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5 traits that I think are essential in being an educational leader in the 21st Century.

An Active Listener

A Connected Leader

School leaders at all levels must collaborate with staff members and school personnel to create a vision for the future and a process for change, ensuring that schools and school districts are viable and thriving learning communities for students, staff, and community members. The focus on the purpose and direction of the organization (as a strategy for change work) is to ensure the long-term stability and quality of the educational program. All leadership roles have some management and executive tasks, and the difference between superintendent, principals, and directors is a matter of degree. The scope of the work and the scale of the operation change at each level of leadership. But regardless of a leadership level, school leaders need to make every effort to understand people in lower positions and discuss with them different perspectives. They must go beyond managerial roles and a "facts-and-methods" view of management and focus on the executive challenges of leadership to survive and thrive.

However, schools can teach students the 21st-century skills they need by involving them in technology planning and implementation. By empowering students to work with adults to solve real-world problems, schools can engage students in meaningful dialogue about technology use, Internet safety, online learning, and filtering. In the process, they hone students' skills in problem solving, collaboration, civic awareness, ethics, leadership, and information and media literacy. Schools benefit from students' insights and experience; at the same time, they show students how their education is relevant for the world today. This kind of involvement captures students' enthusiasm, creates new communication pathways to parents and the community, promotes deeper understanding of the school technology policy, promotes student leadership, improves technology integration schoolwide, and builds respect and trust among all groups.

Five Time-Tested Models

Model 1: Students as Committee Members