Leading school improvement through goal-setting: Evidence from New Zealand schools

Abstract

Many studies claim the importance of goal-setting for school improvement but few outline specific practices. This study highlights specific goal-setting practices associated with successful school improvement efforts. It reports on a 2-year collaborative research project, which closely examined three principals’ goal-setting practices in the context of their schools. It documents principals’ and staffs’ efforts to improve equity in outcomes through detailed case studies. Case studies drew on principal and teacher interview data, workshop artifacts and discussion recordings, observations, school reports and school achievement data. The in-depth case and cross-case analyses focused on micro-level leadership practices and their impact on school-wide practices. This study highlights four key leadership drivers for improvement. These include: justifying goals in ways that challenge teachers’ beliefs about current achievement to raise commitment; embedding tight and rigourous monitoring practices with a focus on problem-solving and improvement; distributing responsibility and leadership; and developing the capability and collective responsibility of middle leaders. Our discussion highlights how leaders’ belief systems can enable or constrain their ability to influence their schools’ cultures.

Digital Leadership and Sustainable School Improvement—A Conceptual Analysis and Implications for Future Research

“…The broader leadership literature has already established close links between leadership and school improvement, and indicated that effective school improvement requires distributed forms of leadership since real improvement results from a school-wide, collective endeavor (Frost, 2008;Hallinger & Heck, 2010;Rhodes & Brundrett, 2009;Shaked & Schechter, 2016). More recent studies on digital leadership in schools also showed that successful digital leaders acted upon the principles of distributed leadership to improve technology-integrated practices in schools (Davis-Singaravelu, 2022;Levin & Schrum, 2014;Meyer et al, 2023;Tam et al, 2018). Spillane (2005) describes distributed leadership as a system of practice comprised of a collection of interacting components: leaders, followers, and situation.…”

“…As validated by some early and recent studies (Bryk et al, 2015;Hallinger & Heck, 2002;Leithwood & Jantzi, 2006;Lewis, 2015;Meyer et al, 2023), sustainable and effective school improvement fundamentally depends on goal-setting and pursuing a proper plan for achieving these goals. First and foremost, the achievement of improvement goals does not solely result from the efforts of the principal but requires the commitment and acceptance of all parties including teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders surrounding the school (Meyer et al, 2023;Wiyono et al, 2023). Therefore, establishing a shared vision and developing clear goal-focused strategies would help elevate and guide school-wide efforts to realize and sustain improvement.…”

“…School improvement is realized through restructuring the common tasks, activities, practices of learning, teaching and leading at schools, and thus it is often associated with the successful engagement of change in school structures, routines, professional learning, curriculum, and pedagogical orientations (Ilomäki & Lakkala, 2018;Meyer et al, 2023). As Wiyono et al (2023) encapsulate, sustainable school improvement requires a systemic approach to change with multiple perspectives, development of internal conditions as a key focus of change, a focused goal-orientation, the use of integrated implementation strategies and efforts to institutionalize change.…”

“…Therefore, establishing a shared vision and developing clear goal-focused strategies would help elevate and guide school-wide efforts to realize and sustain improvement. The principal could support this process through conveying clear expectations, operationalizing participatory decision-making processes, creating opportunities for professional development, aligning strategies to the goals, and building a more collaborative climate with a clear recognition of hard work and tolerance of mistakes (Meyer et al, 2023;Timperley, 2005;Sun & Leithwood, 2015), all of which would eventually enhance the school capacity for continuous improvement (Harris, 2001).…”

Rangkap Jabatan Kepala Sekolah Dan Pengaruhnya Terhadap Manajemen Sekolah Dasar: Studi Kasus Di Kota Cirebon

“…Kepala sekolah adalah pemeran utama dalam keberlangsungan sebuah institusi pendidikan, baik atau buruknya sebuah institusi pendidikan akan bergantung dari kemampuan kepala sekolah dalam melaksanakan tugas-tugasnya (Liljenberg & Andersson, 2021;Perni, 2017;Winingsih & Sulistiono, 2020). Kepala sekolah berperan penting dalam menentukan arah dan kecepatan perkembangan sekolah (Meyer et al, 2020;Rukandi et al, 2023). Sebagai organisasi yang kompleks, sekolah membutuhkan koordinasi yang baik agar dapat berfungsi dengan efektif, oleh karena itu kepala sekolah memiliki tanggung jawab untuk memimpin dan mengatur koordinasi di dalam sekolah guna mencapai tujuan bersama.…”