This descriptive study explored the influence of a 6-month well-being intervention on the leadership–life balance of school administrators. After completing the program, 12 administrators participated in a semistructured interview focused on their administrative duties, experience in the program, and changes in health-related knowledge/skills and behaviors. Investigators conducted a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts. The inductive process of data analysis comprised sorting, categorizing, and connecting the data via coding the data texts. Overall, administrators were successful in making health-related behavior change due to accountability, social support, and use of a fitness tracker during the 6-month program. Administrators also experienced reduced stress due to these changes. Engagement in this program can help school administrators find a leadership–life balance.
BACKGROUND A statewide 6‐month school administrator health and wellness program encouraged participants to use a fitness tracker to self‐monitor their physical activity and sleep patterns. The purpose of this study was to examine participants' experience in a school administrator health and wellness program and their perceptions of the impact on health‐related behaviors, including activity/movement, nutrition, and sleep. METHODS Each of the 45 participants completed a semi‐structured interview at three points in the program. Questions were designed to discern school administrators' perceptions of their ideal health and wellness balance at home and work. RESULTS School administrators reported new insights into their own well‐being, benefits of social supports in their personal wellness journey, an expanded understanding of their ideal health and wellness balance at home and work, and a stronger sense of serving as a role model who needs to take care of him/herself. CONCLUSIONS Although the program was helpful in establishing an ideal health and wellness balance at home and work for some school administrators, future programs should better emphasize nutrition and scaffold opportunities to maintain new habits following program completion.
Cultural competency is a critical attribute for effective leadership. The journey of becoming culturally competent begins with an understanding of one's own cultural background and how it impacts interactions with students, colleagues and families. Through examination of the literature, reflection, conversation and diverse experiences, leaders can gain the knowledge, skills and dispositions to embrace diversity and more effectively serve students and families. With the ultimate goal of serving all students and families to capitalize on diversity, the journey toward cultural competency is life-long, informed by cultural backgrounds and supported through experience and dialogue.
With the final clearing for the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, originally authorized as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965, it prompted our focus for the 2017 Special Issue of the Journal of School Leadership given the shift to a new educational reform, Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA. Signed into law on December 10, 2015, by President Barack Obama, ESSA represents a marked shift in the federal role in elementary and secondary education since the authorization of its predecessor. In particular, ESSA marks an ideological shift in the federal government's role in education policy. This devolution of federal authority to states and school districts amid widening inequality, resegregation, and access to equitable educational opportunities, presents a range of dilemmas and possibilities for school leaders as they prepare for this new approach to accountability and its implementation during the 2017-2018 school year. As educational leadership researchers who are also engaged in education politics and policy research, we questioned what ESSA might mean for educational leaders at the local school and district levels, be they teacher-leaders, principals, superintendents, school board members, or
This qualitative study examined rural educational leaders’ perceptions of the outcomes of the 2019 Leadership Camps (LCs). This capacity-building opportunity helped educational leaders meet as a community of practice (CoP) where participants’ interactions contributed to learning with and from one another, reducing perceived isolation and increasing self-efficacy. We analyzed data collected from 242 participants’ responses using an open, axial, and selective coding process. With this sample, 52.5% of participants were rural educational leaders. Overall, educational leaders most often appreciated interacting, networking, and collaborating with peers. Additionally, educational leaders highlighted the importance of the in-depth understanding and application of the Leadership Standards and reflective practices. We claim that this approach to professional development within a CoP offers rural educational leaders various work-related growth opportunities, including fostering collaboration, promoting professional conversations, and creating a community for reduced isolation, which will likely enhance their job performance and satisfaction.
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