Theories of Practice: Understanding the Practice of Educational Leadership

Principals’ Leadership Practices and Mathematics Pass Rate in Jamaican High Schools

“…Since the 1980s, the principal has been recognized chiefly as instructional leader (Hallinger, 2011;Houchens & Keedy, 2009). In this context, we define instructional leadership as the principal's specific guiding interactions with teachers that enable the teachers to apply the knowledge and skill meant to promote higher levels of student achievement.…”

“…The theory of practice. The theory of practice is a cognitive blueprint of deeply held assumptions and strategies (from training and experience) for professional problem solving (Houchens & Keedy, 2009). The link between mental processes and practices is very important to understanding what principals do.…”

Theory of Action and Information Literacy: Critical Assessment towards Effective Practice

“…Further, previous research studies which applied theory of action to assess communities of practice provide evidence of effective approaches for developing institutional and personal espoused theories and theories-in-use. Kane, Sandretto, and Heath's detailed meta-analysis indicates that effective research employ the use of multiple methodologies including interviews, direct observation and document analysis to successfully gain access to espoused theories and theories-in-use [11]. An extensive study of conceptions and practice of information literacy [4] was guided by the suggested approaches and the rigorous methodology of theory of action.…”

“…The authors describe theories of action as explanations arising from unconsciously or consciously held beliefs, values, theories, concepts, rules policies, norms or skills which are utilized to describe or predict action.The term 'theories' is used not in the sense of physical theories or general principles, but as "vehicles for explanation, prediction or control" [1]. Houchens and Keedy [11] contend that all humans whether they are conscious of it or not, operate according to theories to explain their experience, predict future events and control outcomes in various situations.…”

A case study of leadership traits of award-winning Missouri elementary principals from 2002 to 2013||A case study of leadership traits of award-winning Missouri elementary principals from 2002 to 2013

“…Viewing leadership traits or behaviors through the leadership theory allowed one to see "instructional leadership as principal behaviors which were meant to promote higher levels of student achievement through the principal's interactions with teachers" (Houchens & Keedy, 2009, p. 56). Houchens and Keedy (2009) suggested one view the approaches to leadership through leadership theory in for the trait approach to be used to identify leadership traits of the Missouri Distinguished Elementary Principal Award. In order for the researcher to view the leadership traits of award-winning principals through the lens of leadership theory the skills, style, and situational approaches were viewed as well to differentiate these approaches from the trait approach (Northouse, 2010) due to their possible emergence in the interviews, documents, and Leadership Trait Questionnaire (Northouse, 2010).…”