James P. Spillane, Eric M. Camburn, James Pustejovsky, Amber Stitziel Pareja and Geoff Lewis
This paper is concerned with the epistemological and methodological challenges involved in studying the distribution of leadership across people within the school – the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is concerned with the epistemological and methodological challenges involved in studying the distribution of leadership across people within the school – the leader‐plus aspect of a distributed perspective, which it aims to investigate.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines the entailments of the distributed perspective for collecting and analyzing data on school leadership and management. It considers four different operationalizations of the leader‐plus aspect of the distributed perspective and examines the results obtained from these different operationalizations. The research reported in this paper is part of a larger study, an efficacy trial of a professional development program intended to prepare principals to improve their practice. The study involved a mixed method design. For the purpose of this paper a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, including an experience sampling method (ESM) principal log, a principal questionnaire (PQ), and a school staff questionnaire (SSQ) was used.
Findings
While acknowledging broad similarities among the various approaches, the different approaches also surfaced some divergence that has implications for thinking about the epistemological and methodological challenges in measuring leadership from a distributed perspective. Approaches that focus on the lived organization as distinct from the designed organization, for example, unearth the role of individuals with no formal leadership designations in leading and managing the school.
Research limitations/implications
Limited by the data set, the paper focuses on only four operationalizations of the leader plus aspect of the distributed perspective rather than taking a more comprehensive look at how the leader plus aspect might be operationalized.
Originality/value
The primary value of this paper is that it will prompt scholars to think about the entailments of different ways of operationalizing the leader plus aspect when using a distributed perspective.
Details
Keywords
Molly F. Gordon and Holly Hart
The purpose of this paper is to provide concrete examples of what leadership behaviors and strategies look like in high-poverty urban schools in Chicago that are successful at…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide concrete examples of what leadership behaviors and strategies look like in high-poverty urban schools in Chicago that are successful at improving student outcomes. The authors compared the strategies used by principals who were rated by their teachers on annual surveys as being strong instructional leaders but had varying success in improving student outcomes for comparison.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is part of a larger mixed-methods study exploring the link between leadership and student learning. For the qualitative portion of the study, the authors utilized a contrasting case study design (Merriam, 1998) to distinguish leadership practices in schools with improvements in student achievement from practices in schools with stagnating or declining student achievement. The authors conducted case studies in a total of 12 schools–6 schools with improving student achievement and 6 schools with stagnating or declining student achievement. For brevity, the authors chose 4 schools to highlight in this manuscript that best illustrate the findings found across the full sample of 12 schools. The authors coded each interview using both inductive and deductive coding techniques.
Findings
The study findings indicate that there are subtle but important differences between the strategies principals in improving and contrast schools use to lead school improvement efforts. Principals in improving schools were able to create learning environments where staff were open to new ideas and work together towards goals. Principals in improving schools were also more likely to create structures that facilitated organizational learning than principals in contrast schools.
Originality/value
This study is unique because the authors provide concrete examples of what principals do in their schools to help create strong learning climates that foster organizational learning and improvement. The authors also identify differences in leader practices and structures in schools that are having a harder time making improvements for comparison. The study findings can be used by principals and other educators to better understand which of their various efforts may result in stronger school cultures conducive to organizational learning as outlined in Louis' and colleagues' work.