there is no external answer that will substitute
for the complex work of changing one's own situation.
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LEADERSHIP FOR THE 21st CENTURY: BREAKING THE BONDS OF DEPENDENCY - 1 views
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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).
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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.
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Are these the four guidelines they were talking about in the introduction paragraph?
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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.
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high priority on reculturing
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SEDL - School Context: Bridge or Barrier to Change - 0 views
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Discipline is the overwhelming obstacle to school success.
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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.
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Minorities don't care about education. (p. 39)
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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
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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
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Students will participate, according to Fullan, if they understand, have the necessary skills, and are motivated to try what is expected.
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With teachers unable to explain why they were adopting this innovation, concern increased and parents put an end to the innovation.
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in situations where the school board and the district are actively working together, substantial improvements can be achieved,
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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).
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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.
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Those new to the organization must learn the culture or suffer consequences, such as the feeling of alienation.
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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)
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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).
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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.
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Not only teachers, but students as well need to internalize the norms of the school improvement culture.
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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)
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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).
Introduction - Voices from the Field: Success in School Reform - 0 views
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edweek.org: Technology Counts 2006: Delving Into Data - 0 views
litd.psch.uic.edu/...edweek20060504.html
technology leadership jhuiste education administration data datamining school management
shared by Brendan Murphy on 24 Aug 10
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from the students' first years in school right up to that very day.
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student identifiers,
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Data on Teachers Uneven
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use their data to help struggling teachers and to reward successful ones
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but the information is used in principals' evaluations of their teachers
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While it's useful to have that kind of longitudinal data [for policy purposes]," he says, "one should not impute conclusions about the true depth of a child's intellectual development in terms of math, science, or whatever."
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Students take the tests at the start of every quarter in every subject, and the results are available the same day. The data are broken down by the racial, ethnic, economic, and other subgroups used in NCLB accountability reports.
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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
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While administrators' visions tend to focus on district- or school- wide instructional issues, teachers' visions tend to address teacher roles and student outcomes
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Teachers' vision also included school changes that would result in more participatory and decision- making roles for teachers.
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"leadership requires a vision. Without a vision to challenge followers with, there's no possibility of a principal being a leader"
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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
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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"
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The second value this superintendent had was "equity in person relationships and instructional decisions
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"Practices of delegation, teaming, flexibility of process and incremental planning with extensive communication" (p. 11) was the third valu
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.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"
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"the specific value that each superintendent seemed to exemplify was simply 'the children come first'"
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This loyalty includes a keen understanding of the community's values as well as consistent participation in community activities.
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while there was little difference between the activities of effective and ineffective principals, the meanings they attributed to their activities were significantly different.
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They found that personal background factors, such as type of education, and organizational factors, such as school size, were more important than values.
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"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"
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"The primary rewards for most teachers come from students' academic accomplishments -- from feeling certain about their own capacity to affect student development"
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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.
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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
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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.
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Publications: SRN LEADS - 3 views
www.srnleads.org/...flatworld.html
leads srn publications administration management education leadership
shared by Brendan Murphy on 11 Aug 10
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