Blazing New Trails - Connexions

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46 CRITICAL ISSUES IN SHARED LEADERSHIP Teacher Participation 10. I would feel less stress as a principal if teachers performed these functions: Assigning consequences for student misbehavior Working with teacher teams to develop curriculum Working with teachers who are resistant to change Chairing school committees Handling issues regarding building security other than classroom discipline Serving as liaisons to stakeholder groups such as PTA or Band Boosters, etc. Holding formal or assigned leadership positions in this school Conducting peer teaching evaluations Completing reports for the district or state Handling communications with media Providing instructional leadership for the staff Influencing building-wide instructional practices Supervising evening and weekend events Developing plans of action for changing demographics Mentoring new teachers Presenting to the Board of Education Providing professional development training for teachers in this school Holding formal or assigned leadership positions in our district Analyzing test score data to improve instructional practice Resolving parent complaints and concerns Resolving problems at the classroom level Participating in budget and purchasing decision-making Participating in a formal process to resolve staff disputes Creating a vision for school improvement Working with ineffective, struggling teachers 11. How can teachers provide support to you as principal? 12. What changes would be required in schools to allow teachers to provide support to you as principal? Strongly Agree (4) Agree (3) Disagree (2) Strongly Disagree (1) N/A
47 CRITICAL ISSUES IN SHARED LEADERSHIP Professional Learning Communities: A Feasible Reality or a Chimera? Ronald A. Lindahl Many proponents of school improvement and reform look to changes in the governance structures of schools, and even to the very culture of schools for lasting reform. Today’s typical school structure is a hierarchical bureaucracy with top-down leadership and considerable teacher isolation (Williams, Cate, & O’Hair, 2009). This is precisely why Sarason (1996) termed the failure of school reform as “predictable.” Sarason stated that without changing the hierarchical power relationships in schools, termed “heroic” or “focused” leadership by Leithwood, Mascall, Strauss, Sacks, Memon, and Yashkina (2009, p. 223), large scale improvement would be unlikely to occur. There is some limited evidence that schools that break this traditional structure and create new relationships among the adults in the school can produce better student performance in math, science, and reading, as well as lower dropout, truancy, and absenteeism rates (Rasberry, with Mahajan, 2008). Advocates for less hierarchical, more distributed leadership have long existed (e.g., Follett, 1940). However, it is only relatively recently that this concept has gained increased attention in schools. This attention has manifested itself in the literature related to teacher leadership, collaborative leadership, distributed leadership, and shared leadership. To many authors, these terms are relatively interchangeable, whereas to others (e.g., Spillane, 2006) each connotes a specific leadership structure. Because there is not general agreement on the specificity of these terms (Leithwood, Mascall, & Strauss, 2009b), for purposes of this chapter, they are treated more or less as synonyms. However, one model of such schools that create new governance structures and cultures in schools is referred to as communities of practice (Printy, 2008; Sergiovanni, 2000), learning organizations (Senge, Cambron-McCabe, Lucas, Smith, Dutton, & Kleiner, 2000; Wells & Feun, 2007), professional communities (Williams et al., 2009), or, most recently, professional learning communities (DuFour, Eaker, & DuFour, 2005; Giles & Hargreaves, 2006; Gregory & Kuznich, 2007; Harris & Muijs, 2005; Rasberry, with Mahajan, 2008; Sparks, 2005). The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2004) considered these arrangements so crucial that their Standards mandate that teachers must be members of such learning communities. The purpose of this chapter, then, was to examine the potential benefits and challenges of professional learning communities for pre-K through 12 education. DEFINITION OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES The concept of professional learning communities arises from the teacher leadership movement. Pounder (2006) captured the essence of teacher leadership by defining it as a process rather than an issue of position, as an array of behaviors and characteristics rather than of duties. Muijs and Harris (2007) agreed, describing it as a fluid, emerging form of leadership rather than a fixed phenomenon. York-Barr and Duke (2004) added to this, positing that active involvement by individuals at all levels of an organization is needed if organizational change is to take hold. This involvement may be at the instructional, professional Ronald A. Lindahl, Alabama State University
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20 NCPEA 11 BLAZING NEW TRAILS: Pre
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NCPEA EXECUTIVE BOARD 2010-2011 Pre
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NCPEA HONOR ROLL OF PRESIDENTS, 194
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Contributing Auth
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Name Exton Gateway Experiences with
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Part 5 CRITICAL ISSUES IN EDUCATION
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