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Brendan Murphy

Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Change: Characteristics of Leaders of... - 0 views

www.sedl.org/...character.html

leadership school characteristics administration leader management jhuiste vision

shared by Brendan Murphy on 03 Aug 10 - Cached
  • While administrators' visions tend to focus on district- or school- wide instructional issues, teachers' visions tend to address teacher roles and student outcomes
  • Teachers' vision also included school changes that would result in more participatory and decision- making roles for teachers.
  • Vision, a critical leadership characteristic, is also a trait of successful executive educators
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • "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
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 03 Aug 10
       
      Kind of like vision and mission
  • 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.
Brendan Murphy

LEADERSHIP FOR THE 21st CENTURY: BREAKING THE BONDS OF DEPENDENCY - 1 views

www.cdl.org/...bonds_dependency.php

leadership challenge education jhuiste

shared by Brendan Murphy on 12 Jul 10 - Cached
  • there is no external answer that will substitute for the complex work of changing one's own situation.
  • It is one thing to say in most successful organizations members share a clear, common vision, which is true, but quite another to suggest that this stems primarily from direct vision-building, which is not. Vision-building is the result of a whole range of activities (pp. 208-209).
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 13 Jul 10
       
      So the vision doesn't create a sense of team rather when you build a team a vision is created.
  • critical consumers
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • 1.Respect those you want to silence. 2.Move toward the danger in forming new alliances. 3.Manage emotionally as well as rationally. 4.Fight for lost causes.
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 13 Jul 10
       
      Are these the four guidelines they were talking about in the introduction paragraph?
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 15 Jul 10
       
      1. I think a strong leader is not afraid to listen to those who disagree with them. I think the strongest leader listens carefully and includes the best ideas. I don't think majority rule is always the best way to run things, I think going with what the group thinks is best but tempered by vocal minorities is the best way to run a group. It is certainly better than a dictatorship, even when the dictator is the smartest and most benevolant person in the room. 2. Akin to the first guideline forming alliances with people you want to stay away from is important. They will not work to sabotage your plans if they feel their feelings are being listened to and heard. People don't think they know everything, but they do think they should be heard. If a leader is one who is known for being able to work with new groups then I think new groups will be more willing to accept an offer or collaboration. 3. We cannot inspire people without a bit of passion. While some paths may seem like the most prudent financially, or whatever, in the end the only path that will work is the one that people support. Sometimes we have to be willing to break away from what we think is the best path in order to be successful on the most loved path. 4. Everyone loves an underdog. At least we do in this time and this place. Lost causes in education are usually the causes that will bring about the most dramatic change. I think most people see schools as getting the short end of the stick in most political arenas, thus we are one big lost cause.
  • create opportunities for learning from dissonance
  • high priority on reculturing
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 13 Jul 10
       
      Hiring and or converting existing staff to work towards a common goal
  • Articulating and discussing hope
Brendan Murphy

Margaret J. Wheatley: Goodbye, Command and Control - 0 views

www.margaretwheatley.com/...goodbyecommand.html

margaret wheatley administration education leadership management leader jhuiste vision

shared by Brendan Murphy on 03 Aug 10 - Cached
  • We sought prediction and control, and also charged leaders with providing everything that was absent from the machine: vision, inspiration, intelligence, and courage
  • productivity gains in truly self-managed work environments are at minimum thirty-five percent higher than in traditionally managed organizations
  • There is both a need to have more autonomy in one’s work, and strong evidence that such participation leads to the effectiveness and productivity we crave.
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • We never effectively control people with these systems, but we certainly stop a lot of good work from getting done.
  • creating systems of relationships where all members of the system benefit from their connections.
  • People organize together to accomplish more, not less
  • Whenever we look at organizations as machines and deny the great self-organizing capacity in our midst, we, as leaders, attempt to change these systems from the outside in
  • Most of us know that as people drive to work they're wondering how they can get something done for the organization despite the organization
  • They are tinkering in their local environments, based on their intimate experience with conditions there and their tinkering shows up as effective innovation
  • solutions cannot be imposed; they have to remain local.
  • If people are clear about the purpose and true values of their organization, their individual tinkering will result in system wide coherence.
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 03 Aug 10
       
      This is why we have to develop a clear and shared vision.
  • Clarity about who we are as a group creates freedom for individual contributions.
  • If conformity is the goal, it will kill local initiative.
  • People develop new levels of trust for one another that show up as more cooperation and more forgiveness
  • But you can't direct people into perfection; you can only engage them enough so that they want to do perfect work.
  • They need information, access to one another, resources, trust, and follow-through
  • Ultimately, we have to rely not on the procedure manuals, but on people’s brains and their commitment to doing the right thing.
  • the higher you are in the organization, the more change is required of you personally
  • Commitment and loyalty are essential in human relationships. So how can we pretend we don't need them at work?
  • Employability in lieu of mutual commitment is a cop-out.
Brendan Murphy

SEDL - School Context: Bridge or Barrier to Change - 0 views

www.sedl.org/...culture.html

leadership education administration change week 6 sedl jhuiste

shared by Brendan Murphy on 18 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Discipline is the overwhelming obstacle to school success.
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 18 Aug 10
       
      This is so true especially in low SES schols.
  • Educational bureaucracy obstructs
  • According to Gault and Murphy (1987), many American schools claim to practice cultural pluralism, but in reality all students are expected to fit into the white middle class culture. Students with different cultural backgrounds, values, and skills than those generally valued by American schools may be perceived as incapable of performing according to the school's standards.
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • Minorities don't care about education. (p. 39)
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 18 Aug 10
       
      Ruby Payne would say they don't believe it helps.
  • 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.
    • Brendan Murphy
      Brendan Murphy on 18 Aug 10
       
      though if you can suffer through that feeling of alienation you can have the opportunity to make positive changes.
  • 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.
Brendan Murphy

SEDL - School Context: Bridge or Barrier to Change - 0 views

www.sedl.org/...intro.html

shared by Brendan Murphy on 18 Aug 10 - Cached
  • contextual factors may influence changes aimed at improving schooling for at-risk students more than change in general.
  • "[T]rying to change any part of the system requires knowledge and understanding of how parts are interrelated" (Sarason, 1990, p. 15).
  • The need for leadership in change efforts is well documented at the school level.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • leadership in change efforts is well documented at the school level.
  • This method of examining change finds its roots in the cultural approach to school improvement, which suggests that "teachers and students are strongly influenced by the culture of the school, the mores, routines, and conventions about how things are done in their schools" (Deal & Peterson, 1990, p. 6).
  • at risk of failing to achieve their academic potential, dropping out of school, and/or having limits placed on their ability to function as productive adults in society.
  • the ecology, includes the inorganic elements of the school
  • The resources available, policies and rules, and size of the school are examples of this dimension of school context.
  • Culture is an expression that tries to capture the informal side of social organizations
  • Schein (1985) goes on to define culture as "the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously, and that define in a basic `taken-for-granted' fashion an organization's view of itself and its environment" (p. 6).
  • attitudes and beliefs
  • cultural norms of the school, c
  • relationships of persons inside the school
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