Blazing New Trails - Connexions

64 CRITICAL ISSUES IN SHARED LEADERSHIP
from which to view the district superintendency. Improving outcomes requires leadership
practices that focus on changing reticent cultures through group interaction and reflection.
These practices ultimately result in an increase in the level of commitment to improve the
capacity to address the demands placed upon the organization. District superintendents who
focus on both transformational and instructional practices build this organizational capacity
and innovation to reframe problems and create solutions to improve daily instructional
practices in curriculum and instruction (Leithwood & Poplin, 1992; Marks & Printy, 2003;
Mullin & Keedy, 1998).
We have made substantial gains in our knowledge base in the area of organizational
learning, instructional leadership, and transformational leadership. Taking this knowledge and
moving from a bureaucratic system of managing people to a shared problem solving, decision
making, and learning system is a notable challenge. The degree that organizational learning
takes place in an organization is affected by practices associated with the coexistence of
transformational and instructional models of leadership. The intricate network of relationships
across roles coupled with purposefully planned opportunities for dialogue and application of
ideas becomes the responsibility of leaders as they transform and redesign communities of
practice focusing on improving instruction leading to improved academic achievement.
Study Design
METHODS
In this chapter, we focused on the qualitative aspects of our investigation in order to
provide a rich and detailed narrative of the efforts of this superintendent in fostering
organizational learning. Data were collected to determine: (a) the relationship between the
teachers’ and building administrators’ perceptions regarding the extent of the superintendent’s
influence in fostering learning at the organizational level; (b) the superintendent’s influence in
the social processes that encourage learning at the organizational level; and (c) the
relationship between superintendent leadership characteristics and organizational learning.
Data collection consisted of an individual interview with the district superintendent and focus
group interviews with principals, teachers, and a school board member in a school district in
the state of California.
Procedures
The superintendent for this investigation was selected from the 989 school districts in
the state of California. Selection of a district was based on established criteria used to identify
characteristics and performance measures associated with high achieving school districts. Use
of these criterion were purposeful in an effort to select a school district that had been
presented with significant challenges; yet, in spite of these social and economic issues, the
district was able to exhibit high and sustained levels of student academic success. The
following selection criteria employed in this investigation are presented below:
District must have a grade span of K-12;
The superintendent must have at least five years experience as a superintendent and at
least three years in the current post;