Climate and culture within a school is often underrated as a cause of failure among our schools. Indeed most leaders -- and students of education leadership -- spend far more time focused on instructional related matters, educational leadership issues, personnel issues, bus schedules and even lunch duty. While these are all important aspects of running a...
I am often asked the questions "Can leaders be made or are they born?" This is a central theme that has spurred discussions, indeed arguments, among leadership experts always.
I tend to believe that with a few exceptions, all leadership skills can be learned and developed overtime if one is willing to truly self-reflect and improve. Instead of an absolute in terms of leadership (i.e., you are or you are not), I see leadership as a journey. As we begin we may have many gaps in our...
Many school leaders, district administrators and experts on effective educational leadership that I speak with spend a significant amount of time figuring out how to connect with parents. The research clearly indicates that parental involvement is critical to student success. And so, educators create elaborate (and often time consuming) ways to increase parent interaction with the school.
Some of the most effective methods are creative in their approach(though decidedly low-tech...
School turnaround experts in educational leadership are becoming ever more popular in certain parts of the country. A recent NPR report on the use of Turnaround for Children in the Bronx provides an interesting overview on...
Many of my clients are masters of educational leadership and, as such, are anxious to learn about how their teachers really feel. Principals typically feel as if they know whether teachers are generally pleased or not with their current lot. But, if their teachers are unhappy, just how unhappy are they? If their teachers are highly committed,...
In my work with schools in the area of education leadership, I have seen all forms of resistance to change. In some groups of educators, their focus on the status quo is difficult to spot which make it difficult for school leadership and educational leadership whose focused is on implementing best practices in education. The untrained ear hears rational, logical arguments for current methodologies and current approaches. We can...
The school year has officially begun across Arizona and the rest of the country. Discussion topics have shifted from vacations and summer camp to homework, school leadership and new teachers. Parents (and most likely your school administrator) have suddenly found new enthusiasm for carefully comparing notes on everything from math curriculum to testing policies. Parents agonize at length about whether their child's teacher is the best match to the needs of their children. No detail...
Chapel Hill 7th and 8th Grade Center is a middle school on the west side of Indianapolis that was in need of a new school administrator. MSD of Wayne Township Superintendent Dr. Terry Thompson has overseen an impressive series of building initiatives which, most recently, included rebuilding the school into a state-of-the-art facility...
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School leaders face many challenges in today's education environment. As educational leadership is just coming to grips with the accountability components of No Child Left Behind, our new administration promises to create even more requirements for public...
“Response Fear” is a sometimes irrational skepticism of survey respondents who fear their loss of confidentiality. We can all imagine a scenario in which a feared school administrator (or a related school leadership position)...
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