Group items tagged

Accountability" usually turns out to be a code for tighter control over what happens in classrooms by people who are not in classroom

Rather than scrambling to comply with its provisions, our obligation is to figure out how best to resist.

"leadership requires a vision. Without a vision to challenge followers with, there's no possibility of a principal being a leader"

The relationship between the teachers' and administrators' vision is important.

Administrators' vision tends to encompass the whole system or as described by Manasse (1986) their vision is an organizational vision. Teachers' vision appear to focus primarily on the individual or personal actions for school change

vision is "based on personal or personalized professional values"

"visionary leadership demands a clear sense of personal and organizational values"

The first value Aplin identified was that the instructional programs were "the highest priority of the system and decisions were assessed as to whether they enhanced or threatened it"

The second value this superintendent had was "equity in person relationships and instructional decisions

"Practices of delegation, teaming, flexibility of process and incremental planning with extensive communication" (p. 11) was the third valu

"The fourth value held was the need to retain a high level of local control

.The fifth value disclosed was his belief that the quality of decision is improved if there has been free and honest disclosure among interested parties"

"the specific value that each superintendent seemed to exemplify was simply 'the children come first'"

This loyalty includes a keen understanding of the community's values as well as consistent participation in community activities.

while there was little difference between the activities of effective and ineffective principals, the meanings they attributed to their activities were significantly different.

They found that personal background factors, such as type of education, and organizational factors, such as school size, were more important than values.

"Principals in the high-SES effective schools expected an academic emphasis and task orientations in classrooms but encouraged teachers to implement a broad curriculum. Their counterparts in the low-SES effective schools implemented a more narrowly defined curriculum and allocated more time for basic skill instruction"

"The primary rewards for most teachers come from students' academic accomplishments -- from feeling certain about their own capacity to affect student development"

Hallinger and Murphy (1986) reported that even when the low wealth schools were achieving, teachers' expectations were lower than those for students at wealthier schools; they believed they had minimal parental support and therefore assigned less homework and stressed the basic curriculum.

Differences in curricular and instructional practices suggest that the manner in which staff implement curriculum and instruction is filtered through their perceptions, beliefs and expectations concerning student ability and community background

Effective superintendents believe that students come first; effective principals believe in meeting the instructional needs of the students. Teachers value working with students and believe that they have an impact on their achievement. They have the shared belief that students' learning is of primary importance. The literature revealed that these individuals' also shared a common value. They valued the human resources -- the contributions, talents, and efforts -- of others in their organization.

Minorities don't care about education. (p. 39)

Welch (1989) reports that teachers assess advantages and disadvantages of collaborative consultation primarily in terms of how implementation will impact them personally, rather than how it might impact student growth

For [many students] the main benefit of the school is the opportunity it provides to interact with close friends on a daily basis" (p. 181

Students will participate, according to Fullan, if they understand, have the necessary skills, and are motivated to try what is expected.

With teachers unable to explain why they were adopting this innovation, concern increased and parents put an end to the innovation.

in situations where the school board and the district are actively working together, substantial improvements can be achieved,

Cynicism and apathy may reflect negative experiences and produce teachers who are unwilling to proceed regardless of the content or quality of the program (Corbett, Dawson, & Firestone, 1984; Fullan, 1991).

Cuban (1988) states that most reforms fail because of flawed implementation.

Lasting fundamental change (e.g. changes in teaching practices or the decision making structure) requires understanding and, often, altering the school's culture; cultural change is a slow process.

culture becomes the cohesion that bonds the school together

culture can also be oppressive and discriminatory

attitudes and beliefs of those in the school create mental models

system paranoia exists

Those new to the organization must learn the culture or suffer consequences, such as the feeling of alienation.

high expectations for itself

successful programs do not suppress criticism

a school can make significant gains, in spite of faculty weaknesses, through sound staff development. Schools, however, commonly fail to have a norm regarding the need for in-service work during implementation (Fullan, 1991)

sharing a common vision increases the likelihood that school improvement efforts will succeed (Beer, Eisenstat, & Spector, 1990; Deal, 1985; Carlson, 1987; Miles & Louis, 1990; Norris & Reigeluth, 1991; Schlechty & Cole, 1991).

A cultural norm supporting the involvement of teachers in decisions or plans that will affect them heightens the possibility that changes will be appropriate in a particular setting.

Not only teachers, but students as well need to internalize the norms of the school improvement culture.

These norms encourage criticism in order to highlight areas that need improvement.

Students are rarely informed regarding plans in spite of the fact that the plans cannot be carried out successfully when students are not committed to cooperate with the plan, and do not know what to do or how to do it. (Fullan, 1991)

Negative side effects that may occur from accommodation are students' expectations that accommodations will always be made, a lack of active student engagement with the content of instruction and increased student boredom and apathy (Miller, Leinhardt, & Zigmond, 1988).

Parents need to be involved as co-teachers in their children's education.