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Jennifer,
I enjoyed your article on decision-making. I was expecting something else when thinking about decision-making, so it was an interesting twist to see an article that encourages leaders to seek out student input. At the high school I used to work at, my principal had a student leadership team that would have lunch with the school board president once a month. It was a great way to get student input and to teach them to voice their opinion.  This article does a great job of echoing the importance of that model.
Krista Schultze

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Positive School Leadership: How Professional Standards for Educational Leaders Can Be Brought To Life

Murphy, J., Louis, K. S., & Smylie, M. (2017). Positive school leadership. Phi Delta Kappan, 99(1), 21. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.easydb.angelo.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=88715906-406c-4b4a-9c00-e744bc72cdb6%40sessionmgr4009 doi:10.1177/0031721717728273

In 2015, the National Policy Board for Educational Administration adopted new standards for educational administration.  These new standards focused on the personal virtues associated with great leaders, social nature, personal relationships, and interactions with students.  Along with these personality "traits", the new standards also address how educational administration should interact with stakeholders, and focuses on growth human potential, and professional support.  The new standards are based in positive leadership roles and continued learning. The new dimensions in the standards for leadership are a strong professional calling, moral framework, character and virtue, interest of others, personal relationships, and community empowerment. (Murphy & Smylie, 2017).

The new standards are a growth model based in the improvement of ones self in order to be the best administrator possible for the school.  Like with every set of standards, these new standards will only be effective if they are followed and brought into professional practice. When these standards are brought into professional practice, they create a pathway for meaningful and high-quality schools to emerge for all students (Murphy & Smylie, 2017).

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Learning From Failure

Greene, J. P. & McShane, M. Q. (2018). Learning From Failure. Phi Delta Kappan, 99(8), 46. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.easydb.angelo.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=743b1e14-5d4d-4d75-9da3-52f837c0e048%40sessionmgr4008

The American educational system is constantly in a state of flux with reforms and initiatives coming and going like the tides.  The authors of this article focus on the failures of different reforms and what educational leaders and politicians should learn from these failures.  The authors found that many of the same undercurrents through the failure of different reforms and they addressed how to make educational reform work for all students.
Educational forms fail for many different reasons, but some of the reoccurring reasons for failure are urgency vs. prudence, top down vs. bottom up, and politics.  Many of those in leadership positions in schools tend to push educational reform that is a quick fix to the problems within the system. While this is flashy and gets funding and following from politicians, education reform takes time and finesse to be successful. The top down approach of legislative educational reform does not typically work in the long run. While top-down reform is flashy and garners funding and support from leaders, it is the teachers and people in the schools who must implement the reform and if they are not on board and believe in the reform it will never be successful. The final reason for reform failure is politics. Whether we like it or not politics is a part of the educational system and it is never going away. The sooner we accept this and move to working with politicians to enact educational reform, the sooner that reform will become effective (Greene & McShane, 2018).
Educational reform is a complex issue and must be approached as such. Reform is not a one and done or something that can be fixed with a band-aid. Reform takes time, money, buy-in, people on the ground willing to work hard to implement it, and even politics. In order for reform to be effective educational leaders need to work with these different and complex players to enact effective reform and make a better school system for our students (Greene & McShane, 2018).

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What Do Students Have to Do With Educational Leadership? Making a Case for Centering Student Voice

Lac, V. T., & Mansfield, K. C. (2018). What Do Students Have to Do with Educational Leadership? Making a Case for Centering Student Voice. Journal Of Research On Leadership Education, 13(1), 38-58.

Lac and Mansfield explore the importance in including parents and students in the decision making procedures for school systems in this article.  Throughout educational history critical decisions have been made by administrators, politicians, and rarely teachers but never community members such as parents and students.  Student voice can be defined as students physically sharing their ideas, but also by using student data to show what students want and need within their educational system.  Student voice is critical in the classroom, but it is also needed in the decision making process (Lac & Mansfield, 2018).

So how do educational leaders incorporate student voice into the decision making processes? Educational leaders have to re-teach and encourage our students to become involved in the decision making process. Leaders must also offer programs that teach students how to be leaders in their own right and articulate their wants and needs. Education leaders can also create sub-communities or focus groups within the school and use these student groups to learn the wants and needs of the students (Lac & Mansfield, 2018).

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The Effect of Bureaucratic School Structure on Teacher Leadership Culture: A Mixed Study

Parlar, H. h., & Cansoy, R. c. (2017). The Effect of Bureaucratic School Structure on Teacher Leadership Culture: A Mixed Study. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 17(6), 2175-2201. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.easydb.angelo.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=18&sid=362877e6-b9f7-4a2d-a947-0ab0e97c7f79%40sessionmgr101 doi:10.12738/estp.2017.6.0150

This article focuses on two different organizational structures of the today's schools and which one is more conducive to teacher leaders taking initiative to lead. In the traditional bureaucratic school structure schools are ran by administrators who set forth rules, regulations, and procedures and focus heavily on monitoring the implementation of these rules and regulations. Administrators in bureaucratic school systems observe teachers and students frequently to ensure these rules and procedures are being followed. The second school organizational system reviewed in this article is the enabling bureaucratic system. In this school system, professional development, autonomy, cooperation is promoted, and teachers are considered experts in their fields. All of these attributes make the enabling bureaucratic school system more conducive to teacher leaders (Parlar & Cansoy, 2017).

The theme of the findings of this article are that principals who are effective in creating an enabling bureaucratic system is that these principals are flexible. They are willing to forgo the bureaucracy in some cases so that teachers feel enabled to lead, but use the bureaucratic system when needed. When principals use power to maintain their positions and have no flexibility, then teachers are unhappy and begin to burn out. As for how a principal or administrator can help teachers be more effective in their occupation, this study showed that teachers need time to develop their own knowledge of educational systems and best practices. Teachers also need encouragement and guidance on how to become better teachers. Finally, this article addressed how and why the bureaucratic system was effective. Bureaucracy is needed for structure, organization, and a well run school while flexibility of this system is needed for a school system that produces teacher leaders and successful leaders (Parlar & Cansoy, 2017).

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Jennifer,

I really enjoyed reading your article I think this article is spot on in regards to how important it is to have participation. I have not heard of this the different organization models that are a common element. Those three; common planning time, professional learning communities, and critical friends groups is interesting because one would not think that critical friends would be necessary. Professional networking is extremely important in helping to grow an educator mind and motivation.

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Peer comment for Building Teacher Collaboration post

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Peer comment for Building Teacher Collaboration post

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Hi Jennifer,

Your article is very truthful about the models being used for teacher collaboration not being effective without true participation. I personally have been in PLCs that were extremely effective and helped me learn from my co-workers’ experiences. I have also attended PLCs, where I left feeling like I wasted valuable time of my day that could have been spent working in my classroom. There was a difference in the way the meeting was structured that affected the results. When the principal was part of the meeting with an agenda for us to discuss, the meeting flowed well with everyone participating as the principal always made sure everyone had a voice in the conversation. When the principal was not in the meetings and there was not an agenda, I felt like one issue was slightly discussed with no depth, then the entire time was filled with one teacher talking about other random issues that did not pertain to the other teachers. In “Leaders and Learners,” Hirsh and Hord (2008) stated that principal involvement impacts the effectiveness of the PLC since teachers notice the principal’s participation to determine the importance of the meeting. In my PLC experiences, the teacher participation changed as the leadership participation changed. I am sure the same results happen when a teacher does not have buy-in for the PLC meeting. Therefore, that teacher is not going to benefit from the meeting without his or her participation.

Thank you for sharing this article.

Crystal Berry  7/15/18

References

Hirsh, S., & Hord, S. (2008). Leader & Learner. Principal Leadership, 26-30.

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Jennifer, your article on collaboration was one that hit home for me. Teacher collaboration is the keystone to effective change and participation. True change does not occur by one's actions alone, a team of dedicated and passionate teachers can improve the students perception of their education. The article supports this claim by noting that a shared vision and goal set the organization for success. If an organization does not already have an assigned protocol to help educators meet and collaborate with one another, then the leadership on campus should create such an opportunity. Change and the benefits that can occur with collaboration are worth taking the time to build a schedule that allows for professional discussion to take place and as well as a deep review of the curriculum. Your piece should be shared with new teachers or those who may be new to the collaboration process. Excellent find... JRN

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Building Teacher Collaboration Schoolwide: Models for Teacher Collaboration Are Ineffective WIthout True Participation

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Building Teacher Collaboration Schoolwide: Models for Teacher Collaboration Are Ineffective WIthout True Participation

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Caskey, M. M. & Carpenter, J. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.amle.org/BrowsebyTopic/WhatsNew/WNDet/TabId/270/ArtMID/888/ArticleID/446/Building-Teacher-Collaboration-School-wide.aspx

This article is focused on teacher collaboration, but has valid points that every administrator needs to be aware of.  In order to foster effective teacher interaction and collaboration every principal needs to be aware of the different models of teacher collaboration.  The three main teacher collaboration models are where teachers have a common planning time, professional learning communities, and critical friends groups (Caskey & Carpenter, 2018).
Using these models to create a master schedule and meeting plan are critical elements for principals and school leaders. If principal expect teachers to have effective PLCs then these teachers need to have time within the school day set aside so that they have time to plan together and evaluate relevant data.  The best way to foster this within the school building is to give content area teachers common planning time.  This allows the teachers to have time to effectively plan together (Caskey & Carpenter, 2018).
Even though the master schedule is critical to teacher's ability to collaborate together, this collaboration can only occur if the teachers can work together.  According to Caskey and Carpenter, teachers need more than the time together to collaborate effectively.  They also need to believe that it is their choice to work together and that they are not being forced to collaborate with someone they see as inferior or they have personality conflicts with.  In order to keep these situations from arising within teams, principals need to help foster relationships, create a shared vision within the faculty, assist in developing a sense of community within the building, set group norms for ALL teams to follow, use dialog and discussion as opposed to directives to lead, and help teachers work through conflict (Caskey & Carpenter, 2018).
By helping creating a master schedule that is conducive to teacher collaboration and managing the teacher groups principals create an environment that allows teachers to have effective collaboration.

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How to Improve Curriculum Leadership: Integrating Leadership Theory and Management Strategies

DeMatthews, D. E. (2014). How to Improve Curriculum Leadership: Integrating Leadership Theory and Management Strategies. Clearing House, 87(5), 192. doi:10.1080/00098655.2014.911141

Principals are trained in educational leadership theories and management theories, but are often not instructed in how to implement these theories into action.  In this article David DeMatthews addresses this missing link in principal education by discussing theory and showing how these theories apply to curriculum development and gives steps to follow to successfully implement changes in the curriculum by using management techniques and educational leadership theories.
The three theories of educational leadership addressed in this article are distributed leadership. social justice leadership, and instructional leadership. Distributed leadership is where principals distribute leadership responsibilities to 3-7 teachers and stakeholders within the school system.  This type of leadership allows for more heads to be involved in leadership decisions and also gives principals more insight into different curriculum areas that they may  not be experts in.  Social justice leadership theory is where principals use data and input from the teachers and community to drive curriculum decisions that will help them break the social barriers and obstacles facing their students.  The final theory of educational leadership addressed in instructional leadership theory.  By implementing this theory of leadership, principals use the support of teachers, students, and other stakeholders to develop the schools mission and vision, coordinate and monitor curriculum and instruction.  Using all three of these theories in tandem allows principals and school leaders to renew their curriculum to benefit their students (DeMatthews, 2014).
Using these three theories and the following five steps will give principals to not only renew their curriculum, but also implement this curriculum successfully into their school system. Step 1: gather data to create a plan or goal. Step 2: Use teachers and stakeholders to create a renewed curriculum that will be successful in ALL content areas. Step 3: Roll out the plan to faculty and staff by either rolling it out to a small group at a time or to the entire faculty, depending on the building dynamics. Step 4: Manage the process using different evaluation processes. Step 5: Finalize and sustain the curriculum (DeMatthews, 2014).

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What Do Students Have to Do With Educational Leadership? Making a Case for Centering Student Voice

Van T. Lac1 and Katherine Cumings Mansfield

Traditionally schools have been run by educated professionals that are doing what they are told they have to do by the federal and state governments.  A new age approach to school leadership is to include the student body in the decision-making process of a school.  Having students involved in making decisions for their own education makes them aware of the complexity of the education system, and also allows them to take ownership of their own education.  When someone takes ownership of something they have more pride in it and they also try harder to make it successful.  Not only does student voice help students, it helps educators.  Educators get to see the student’s ideas and they may potentially see a new way of teaching students content.  Allowing students to have a choice in their own education and a voice in the decision that affect them makes the educational system stronger and the school system more effective.