Showing papers in "Journal of Educational Administration in 2004"
TL;DR: In this article, the direct effect of principal transformational leadership to school staff turnover and school performance was examined, in addition to its indirect effect through school staff job satisfaction, in elementary school staff and students, and schoolaggregated student achievement test scores were obtained from school archives.
Abstract: In the present study, the direct effect of principal transformational leadership to school staff turnover and school performance was examined, in addition to its indirect effect through school staff job satisfaction. Survey data were obtained from elementary school staff and students, and school‐aggregated student achievement test scores were obtained from school archives. Results showed that staff reports of principal behaviors could be described in terms of the three components of transformational leadership: inspiration or charisma, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation. Principal transformational leadership was not associated directly with either school staff turnover or school‐aggregated student achievement progress. Rather, principal transformational leadership showed an indirect effect, through staff job satisfaction, on school staff turnover (negative) and on school‐aggregated student achievement progress (positive). Finally, higher levels of school staff job satisfaction were associated with smaller achievement gaps between minority and non‐minority students. This result was more evident among schools having higher levels of principal transformational leadership. Results are discussed in relation to the role of transformational leadership in school performance and in recruiting, training, and evaluating school principals.
442 citations
359 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report on three studies that were conducted in the search for a reasonably valid and reliable measure to capture principals' sense of efficacy, which may be viewed as a foundational characteristic of an effective school leader.
Abstract: In this era of accountability and significant school reform, efforts to improve schools increasingly look to the principal to spearhead change efforts at the school level. Good principals are the cornerstones of good schools. Without a principal's leadership efforts to raise student achievement, a school cannot achieve its fundamental academic mission. The principal is seen as a key agent at the school level, initiating change by raising the level of expectations for both teachers and students. One promising, but largely unexplored avenue to understanding principal motivation and behavior is principals' sense of efficacy. Self‐efficacy is a perceived judgment of one's ability to effect change, which may be viewed as a foundational characteristic of an effective school leader. This paper reports on three studies that were conducted in the search for a reasonably valid and reliable measure to capture principals' sense of efficacy.
285 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined job satisfaction and motivation among teachers in Cyprus and found that teachers chose this career because of the salary, the hours, and the holidays associated with this profession.
Abstract: Recent national and international studies carried out in a number of countries have drawn attention to the degree of job satisfaction among teachers. In general, it has been found that context seems to be the most powerful predictor of overall satisfaction. However, given that most of the international studies on teacher satisfaction have been conducted in developed countries, one realizes the need in the available literature for similar research in developing countries as well. This paper examines job satisfaction and motivation among teachers in Cyprus – a small developing country in the Eastern Mediterranean. An adapted version of the questionnaire developed by the “Teacher 2000 Project” was translated into Greek and used for the purposes of this study that had a sample of 461 K‐12 teachers and administrators. The findings showed that, unlike other countries in which this questionnaire was used, Cypriot teachers chose this career because of the salary, the hours, and the holidays associated with this profession. The study analyzes how these motives influence the level of satisfaction held by the Cypriot teachers.
262 citations
TL;DR: This paper proposed the concept of an ethic of community to complement and extend other ethical frames used in education (e.g. the ethics of justice, critique, and care) to complement the traditional definition of ethics as the study of moral duty and obligation.
Abstract: This article proposes the concept of an ethic of community to complement and extend other ethical frames used in education (e.g. the ethics of justice, critique, and care). Proceeding from the traditional definition of ethics as the study of moral duty and obligation, ethic of community is defined as the moral responsibility to engage in communal processes as educators pursue the moral purposes of their work and address the ongoing challenges of daily life and work in schools. The ethic of community thus centers the communal over the individual as the primary locus of moral agency in schools. The usefulness of the ethic of community in regard to achieving the moral purposes of schooling is illustrated with the example of social justice. The author concludes that the ethic of community is a vehicle that can synthesize much of the current work on leadership practices related to social justice and other moral purposes of educational leadership.
172 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the central role of school leadership for developing and assuring the quality of schools, as corroborated by findings of school effectiveness research and school improvement approaches is discussed.
Abstract: This paper looks at the central role of school leadership for developing and assuring the quality of schools, as corroborated by findings of school effectiveness research and school improvement approaches Then, it focuses on the growing importance placed on activities to prepare school leaders due to the ever‐increasing responsibilities they are facing In many countries, this has led to the design and implementation of extensive programs In this paper, international trends in school leader development are identified As regards the aims of the programs, it becomes obvious that they are increasingly grounded on a more broadly defined understanding of leadership, adjusted to the core purpose of school, and based on educational beliefs integrating the values of a democratic society
170 citations
155 citations
TL;DR: The genesis of the moral leadership concept in educational administration and examples of studies exploring this idea during the 1979-2003 period are discussed in this paper. But the authors recommend more contextually sensitive descriptive studies with a focus on the social relations among school leaders and others, giving particular attention, in a phenomenological sense, to the meanings, perspectives, and espoused purposes of school leaders' actions, social relationships, and interpersonal orientations.
Abstract: The genesis of the moral leadership concept in educational administration and examples of studies exploring this idea during the 1979‐2003 period are discussed. The author recommends more contextually sensitive descriptive studies with a focus on the social relations among school leaders and others, giving particular attention, in a phenomenological sense, to the meanings, perspectives, and espoused purposes of school leaders’ actions, social relationships, and interpersonal orientations.
148 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a synthesis of the scholarship that has sought to expand the understanding of educational marketing practice in schools and provide an analysis of the limitations of the current research and discuss future directions for research on school marketing.
Abstract: This review provides a synthesis of the scholarship that has sought to expand the understanding of educational marketing practice in schools. The following research questions guided this review. What are the common themes and characteristics that emerge from research about marketing in schools? What remains underdeveloped in the characterization of the school marketing and what are the topics for future research? Based on 25 studies identified as pertinent to the current review the topics of: marketing perceptions, marketing planning, marketing strategies and promotion are discussed. The paper concludes by providing an analysis of the limitations of the current research and discussing future directions for research on school marketing.
114 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a study was conducted in two states of Australia which examines the ways novice principals of small schools located in rural and remote areas make sense of, and deal with, the contextual complexity of their work.
Abstract: This paper proceeds from the basis that leadership can only be understood in context and by viewing it from the inside. In particular, it argues that the contextual complexity of small school leadership warrants attention from researchers, policy makers and system administrators and describes the nature of this complexity as depicted in the literature. It then reports a study being conducted in two states of Australia which examines the ways novice principals of small schools located in rural and remote areas make sense of, and deal with, the contextual complexity of their work. Finally, the paper discusses the implications of the study for promoting understanding of small school leadership and for developing authentic means of professional learning.
107 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a three-year study of 24 schools involving classroom observations and interviews with teachers and principals is presented, where a set of leadership practices that focus on the learning of both students and teachers are described.
Abstract: This paper draws on a three-year study of 24 schools involving classroom observations and interviews with teachers and principals. Through an examination of three cases, sets of leadership practices that focus on the learning of both students and teachers are described. This set of practices is called productive leadership and how these practices are dispersed among productive leaders in three schools is described. This form of leadership supports the achievement of both academic and social outcomes through a focus on pedagogy, a culture of care and related organizational processes. The concepts of learning organisations and teacher professional learning communities as ways of framing relationships in schools, in which ongoing teacher learning is complementary to student learning, are espoused.
TL;DR: The authors provide a comprehensive literature review on accountability of school administrators over the last two decades to demonstrate how aspiring, new and practicing school administrators understand and meet the demands of accountability in a time of tumultuous change when the stakes are high.
Abstract: Much has been written about student accountability, teacher accountability, and school accountability. More limited research is available on administrator accountability. Recently there have been substantial initiatives undertaken world‐wide to increase educational accountability. With increasing demands and changing expectations in the role of school administration, researchers, practitioners and policy makers and departments of education have become socially preoccupied with educational accountability. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive literature review on accountability of school administrators over the last two decades to demonstrate how aspiring, new and practicing school administrators understand and meet the demands of accountability in a time of tumultuous change when the stakes are high.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that conditions supporting dissemination (sharing) of teachers' learning are necessary for school change and organizational learning and argue that in the short-term, it may be easier to encourage dissemination by reducing restraining factors than by working to increase motivating factors.
Abstract: This paper argues that conditions supporting dissemination (sharing) of teachers' learning are necessary for school change and organizational learning. Based on a qualitative study that explored dissemination of teachers' learning within a multi‐school computer technology project, the paper identifies 43 factors that motivate teachers' sharing and 35 factors that restrain their sharing in schools. The paper posits that in the short‐term, it may be easier to encourage dissemination by reducing restraining factors than by working to increase motivating factors. In the long term, however, the attitudes and beliefs underlying the motivating factors must be addressed. This paper also offers a table of participants' suggestions for administrators to encourage teachers to share their learning with colleagues.
TL;DR: In this article, the theoretical underpinning of enabling school structure is developed and six high schools which were determined to have enabling structures in a large quantitative study of Ohio schools, were analyzed in depth using semi-structured interviewing techniques.
Abstract: The construct of enabling school structure is empirically analyzed in this qualitative study of high schools First, the theoretical underpinning of enabling school structure is developed Then, six high schools, which were determined to have enabling structures in a large quantitative study of Ohio schools, were analyzed in depth using semi‐structured interviewing techniques The inquiry fleshes out the specifics of the performance of principals and teachers in such organizations and describes the dynamics of enabling school structures in terms of their formalization, centralization, and functioning Finally, the research demonstrates a natural and symbiotic relation between quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of schools
TL;DR: In this paper, an open social systems model is used to frame and test a series of hypotheses, including the socioeconomic status of the environment and four internal system elements (structure, individual, culture, politics) of the school.
Abstract: An open social systems model is used to frame and test a series of hypotheses The socioeconomic status of the environment and four internal system elements (structure, individual, culture, politics) of the school are used to explain two sets of school outcomes: student achievement and teachers' assessments of overall school effectiveness A typical sample of 145 elementary schools in Ohio is used to test the relationships The model and results are useful in understanding how this set of key variables as a whole defines quality elementary schools
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of principals' succession on the principals themselves and their schools is examined based on an examination of change over times in four schools in Ontario, and more precisely, examines the influence that principals' role is associated with managing the standards/standardization agenda with which many professionals profoundly disagree.
Abstract: A demographic time bomb is ticking in many school jurisdictions. Up to 70 per cent of present leaders in the private and public sectors will retire within the next five to ten years as the “baby boomers” move on. While succession planning has become a major initiative in the private sector, leadership succession in education tends to hew to old paths. Where are new educational leaders to come from? How should their succession be orchestrated? The traditional source of succession at the secondary level, the department headship, is no longer an attractive route for many teachers. Many potential leaders do not perceive the role of principal or assistant principal in a positive light. These roles are increasingly being associated with managing the standards/standardization agenda with which many professionals profoundly disagree. While it is premature to declare a leadership crisis in education, it is not too early to call on policy makers to attend to the growing need for succession planning at all levels in education. Based on an examination of change over times in four schools in Ontario, this article addresses issues of leadership succession in education and, more precisely, examines the influence of principals’ succession on the principals themselves and their schools.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors construct a model for determining what is in the best interests of the student when making various types of ethical decisions in schools, based upon a new conceptualization of the three Rs.
Abstract: Shapiro and Stefkovich in their 2001 book on ethics propose a framework for examining ethical dilemmas. At the heart of this conceptualization is “the best interests of the student.” Yet a review of the literature reveals this term is interpreted broadly and few systematic attempts have been made to define it. In response to this lack of clarity, the authors of this article construct a model for determining what is in the best interests of the student when making various types of ethical decisions in schools. This “Best Interests” model is based upon a new conceptualization of the three Rs. Here, the correlates are rights, responsibilities, and respect. By applying this model to the fact patterns of several US court decisions, the authors illustrate the application of the ethical paradigms of justice, care, critique, community, and the profession.
TL;DR: In this article, a description of the major restructuring initiatives towards school empowerment and democracy introduced in the Cyprus education system is presented, and an attempt is made in order to show how these changes have affected (or not) the education system with respect to personnel management, the power of the centre, democracy and the curriculum, and democracy and inspection.
Abstract: Life is lived in an era characterised by complexity and instability. Pedagogical ideals or educational goals are usually determined based on the socio‐political and cultural period in which people find themselves at a specific point in its history. Then, in what ways do people train their principals to be models of and act in line with those democratic values and ideals that aim at fostering good citizens? Furthermore, how do these goal statements fare in relation to the moral purpose of schools and especially focus on the social goals of schools? These and similar issues are dealt with in this paper. More specifically, there is a description of the major restructuring initiatives towards school empowerment and democracy introduced in the Cyprus education system. Further, an attempt is made in order to show how these changes have affected (or not) the education system with respect to personnel management, the power of the centre, democracy and the curriculum, and democracy and inspection.
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of middle managers in UK further education colleges has been investigated and a typology for the middle manager role has been proposed and discussed, and factors which facilitate and impede managers in role, and models the interaction of the college environment with the role.
Abstract: The findings reported here are part of a larger study of the role of middle managers in the UK further education colleges. The study proposes and discusses a typology for the middle manager role, analyses factors which facilitate and impede managers in role, and models the interaction of the college environment with the role. This process gives insight into the emerging concepts of professionalism, which are discussed here in relation to the literature of managerialism and “new” professionalism. The paper discusses what manifestations of new professionalism can be observed in the colleges, how perceptions of professionalism differ from role to role and from college to college, and how professionalism can be modelled and further understood.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide insightful and meaningful information for aspiring and practicing teachers and school administrators who wish to become informed and effective educators in schools, including the problem of principal mistreatment of teachers; the many faces of principals' abusive behaviors as well as the possible causes of such behavior; authoritarian and control-oriented types of leaders and why people consent to such attempts to control them.
Abstract: Reviews Breaking the silence, a book designed to provide insightful and meaningful information for aspiring and practicing teachers and school administrators who wish to become informed and effective educators in schools. The chapters cover: the problem of principal mistreatment of teachers; the many faces of principals' abusive behaviors as well as the possible causes of such behavior; authoritarian and control‐oriented types of leaders and why people consent to such attempts to control them; the most severely aggressive forms of principal mistreatment behaviors; and the effects of principal mistreatment of teachers.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the appropriateness of rationalized democratic processes for schools and discuss the findings of recently completed research on school-based interactions between school principals and parent advocates engaged in negotiating the educational needs of students with exceptionalities.
Abstract: Democratic leadership processes are desirable for schools not only because they reflect socially mandated ethical commitments to collective process. They can be professionally justified as a necessary approach to leading schools effectively in the increasingly culturally diverse communities and a world transformed by the effects of technology and the forces of globalization. Rational professional justifications for democratic leadership in schools include the nature of the school leadership role, the social contexts of the communities, as well as an ideological social mandate. A body of existing theory and research is used to illustrate that rational processes prevail as the primary influences on decision‐making by educational leaders. The appropriateness of rationalized democratic processes for schools is demonstrated by discussing the findings of recently completed research on school‐based interactions between school principals and parent advocates engaged in negotiating the educational needs of students with exceptionalities. Parent advocates were found to intentionally use democratic process to promote value confrontations and conflicts as a deliberate strategy aimed at transforming attitudes and practices in school administration specific to special education processes.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the viability of concepts such as complex systems theory, evolutionary theory and chaos theory as metaphors for being able to give a global perspective of one particular school described in a previous article entitled “Leading people in a chaotic world”.
Abstract: This article discusses the viability of concepts such as complex systems theory, evolutionary theory and chaos theory as metaphors for being able to give a global perspective of one particular school described in a previous article entitled “Leading people in a chaotic world”. The article restates and re‐explains this one particular case in question and offers a rationalisation for using chaos theory as part of a much larger theory of evolution and complexity. The argument restores the overused and popularised chaos theory to its more useful place as an emergent phase in the decision‐making and subsequent change phase of the evolution of complex systems. In so doing, the paper points out that the use of chaos theory alone as a set of management rules for any school was never the intended implication to be derived from this particular case. Instead, the intention was to create a description of the changes in one particular school organisation stretched across time and space in which its structures and processes were continuously evolving in unpredictable, sometimes chaotic, but always complex directions with other structures and processes inside and outside the school.
TL;DR: In this paper, a simple non-linear model is constructed and its behaviour simulated, and questions emerging from the analysis are used to focus on issues deemed significant, both for evaluating arguments presented on behalf of chaos, and for furthering insights aimed at enhancing the understanding and practice of leadership in organisations.
Abstract: This article addresses issues associated with applications of ideas from “chaos theory” to educational administration and leadership as found in the literature. Implications are considered in relation to claims concerning the behaviour of non‐linear dynamic systems, and to the nature of the interpretations and recommendations that are made. To aid the analysis a simple non‐linear model is constructed and its behaviour simulated. Questions emerging from the analysis are used to focus on issues deemed significant, both for evaluating arguments presented on behalf of chaos, and for furthering insights aimed at enhancing the understanding and practice of leadership in organisations.
TL;DR: In this paper, a qualitative study investigating the interactions relating to special education between principals and parent advocates was conducted. And the findings provided rich illustrations of shared decision-making processes, alternative knowledge and understandings of special education and disability, and more politicized forms of parent involvement.
Abstract: Reports the findings of a qualitative study investigating the interactions relating to special education between principals and parent advocates. Specifically focuses on variations in perspectives among the principals and parent advocates on disability, special education and inclusion. Places a particular emphasis on exploring the perceived power imbalances in decision‐making processes and in incompatibility or conflict among values and interests. Data collected through a series of individual interviews and group dialogues involving both advocates and administrators, reveal how the participants define and manage their respective professional roles as they engage with one another in resolving ethical dilemmas in special education. The findings provide rich illustrations of shared decision‐making processes, alternative knowledge and understandings of special education and disability, and more politicized forms of parent involvement. These dialogical interactions also reveal the inequities, power imbalances and politics within organizational arenas that promote conflict. Proposes democratic, critical, and collaborative approaches to interactions as appropriate processes for managing such conflict.
TL;DR: This article argued that education for democracy requires dialogical, authentic learning rather than the commodification of uniform, standardized knowledge and its acquisition touted by those marketizing education primarily for economic purposes, and called upon educators and university scholars to resist the identification of learning with text scores, and to defend the traditional role of learning in the human emancipation of citizens whose knowledge and life lessons learned in school contribute to their wise governance of themselves.
Abstract: This paper summarizes and compares the perspectives of the prior essays in this issue. Goes on to argue that education for democracy requires dialogical, authentic learning rather than the commodification of uniform, standardized knowledge and its acquisition touted by those marketizing education primarily for economic purposes. The paper calls upon educators and university scholars to resist the identification of learning with text scores, and to defend the traditional role of learning in the human emancipation of citizens whose knowledge and life lessons learned in school contribute to their wise governance of themselves.
TL;DR: The theme of education, ethics, and the cult of efficiency was explored in a special issue of the Journal of Educational Administration (JEA) as mentioned in this paper, which explored the theme of "Education, Ethics and the Cult of Efficiency".
Abstract: In 1962, historian Raymond E. Callahan argued that American educators had allowed themselves to become overly enchanted by Taylorite notions of scientific management and had adopted the techniques of the business‐industrial world, to the detriment of the nation's students. Callahan's Education and the Cult of Efficiency not only offered a new and bold interpretation of the history of education in the twentieth century, but it also coined a phrase that continues to represent the constant struggle faced by educators as they seek to balance high‐quality instructional practices with external calls for accountability that often come from corporate and public leaders. This special issue of the Journal of Educational Administration (JEA) presents a set of articles which explore the theme of “Education, Ethics, and the Cult of Efficiency.” The articles that make up this issue began as papers delivered at the 8th Annual Values and Educational Leadership Conference held at Pennsylvania State University in October 2...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the nature and consistency of principals' ethical decision-making processes and suggested some suggestions for future professional development strategies that may serve to better educate principals on the concepts and processes required for consistent, confident and well-reasoned ethical decision making.
Abstract: Using survey results compiled from an extensive study into the ethical decision making of school principals this article analyses the nature and consistency of principals' ethical decision‐making processes. Based on the findings, the article argues that even though principals on the whole have well‐meaning intentions, by and large, they do not display consistent conceptual knowledge of major ethical theories; they exhibit certain contradictions in their ethical reasoning and they suffer regular conflicts with their own personal and professional values. The article concludes by offering some suggestions for future professional development strategies that may serve to better educate principals on the concepts and processes required for consistent, confident and well‐reasoned ethical decision making.