Where is Leadership Heading?

Abstract

Research shows that the school improvement remedies promoted by policy makers and reformers often are in stark contrast to what actually has been proven to work in schools.

Toward Culturally Sustaining Leadership: Innovation beyond ‘School Improvement’ Promoting Equity in Diverse Contexts

“…Today's schools strive for safe school environments, increased parent and community involvement, more trust with teachers and community, the provision of instructional support, respect of school socio-cultural and socio-political contexts, with deliberations about who and how we hire to support and retain personnel. These actions include the appropriate prioritization of goals, distributed leadership, use of data, development of people, and resources allocated that align to improvements identified by school community members [7][8][9].…”

“…In fact, the majority of educational leaders in the US are not culturally and linguistically diverse. Comparatively and as a result, there are more leaders representing mainstream demographics, values, and leadership practices which consequently have the most impact on what is happening in education today [9,17]. On the other hand, progressive leaders, who have much promise for impacting educational change given their numbers and degree of critical consciousness, represent the center of the culturally sustaining leadership continuum [18,19].…”

“…For these often self-proclaimed color-blind leaders, data is a driver, difference holds no consequence, and all students are treated equally. Corporate-style leadership, grounded in business models and empirical best evidence syntheses, are regarded as the best solutions to low student achievement, dropout rates, and lack of parent engagement [8,9]. Values of integrity, transparency and fairness commonly characterize this group.…”

“…To incite renewed energy in educational leadership, we need to shift from management to vision, toward shifting demographics and impending globalization, requiring critical ways of thinking, teaching, learning and leadership in schools. Research tells us that culturally sustaining leaders promote leadership that is transformative, distributed and visionary [8][9][10]. They are more about new development and the sustainability of educational programs than day-to-day management of school operations.…”

A Study of High School Teachers' Experiences of the Phenomenon of Effective Instructional Leadership

“…Establishing buy-in from members of the school community is essential for change efforts to take hold. Hence, building relationships with teachers (Lytle, 2012) is key to influencing them to work alongside instructional leaders to make decisions. For example, principals need to work with teachers to "supervise and coordinate decisions within and between grade levels" (Glatthorn et al, 2012, p. 275).…”