Instructional leadership and Distributed
Leadership
DLS - Distributed Leadership Series
- developing a new framework for
examining school leadership and
management
In this framework, leadership practice
is constructed through the
interactions of leaders, followers, and
contexts.
Cognition and Sociocultural activity theory
Focuses on two
things; principal plus
and practice
Principal plus:
multiple individuals
are involved in
leading and
managing schools
Practice: prioritizes the
practice of leading and
managing schools and
frames this practice as
emerging from interactions
among school leaders and
followers
Practice is most
important! It
focuses on where
the "rubber" of
school leadership
and management
meets the "road" of
instructional
improvement
Easier to be shared among many people: In one study, principals reported that "other school staff" shared responsibility for 31% of their daily activities
Who leaders are depends upon the school, subject, and activity
Important to make sure responsibilities are divided as
evenly as possible
Leadership Characteristics of Effective Leaders
Self-confidence
Ambitious
Good communicator
Optomistic but realistic
Good listener
Determination and motivated by failure
Creative and eager to develop new ideas
Good at collaborating with others and sharing responsibility
1. Leader's recognition and use of
internal intellecutal and experiential
resources 2. Differentiated top-down
and lateral decision making process
3. Cultural bulding through dialogue
and collaborative inquiry
Seek, recognize, and use teacher's expertise
Organizational factors that influence
school improvement
Hurtful to School Improvement:
We are many times too
fixated on leadership that
we don't pay enough
attention to the
importance of
management
Adminstrators do not support teaching
staff when issues arise
Lack of resources, funding, and supports
Having one singular figure at
the top of a hierarchy
overseeing the allocation of
resources, building and
implementing a vision and
making decisions for staff has
proven unsustainable
Helpful to School Improvement:
Good resources, staff, and supports
Teachers and Administrators are on the same page
Staff is kept in the loop with changes in school
day/school policies and school improvement efforts
PLC's within the school collaborate with
each other and successfully facilitate
productive discussion
Inquiry cycle for designing and implementing different instructional approaches and studying their impact
Leadership is more effective when it's stretched over knowledgeable individuals of a school