tao And The Lost Art Of Leadership, Scott Paynton

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

I often tell people that I am literally a lifetime student of academic leadership. I grew up watching my father navigate his career in the academy as a professor of Sociology, including serving as Department Chair. Much to his pleasure I followed suit, pursuing a fun and challenging career as a professor of Communication in the same state university system. Over the course of my journey in academe, I’ve observed, and participated in, almost every level of academic leadership. From serving as chair of too many committees to remember, Department Chair, Vice-President of the Academic Senate, University Ombudsperson, and now …

Time To Focus On Followers: Looking At The Other Side Of The Leadership ‘Coin’, John Ekundayo

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The leadership literature is replete with who a leader is, what leaders do, models or styles of leadership, leadership development, leadership succession, great heroic acts of leaders, etc. with little said or written about the followers who constitute the enigmatic majority in many organizations today (Adair, 2006). However, it is the view of some scholars that leadership is a dynamic interplay of influential relationships between leaders and followers situationally involved in a process with an anticipation of mutual outcomes (Pierce & Newstrom, 2008 and Hughes, R. L., et al., 2008). It is in this light that one can say without …

Academic Leadership In Higher Education: A “Participative” Perspective From One Institution, M.P. Koen, E.M. Bitzer

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The purpose of this paper is not to highlight the diverse characteristics of leaders in higher education, but to focus on those united strengths that acknowledge followership. We therefore attempt a higher education leadership profile (see Table 2) encompassing the vital attributes (identified by participants in our empirical study). We regard this set of attributes as being at the heart of dealing with challenges in this millennium. Not only do leaders have to understand themselves and the higher education environment in which they operate, but the followers need to be equally aware of the superman/woman expectations demanded of leaders.

As A Leader Do You Choose To Be A Horse, Lemming Or Goose?, Ruby Kohl

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Organizations are often compared to living organisms (Morgan, 2006). In nature, there are many examples of group organizations that demonstrate leadership patterns: herds, bands, families, mobs, colonies, prides, gaggles, flocks, schools, etc. Survival of a species is often based on the type of leadership nature has established for a particular species in a particular environment at a particular time or season.

An Examination Of Tension In The Space Between Leadership Philosophy And The Cultural Reality Of Schools, Lisa Starr

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Diversity is what gives our society depth and arguably beauty but it also problematizes already complex social issues like the importance and value placed on the education. In part, this challenge exists because public education is founded on the “values and belief systems of the dominant cultural and linguistic class” (Goddard & Hart, 2007, p. 16) yet schools are a complex, heterogeneous weave of cultures (Murakami-Ramalho, 2008). According to Chambers (2003), Canadian students are “probably the most ethnically, racially, linguistically, and religiously diverse of any school population in the world” (p. 223). This is no less true in the United …

Exploring Principal Leadership Roles Within A Community Of Practice To Promote Science Performance Of English Language Learners, David Carrejo, Teresa Cortez, Judy Reinhartz

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The world we live in continues to become more technologically advanced and educating youth to become productive citizens in an ever-changing global society is vital. The importance and necessity of educating an increasingly diverse student population has become a top priority for Pre-K-16 educators. To meet this challenge and set priorities for serving English Language Learners (ELLs), educators at all levels need to forge a clear vision and shared commitment for fostering “… a sense of belonging and community that inspires collaboration” among its members for the success of all students (Texas Association of School Administrators, 2008, p. 4).

Gendered Leadership Dynamics And Rural Community Development In Nigeria: The Case Study Of Iyaloja And Lyalaje Women Leaders In Ekiti State, Gadebo

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Rural areas are usually referred to as small, inward-looking, and idyllic communities held together by kinship relations and supporting basic agricultural occupations (Ekong, 2003). The characteristic features that differentiate rural from urban areas include: size, particularly areas inhabited by the people, low population density, homogeneity, presence of few social classes, low standard of living, presence of few / no social amenities such as electricity, pipe-borne water, low social mobility, mainly agrarian in nature – producing the bulk of food consumed in urban areas and the attendant drifting of young able-men to cities in order to benefit from the urban resources …