The Changing Nature of Instructional Leadership in the 21st Century

The Changing Nature of Instructional Leadership in the 21st Century PDF

Author: Alan R. Shoho

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2012-12-01

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1617359408

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This third book in the Information Age book series, International Research on School Leadership, focuses on the changing nature of instructional leadership in the 21st century. Our goal is to examine instructional leadership from multiple educational and international perspectives. Unlike many leadership books that focus on conceptualizations and personal narratives, the seven chapters provide empirical evidence of how instructional leadership is evolving in the 21st century. From the effective schools research of the 1980s to today’s relentless calls for improved student performance, attention has focused on the instructional leadership roles and responsibilities of school principals, headteachers, and educational system leaders. The emphasis on student performance has gone global as evidenced by highly-publicized international studies, such as the Trends in International Math and Science Studies (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), comparing student achievement in different countries. These developments have had substantial effects on school leaders, especially building-level principals and headteachers. Rather than being the only ones overseeing school improvement aimed at increasing student learning, many school administrators are distributing leadership responsibilities to other administrators and teachers on their campuses. To fully understand instructional leadership in the 21st century, the book examines three important dimensions of instructional leadership: (1) the current context for turning around low-performing schools, increasing teacher effectiveness, and providing equitable outcomes for all students, (2) international perspectives of instructional leadership development, particularly the value of teacher coaching and leadership development for aspiring and practicing school leaders in a developing country, and (3) the obstacles instructional leaders confront as they deal with fiscal constraints, political pressure, diverse student populations, and high-stakes standards-based reforms.

Instructional Leadership and Effective Teaching and Learning

Instructional Leadership and Effective Teaching and Learning PDF

Author: Nazmi Xhomara

Publisher: Nova Science Publishers

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 9781685071400

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"School leadership has been identified as a key function in assuring quality in education. The instructional leadership model refers to the role and the functions of school leadership to employ different management tasks with regards to teaching and learning. Instructional leadership role includes (a) developing mission and goals, (b) managing the educational production function, (c) promoting an academic learning climate, and (d) developing a supportive work environment. Instructional leaders were described as leading from a combination of both expertise and charisma focused primarily on the improvement of student learning outcomes. The monograph, entitled Instructional Leadership and Effective Teaching and Learning and written by Nazmi Xhomara, is dedicated to school instructional leadership as an important factor that influences teaching and learning at school. In the first chapter, the author presents and analyzes educational leadership vs educational management, as well as models of educational leadership and management. The author argues on the importance of different leadership models, such as managerial leadership, transformational leadership, participative leadership, interpersonal leadership, transactional leadership, postmodern leadership, moral leadership, and contingent leadership. Chapters Two, Three, and Four shed light on instructional leadership and teaching and learning, understanding of instructional leadership, the concept and practice of instructional leadership, instructional school leadership and learning environment, attributes of instructional leaders, instructional excellence, instructional leadership time management, effective teaching and teachers, as well as teaching challenges and learning environment. Meanwhile, the author has analyzed constructivism, student intelligence, understanding of supervision, instructional collegial supervision, supervision approaches, understanding of evaluation of teaching and learning, teacher evaluation, and instructional observing instruments in chapters Five, Six, and Seven. Chapters Eight and Nine are focused especially on the research work of the relationships between instructional leadership and teaching, learning, and students' achievements, as well as on an empirical study designed and conducted in Albania as a case. Chapters Ten and Eleven are dedicated to instructional leadership preparation and the future of instructional leadership As a conclusion, Xhomara indicates that principals are responsible for developing school climates and cultures that support the very best instructional practices. The new era of instructional leadership has predictably placed significant demands for accountability for student success and equity on the principal as well as for the university programs that prepare them. Working in twenty-first-century schools, the instructional leader is held more accountable than ever for student success"--

Using Data in Schools to Inform Leadership and Decision Making

Using Data in Schools to Inform Leadership and Decision Making PDF

Author: Alex J. Bowers

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2014-11-01

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1623967880

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Our fifth book in the International Research on School Leadership series focuses on the use of data in schools and districts as useful information for leadership and decision making. Schools are awash in data and information, from test scores, to grades, to discipline reports, and attendance as just a short list of student information sources, while additional streams of data feed into schools and districts from teachers and parents as well as local, regional and national policy levels. To deal with the data, schools have implemented a variety of data practices, from data rooms, to data days, data walks, and data protocols. However, despite the flood of data, successful school leaders are leveraging an analysis of their school’s data as a means to bring about continuous improvement in an effort to improve instruction for all students. Nevertheless, some drown, some swim, while others find success. Our goal in this book volume is to bring together a set of chapters by authors who examine successful data use as it relates to leadership and school improvement. In particular, the chapters in this volume consider important issues in this domain, including: • How educational leaders use data to inform their practice. • What types of data and data analysis are most useful to successful school leaders. • To what extent are data driven and data informed practices helping school leaders positively change instructional practice? • In what ways does good data collection and analysis feed into successful continuous improvement and holistic systems thinking? • How have school leadership practices changed as more data and data analysis techniques have become available? • What are the major obstacles facing school leaders when using data for decision making and how do they overcome them?

School Leadership for the 21st Century

School Leadership for the 21st Century PDF

Author: Brent Davies

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 9780415133661

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Focuses on the changing context of education; the changing nature of self-managing schools; their own leadership and management skills within this environment.

Challenges and Opportunities of Educational Leadership Research and Practice

Challenges and Opportunities of Educational Leadership Research and Practice PDF

Author: Alex J. Bowers

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2015-09-01

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1681232766

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As the sixth volume in the International Research on School Leadership series, the contributing authors in this volume consider the history, challenges, and opportunities of the field of research and practice in educational leadership and administration in schools and districts. Ten years after the work of Firestone and Riehl (2005) and their contributing authors, our aim with the present volume was to summarize and update the work of the field, and provide a space to consider the multiple futures of educational leadership in schools and districts, as both challenges and opportunities. The first decade of the twenty?first century brought significant critiques, challenges, and competition to the research and practice of training leaders and administrators of schools and districts around the world. Congruently, the field experienced significant growth and change, as multiple new sub?domains flourished and were founded. Thus, in this volume we were delighted to included excellent chapters from multiple authors that considered the duality of the challenges and opportunities of: - The work of the field of educational leadership and administration research to date. - The opportunities and challenges of new visions of leadership in traditional and non?traditional schools. - The evolving state of research evidence in educational leadership and the increasing sophistication of multiple methodologies, including qualitative research, quantitative modeling, the ability to test theory, and the increasing opportunities brought on by the intersection of data, research, and practice. - The preparation of educational leaders. - And the emerging trends in the professional development of school leaders. The authors of the nine chapters in the present book volume took on this challenge of confronting the duality of not only including the past as we look to the future, but also the duality of the critique of the field in the midst of exciting and significant progress in our knowledge and understanding of leadership in schools. In the first section of the book (Chapters 2, 3 and 4), the authors examine the interplay of educational leadership research and theory as it relates to reform in schools, especially as it relates to serving historically underserved populations globally. In section 2 (Chapters 5 and 6), the authors highlight the importance of methodological considerations in school leadership research as a means to understand theory and practice as well as providing interesting avenues that point to multiple exciting future possibilities through rely ing on current innovations noted within the chapters. Section 3, (Chapters 7 and 8) examine the research and practice of school leadership preparation, especially as it relates to university?district partnerships and non?traditional school settings. And in the final chapter, (Chapter 9), our capstone contributor provides a means to link the present volume with the past writings on these topics, while also providing a lens to view the exciting possibilities and promises of the multiple futures of the field of educational leadership research and practice.

The Challenges for New Principals in the 21st Century

The Challenges for New Principals in the 21st Century PDF

Author: Bruce G. Barnett

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2010-09-01

Total Pages: 173

ISBN-13: 161735094X

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This book series, International Research on School Leadership focuses on how present-day issues affect the theory and practice of school leadership. For this inaugural book, we focused on the challenges facing new principals and headteachers. Because the professional lives of school leaders have increasingly impinged on their personal well-being and resources have continued to shrink, it is important to understand how new principals or headteachers share and divide their energy, ideas, and time within the school day. It is also important to discover ways to provide professional development and support for new principals and headteachers as they strive to lead their schools in the 21st century. For these reasons, this book is dedicated to exploring the rarely-examined experiences of those who enter the role as new principals or headteachers. By giving voice to new principals and headteachers, we are able to determine what aspects of leadership preparation ring true and what aspects prove to be of little or no utility. Unlike leadership texts that have focused on conceptual considerations and personal narratives from the field, this book focuses on a collection of empirical efforts centered on the challenges and issues that new principals and headteachers experience during their initial and crucial years of induction. We solicited and accepted manuscripts that explore the multi-faceted dimensions of being a new principal or headteacher in the 21st century. Our goal was to create an edited book that examines the commonalities and differences that new principals and headteachers experience from an international perspective. This edited book is comprised of six chapters, each of which contributes a unique perspective on the responsibilities that new principals and headteachers are experiencing at the dawn of the 21st century.

Contextual Intelligence in School Leadership

Contextual Intelligence in School Leadership PDF

Author: Ramodikoe Nylon Marishane

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-04-28

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 9004431268

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Nylon Marishane presents an integrated approach to leadership, which has the potential to close the existing gaps in school leadership theories and practices

Learning-Focused Leadership in Action

Learning-Focused Leadership in Action PDF

Author: Michael S. Knapp

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-03-21

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1134748329

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In an educational context where school and district performance is of increasing focus, it’s essential for leaders at all levels of the educational system to focus on improving student performance. This volume zeros in on a promising set of strategies and practices for all leaders to motivate, support, and sustain learning in contemporary schools. Learning-Focused Leadership in Action explores what it means for educational leadership to be "learning-focused," what this looks like in practice at both the school and district level, and how such leadership changes can be set in motion. Drawing on extensive case study research in schools and districts that are making progress on learning improvement, this volume explores how leaders at all levels of the educational system can productively seek to improve the quality of learning opportunities and student performance, no matter how challenging the circumstances.

The Creation of a Professional Learning Community for School Leaders

The Creation of a Professional Learning Community for School Leaders PDF

Author: Amalia Humada- Ludeke

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-09-03

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 9462093202

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The unwavering culture of continuous improvement efforts to bring about school change has irrevocably changed the role expectations for the school leader. The school leader in the 21st century is increasingly perceived as an instructional leader expected to implement whole-school reform models that can shape teacher practice and influence student outcomes. The significant changes in role expectations for school leaders present considerable challenges to an educational system that was not designed to incorporate these conceptualizations. In light of the increased acceptance of changed leadership expectations, the elements that are needed for developing, supporting, and sustaining instructional leaders who can lead systemic change efforts are frequently not present, are fragmented, or are observed at various developmental stages throughout the pK-20 pipeline. This book is centered on the learning and changed behaviors of school leaders, who engaged in a sustained job-embedded professional learning community, facilitated through a university-district partnership. The learning from the findings, suggested that job-embedded learning with their peers, can be instrumental for these principals to build the capacity to lead systemic change efforts. The findings further suggested that creating conditions for new understanding to occur, and sustained opportunities to apply new learning in context to their role, entailed a collaborative effort by a partnership involving two separate institutions with different priorities. The author makes a case for the educational pipeline, to prioritize the support and understanding of complex systemic change efforts and innovations, as they are linked to school improvement.

An Introduction to Educational Research

An Introduction to Educational Research PDF

Author: Chad R. Lochmiller

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2015-12-11

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1483319490

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Written specifically for education practitioners, An Introduction to Educational Research: Connecting Methods to Practice approaches research methods from a practice-first perspective that aligns research with professional experiences and identifies the tools and resources readers can use when conducting their own research. Throughout the book, authors Chad R. Lochmiller and Jessica N. Lester illuminate complex research concepts using problems of practice confronting educators to help readers make meaningful connections with key concepts and research practices. The authors present balanced coverage across research methodologies that is linked to practice, so readers clearly see research as a tool they can use to improve classrooms, schools, districts, and educational organizations.