Blazing New Trails - Connexions

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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;
Superintendent Leadership as the Catalyst for Organizational Learning 65 District has been recognized at the state level as fully accredited and met the district annual yearly progress (AYP) for language arts and math for at least three consecutive years; Graduation rates of the district must exceed the California state average; District must be characterized as having low per pupil expenditure, high to very high percentage of students in the free and reduced lunch program compared to the state average, and the percentage of English Language Learners (ELL) must exceed the California average. Using data from the California Department of Education (CDE), a list of districts that met the selection criteria was generated. Using the selection criteria and parameters, the list narrowed from 989 districts to six school districts. In order to obtain meaningful data regarding the influence of district superintendent leadership, a second level of criteria was employed when selecting from the list of the six remaining districts. The authors concluded that building administrators and faculty should have experience and tenure in the district. Therefore the following criteria were also employed in selecting the district. Principals and a majority (over 50%) of teachers must: Have worked in the school district for more than five years and had witnessed the effects of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) as a part of the reality of daily work in the schools and Have worked with more than one superintendent over their tenure, thereby ensuring the ability to ascertain change in leadership practices, organizational norms, beliefs and routines. The lead author contacted superintendents and inquired about their willingness to participate. At the conclusion of these contacts, one superintendent agreed to participate, noted here as District A. District A Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of the Participating District. Student Enrollment 9,688 Free and Reduced Lunch % 70.2 English Lang. Learners % 26.2 Minority Students % 81.9 Largest Ethnic Group Hispanic PPE $8,394 API Base Score 754 Drop out Rate 1 (2007-2008) California 39.0 25.0 $8,486 3.5 Average Note: 1 the one-year drop out percentage is calculated during a single year using actual data submitted to the California Department of Education/Dataquest 2 The population of Hispanic students in CA is 3,026,956 (47%) followed by White students who number 1,849,078 (29%). These statistics are taken from the Closing the Achievement Gap 2008-2009 report of State Superintendent Jack O’Connell and the California Department of Education. Hispanic 2 2.6
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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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Betty J. Alford, Stephen F. Austin
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xii Yearbook Reviewers Kenneth Rasm
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INVITED CHAPTERS PART 1
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4 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE (3) The fed
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Shadows and Images II 7 LIVING LEGE
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Shadows and Images II 9 see little
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Shadows and Images II 11 settings,
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The Administration of Special Educa
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CRITICAL ISSUES IN PROMOTING ACADEM
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The Effective Practices and Beliefs
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Creating Shared Meaning in High Per
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Principals and Teachers Stated Beli
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Distinguishing Practices for Admini
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The Social Justice Implications of
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Name Exton Gateway Experiences with
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Experiences with PTELL in Six Illin
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Part 5 CRITICAL ISSUES IN EDUCATION
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Service to the Profession: The Forg
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Qualitative Data Service to the Pro
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Blazing New Trails - Connexions

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