William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

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William Allan Kritsonis, PhD - Selected National Refereed Journal Articles. Manuscript published earned five (5) affirmative votes from the National Editorial Review Board and was formally recommended for publication by the National Policy Board representing the respective journal. www.nationalforum.com

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The Lamar University Electronic Journal of Student Research Summer 2007

National Implications: Characteristics of Effective Leadership in K-12

Rebecca Duong PhD Student in Educational Leadership The Whitlowe R. Green College of Education Prairie View A&M University Assistant Principal in Curriculum Willman J. Plummer Middle School Aldine Independent School District

William Allan Kritsonis, PhD Professor and Faculty Mentor PhD Program in Educational Leadership Prairie View A&M University Member of the Texas A&M University System Visiting Lecturer (2005) Oxford Round Table University of Oxford, England Distinguished Alumnus (2004) Central Washington University College of Education and Professional Studies

____________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Schools tend to reflect the societies in which they are embedded (Kroll, 2004). Policymakers, school administrators, teachers, and parents all play a role in the creation of a school’s infrastructure. The crucial success of a school community involves essential skills and strategies evident in highly successful administrative leadership. Thus, an ideal educational organization should provide innovative ways for leaders within schools to be openly accountable to parents, to communities, and to students. Whether this accountability involves high-stakes testing, making schools safe and secure for all students and faculty members, or having qualified faculty members, school leaders are guided by a strong sense of purpose and act in ways that reinforce and support the school community’s vision (Kroll, 2004). Note: Special note of gratitude to Dr. Kimberly Grantham Griffith for her assistance in getting this article published. See: www.nationalforum.com ____________________________________________________________________________

Introduction In today’s age of technology and high-speed communication, the ultimate goal of public education is the notion and belief that all students have the ability to learn and will be held to higher standards of learning (Kroll, 2004). The belief is that overall achievement of success in the school is more important than the counterparts that makeup the entire organization. Our challenge as educational leaders is to create a school structure that integrates procedures, policies, and teachings which reflect the constant change of the world (Gulla, 2003). This goal can only be achieved with a successful, high-performing leadership team.

Purpose of the Article The purpose of this article is to explore characteristics of effective school leadership. Every leadership team faces the challenge of developing a school community that successfully implements structural and cultural changes while improving the practices of teaching and learning in the school. These changes entail a mutually respectful attitude towards collaboration and shared decision making. Collectively, administrative leaders are able to incorporate this ideal attitude as an integral part of the school’s climate.

Recommendations Through a positive outlook, respect to all in the school community, and a trusting attitude throughout the members, the leadership team can improve faculty moral, increase student success, build an encouraging school climate and culture, and increase positive relations with the community. Ultimately, the success of a school depends on the leadership skills of the principal in creating boundaries for growth and change while taking on new information and ideals (Gulla, 2003). The principal is directly responsible for the climate of the school as well as the efficiency and satisfaction of all staff members and students. He/she is responsible for all activities in school, but his/her main role is instructional leader (Kritsonis, 2002). Expectations for the principal comprise of answering and solving questions about learning, teaching, and overall student success (Gulla, 2003). The behavior, attitude and actions of the principal have a trickling effect towards others members on the administrative leadership team. Others respond directly or indirectly, to what the principal does as well as what he does not do (Gulla, 2003). This effect leads to the overall task of training and providing professional leadership development education that will enable leaders within the organization to deliver the best service to the community, parents and students. School leaders have a direct effect on school effectiveness and student achievement. Leadership impacts the quality of teaching in schools across the country. For example, school leaders provide the direction and focus towards the curriculum, the teaching, as well as the management of the school community. They are the change agents, program and personnel directors, business mangers, and disciplinarians (Kritsonis, 2002). In addition, they must always support student and adult learning. Principals also evaluate teachers and make decisions about classroom curriculum and assignments. When classroom instruction is weak, or when staff

members are unhappy, the responsibility to fix these situations rests with the school leader (Gulla, 2003). Principles of Management The roles of administrators are governed by four principles of management created by Fayol: to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and control (Lee, 2005). These principles help the organization to create specialization of the division of labor, authority and responsibility within all members, and a unity of direction as well as order and equity among all members of the organization (Lee, 2005). Together these principles help to shape the management style within the organization. • To forecast and plan- In order to forecast and plan, leaders must provide a positive vision. Develop a vision that guides the school community but allows members to make decisions supporting the vision. As the leader in the school community, setting priorities, which are the values, beliefs and principles of the school is created and embedded into the life and operations of the school. These values represent the non-negotiable or fundamental principles that all members are required to understand. Leaders must also model a positive attitude. This is critical to members’ perceptions of the leader. As the leader in a school community, he/she should be able to build strategic working relationships with students, staff members, parents and community members. Leaders should be flexible and open to change, but have goals and a vision created at this time. Leaders must be adaptable to change. To organize-Leaders are able to build successful teams. Pulling people together toward a common goal. He/she believes in continuous learning when developing new skills or capabilities. Leaders are also resourceful. Effective school leaders create data-driven committees that hold all individuals accountable for instructional improvement. Leaders must provide the required training to assure all staff members are prepared for their jobs and responsibilities. Encourage collaboration and teamwork. To command-Leaders manage the job by prioritizing tasks and managing time effectively. They are adaptable and flexible to change. He/she builds loyalty with others by being responsive to others’ needs and requests. To coordinate-Leaders are great communicators. Ideas and plans are explained clearly for all members. Leaders must be trustworthy. Can I trust my leader? Does my leader care about me? Leaders must earn the trust of others by doing what they say they’ll do and by being fair. Creating a foundation of trust encourages commitment to the school community.







To control-Leaders are problem solvers who analyze and understand problems. The success of the school is controlled by all members. Everyone has a part to play. Effective leaders

attract innovative teachers with innovative ideas and programs to the school. Being able to have creative staff members improve teaching while promoting collaboration with staff members.

Multiple Leaders in Every Organization Every organization contains multiple leaders because there are many people who play critical roles. They are responsible to students, parents and community members. As the principal, he/she should build leadership communities in order to collaborate and acquire the knowledge, beliefs, and skills that create a common shared vision as well as motivate others towards the vision. This vision revolves around the direction of the teaching and learning process, the management of operations in the school and procedures to join the community in dealing with external factors that may affect the school’s vision. Furthermore, leaders must identify a goal and prepare a strategy to meet the goal. Goals can vary from day to day depending on the needs of the school. As a result, schools are able to discover new opportunities for work, learning, and innovation by ensuring that the organization executes its mission and vision (Tucker et al., 2005). Together all parts of organization are dependent on the other areas for overall success of the organization. Effective Communication is Key to Success The potential to reshape education requires effective communication from the leadership team. Within the team, all leaders should draw upon a rich web of interconnections among all members in the community. Parents, corporations, colleges and universities, service clubs, government and local educational institutions such as museums helps to shape and emphasize critical thinking, teamwork, compromise, and constructive communication skills valued in today’s workplace (Pedro, 2001). The ideal calls for changing roles of students, teachers, and administrators. This begins with a school community built around a school culture that nurtures staff collaboration and participation in decision making. An effective school culture operates more like a community than an organization. This camaraderie begins with the leaders. Collaboration promotes effective school culture because it helps break down teacher isolation, and builds teamwork for shared problem-solving and decision-making which places a value on interdependence and support among staff members (Tucker et al., 2005). There is an increased interaction and communication between teachers and teachers and between school administrators and teachers. For example, administrators find ways for teachers and staff to collaborate on significant changes needed in the school. Committees are formed as well as school-based decision making teams. These groups emphasize productive communication and joint or shared work among staff members (Cordes, 2004).

The Importance of Providing a Positive School Climate A positive climate, with high degree of cooperation and cohesion among administrators and staff members is very important. Effective leaders continuously strive to develop positive relationships with diverse groups. Teachers are given high autonomy and influence over

activities concerned with curriculum and instruction as well as being a part of the site-based committee that sets the policies and procedures of the school structure (Brookhart, 2004). The power of autonomy for teachers provides teachers the freedom to take ownership of his/her own roles in the success of the organization. Educators will change what they are doing and how they are teaching because they see purpose in the change (Brookhart, 2004). Thus, they will take ownership of the change in their own teaching because they believe it is what is best for the organization. These principles help guide the curriculum and provide a touchstone for administrative leaders to evaluate and consider the organizational practices in the context of classroom, school, community, and culture. Leaders and Instructional Leadership Within any organization, having good leadership is now considered to be the crucial factor if an organization is to be successful (Cordes, 2004). This leads to the question, how successful are principals and administrators in assisting and improving policies and/or procedures within the organization? Leaders of tomorrow should be highly skilled and educated on developing effective leadership in an educational setting. Administrators within this ideal organization should continuously attend professional leadership developments that will help in their role as instructional leaders. Leaders have to practice “instructional leadership,” leadership that informs and guides teachers’ decisions so that everyday routines and procedures can interconnect with policies (Kritsonis, 2002). Principals and administrators have the ability to lead in the development of curriculum and instruction, provide a safe and orderly school climate conducive to teaching and learning, have high teacher expectations, and evaluate the success of programs and student achievement with a variety of measurements (Brookhart, 2004). Instructional leadership within this organization blends several tasks, such as supervision of classroom instruction, staff development, and curriculum development. Together these characteristics provide the framework for the role administrators have in this organization. Leaders Must Have a Moral Purpose An effective leader must have a moral purpose. The leader burdens a social responsibility to the school community. Leaders have to evaluate their own decisions and develop expertise that skillfully and creatively applies ethical principles to create a positive environment (Martin, 2004). He/she is not only concerned with the achievement scores and closing the gaps in his/her school but other schools in the district. This concern transcends to understanding the pros and cons of change. A leader help others understand the need for change within the school and collaborates as well as recruits others to the cause. Before he/she makes these changes they have already weighed the pros and cons in regards to school success. Respect is given to all members and the leader listens carefully to skeptics who have identified flaws in the proposed changes. He/she uses these critiques as worthwhile suggestions and ideas in the planning of the proposed idea.

Professional Development and Improvement

Administrators are continuously provided with innovative training and new approaches for leadership development. One preparation can be related to a learning approach known as action learning (Lee, 2005). Action learning is “both a process and a powerful program that involves a small group of people solving real problems while at the same time focusing on what they are learning and how their learning can benefit each group member and the organization as a whole”(Lee, 2005). Action learning is an effective approach of emphasizing leadership development of taking charge or implementation of ideas. One way of taking charge within the educational realm is providing valuable and meaningful professional development. Thus, professional development is an integral part of the overall school improvement plan. How do school leaders and educators improve their ability to retool teaching, update curriculum, integrate new research methodologies into instruction, meet the needs of students, and raise test scores? Administrators are also spending time discussing learning theory ideas with their staff, tying meaningful dialogue with teachers in post-observation conferences or creating regular meeting times over the course of the year to help teachers understand educational ideas, programs, and effective techniques and skills to utilize in the classroom. The focus of an effective leader is not how well the teacher is teaching, but what the students are actually learning (Kroll, 2004). Pulling teachers together at a staff-development session and having them discuss ways a single course study or discuss ways to teach the subject can help empower the teachers. District administrators to building administrators to teachers, should help focus on the curriculum alignment from pre-kindergarten to high school. Teachers at all levels are held accountable for student success even if the grade he/she teaches is not a TAKS testing grade. This focus in curriculum alignment helps strengthen student achievement in all levels. Students are no longer entering the next grade level without prior knowledge and skills from the previous year. In addition, research shows that effective curriculum alignment and teacher accountability is directly affected by administrators (Tucker et al., 2005). Educational leaders have to be able to educate teachers, encourage and motivate, are risk-takers, and be the challenger as well as the resource person for all staff members in order for teachers to be successful in the classroom. We must also ensure that professional development is systematic, research-based, jobembedded, ongoing, and supported by follow-up sessions (Gulla, 2003). The structures of professional development are the procedures used by educational leaders who plan professional development for the district and or school. Structures must be in place in order to produce effective, high quality sessions. As the leader, the administrator’s responsibility is to provide the “how” and “why” of staff development. For example, making the time, finding the location, funding the sources, and most importantly, how this staff development will help in the success of our students. It is not just a matter of exposing teachers to the latest research and moving on. Truly effective staff development takes teachers on a journey, so that they have a sense of what it actually feels like to have the learning experience they will be providing for their students. This requires full, longterm engagement of teachers and administrators (Tucker et al., 2005). For the school community, the effectiveness of professional development is linked to improved student learning and achievement (Kroll, 2004).

The Importance of Policies and Procedures Policies within the organization helps to improve schools only when all stakeholders are provided with the knowledge, skills, and support they need. Since teachers are the backbone of the success of our organization, our challenge as administrators is to find ways to motivate teachers to high levels of performance. Administrators can provide external incentives to teachers such as financial rewards, advancement opportunities, as well as workplace variety for teachers who are not satisfied with their current positions (Brookhart, 2004). But these external incentives are not the only factors. The focus should primarily be on work conditions for teachers, such as class size, discipline conditions, and availability of teaching materials as well as the quality of the principal’s and other administrators’ supervision and communication with teachers. Providing Opportunities for Collaboration An ideal school community offers direct feedback with teachers and administrators, gives teachers the autonomy to teach, and provide opportunities for collaboration, as well as stimulating challenges to teachers that involve school improvement plans, and leading curriculum development groups. The focus of this challenge on school leaders is modeling instructional strategies and skills in the realm of curriculum and instruction. Implementing the strategies developed during this planning stage can be very exciting but also challenging. Leaders and staff members must learn to adjust to unforeseen barriers. In turn, the leader must be able to make available the necessary tools and skills along the way. How will we measure the effectiveness of the organization? The ability of our organization to achieve the goals and vision set forth is the fundamental way to measure success within the organization. To be effective, our organization must contribute to the good of society by demonstrating a sense of social responsibility and ensuring that the organizational values are consistent with society, but provide all students the finest academic curriculum and instruction for student success (Gulla, 2003). The obvious measure of success within the organization is student achievement scores, student grades, as well as the passing and failing rates of the school. But beyond the concrete criteria that measure school success there are other aspects that needs to taken into consideration. The Importance of a Mission Statement As previously stated, the organization should have a clear mission statement, clear goals and objectives, and a vision for the school. Effective resources are available to teachers and administrators. Finally, there should be opportunities for academic standard mastery with the use of continuous staff development and high expectations for students and staff across the school promoting open communication and collaboration among staff members (Lee, 2005). And the measure of an organization’s effectiveness also includes the school climate and moral of the staff members. All staff members feel a sense of purpose and stability in their positions at the school.

Setting High Expectations and Motivating Others Setting high expectations for the success of the school community is also vital in the school climate. Motivating staff members to have high expectations for students relates to how staff members feel about expectations in their own job. Leaders expect all staff members to understand the school climate as well as procedures and routines. Leaders should expect high levels of involvement in staff development participation. Most importantly, leaders expect staff members to prioritize academic achievement as the critical goal of the school community. Ensuring that all staff members focus on the highest degrees of achievement and attainment clearly begins with the leadership team. Concluding Remarks In conclusion, the ultimate goal of effective leadership is to provide the necessary circumstances to foster communities’ lifelong learners, where intellect and cooperation are highly valued. The role of the administrator is to focus on student learning. They are not distracted by the multiple numbers of external factors that they face each day. As a result, leaders continually share and provide knowledge among staff members, whether it involves team planning, sending a teacher to a professional conference, distributing a professional development article, or having a book study. Others must see him/her as a lifelong learner (Kroll, 2004). Thus, he/she is a role model for his/her staff. There is a continuous vision of ongoing change. But within these changes, the following ideals are the framework of effective leadership in school communities. • Leadership involves communication. For example, being able to respond to people positively who have differing points of views can be challenging to ineffective leaders. Also, proposing ideas and leading the way to follow-through and complete the plan is part of being an effective leader. Success is continuously measured by the guidance and a strong sense of purpose from school leaders. In times of challenging situations, be persistent; seek help from others who are knowledgeable and objective. Leadership involves being a good listener. The leader listens to other’s ideas and proposals because all school community members are valued. Leadership involves multi-tasking. Leaders are faced with a myriad of tasks each day. How he/she handles each crisis, dilemma or problem can reflect their personal leadership style. Effective leaders are visible within the school community. Leaders are seen in the hallways, at community meetings, and in the overall running of the school. The leader understands the climate of his/her school and not be secluded in the office all day. Others in the school community respond directly or indirectly to actions revealed by their leaders. Leaders are divergent thinkers and demonstrate curiosity as well as creativity. Develop behaviors and strategies that spotlight students and staff members in positive situations. Recognition for others should be publicly celebrated for others to see. The school climate automatically improves when

• • • •



leaders reward and recognize the achievements of others. In the end, leaders are responsible for the overall climate of the school as well as student and staff satisfaction and success. Within these communities, leaders covey to others that decisions are made by those in the best position to make them-by students, teachers, and educational administrators. Quality school leaders understand teaching and are respected by staff members. These individuals are willing to hold the burden and responsibility for student learning and meeting school-wide goals. Continual growth and challenges will always be constant. But when the leadership team and its members bond together and focus on the pursuit of overall success of the organization internally and externally, then the school community cannot fail but only thrive and flourish.

References Ackerman, E. (2004, December). Effective Teacher Preparation Programs form the Perspective of First Year Teachers. Retrieved June 20, 2006, http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.tamu.edu Brookhart, S. M. (2004, March). Classroom Assessment: Tensions and Intersections in Theory and Practice. Journal of Educational Measurement, 106(3), 429-457. Cordes, S. L. (2004, June). Statewide Accountability Environments and their Effect on Teachers' Practices. Retrieved June 20, 2006, from http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.tamu.edu Gulla, A. N. (2003, May). So I Know I'm Not Alone: The Role of Story in Teachers' Professional Development. Retrieved June 20, 2006, from http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.tamu.edu Kritsonis, W. (2002). William Kritsonis, PhD on Schooling. Mansfield, Ohio: BookMasters Inc. Kroll, L. R. (2004, April). Constructing Constructivism: How Student-Teachers Construct Ideas of Development, Knowledge, Learning, and Teaching. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 10(2), 199-221. Lee, T. B. (2005, May 22). A Case Study of an Action Learning Program with regard to Leadership Behaviors and Characteristics. Retrieved June 20, 2006, from http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.tamu.edu Martin, J. (2004, December). The Relationship Between Principals, Ethics, and Campus Ratings. Retrieved September 23, from http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.tamu.edu O'Shaughnessy, J. (, 2001). A Philosophical Basis for Constructivist Education. Retrieved June 20, 2006, from http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.tamu.edu

Pedro, J. Y. (2001, July 2). Reflection In Teacher Education: Exploring Pre-Service Teachers' Meanings of Reflective Practice. Retrieved June 20, 2006, from http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.tamu.edu

See: www.nationalforum.com

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