Blazing New Trails - Connexions

Complexities in the Workload of Principals:
Implications for Teacher Leadership
29
CRITICAL ISSUES IN SHARED LEADERSHIP
Caryn M. Wells
C. Robert Maxfield
Barbara A. Klocko
Across America, school districts are facing profound challenges, casting the bright
light of attention on its leaders. Principals are listed as central to the increased improvement,
development of learning communities, and teacher leadership for their schools (Capers, 2004;
Fleming, 2004; Fullan, 2001, 2008; Hess & Kelly, 2007; Hord, 2004; Hord & Sommers,
2008; Smylie & Denny, 1990; York-Barr, 2004). While principals are engaged in the
managerial tasks of the school, securing the building for safety, ensuring bus routes, student
schedules, and the day-to-day management tasks, the instructional needs of the faculty and
students compete for attention. In the era of No Child Left Behind (2001) Public Law 107-110,
accountability for test scores, improved student achievement, and public outcry for teacher
improvements, the expectation for instructional leadership results in demands that building
principals take on new and demanding roles (Ash, & Pearsall, 2000; Cooley & Shen, 2003;
Hess & Kelly, 2007, Schoen & Fusarelli, 2008).
It has long been recognized that principals are involved with expectations that make
their jobs ones that are full of interactions that are fragmented, brief, and unrelenting
(Hallinger, 1992, Kafka, 2009, Louis et al., 2010). A review of recent research revealed that
principals are under new pressures and enormous stress as they juggle demands for quality
while responding to changes in demographics, parental involvement, curricular and
technological changes, and instructional improvements (Browne-Ferrigno, 2003; Cooley &
Shen, 2003; Griffith, 1999; Marks & Printy, 2003; Petzko, 2008; Pounder & Merrill, 2001).
Kafka (2009) indicated that the role of the principal has always been complex and
multifaceted, and she concluded, “What is new is the degree to which schools are expected to
resolve society’s social and educational inequities in a market-based environment” (p.328).
While principals deal with the increased and continued pressures, teacher leadership
offers possibilities for growth and change in schools. Teacher leadership shows promise for
the potential contributions to teacher effectiveness and student achievement (Cochran-Smith
& Lytle, 2000; Silva, Gimbert, & Nolan, 2000; Smylie & Denny, 1990; York-Barr & Duke,
2004). As teachers expand their leadership in the schools, the balance of leadership with the
principal undergoes change (York-Barr & Duke, 2004). Teacher leadership includes the use
of teacher talent to bring about improvements in teaching effectiveness and student
achievement (Mullen & Hutinger, 2008; Ogawa & Bossert, 1995; Smylie & Denny, 1990;
Spillane, 2006). In this chapter, we investigate the relationship of contemporary principal
workload pressures with the intricacies involved with teacher leadership. It is a story told
through the eyes of principals who are busy completing the tasks that have been delineated in
this introduction.
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Caryn M. Wells, Oakland University
C. Robert Maxfield, Oakland University
Barbara A. Klocko, Central Michigan University