Distributed Leadership Framework Research Articles

Using professional learning to foster distributed leadership and equity of voice and promote higher quality in Early childhood education

ABSTRACTHigh-quality early childhood education (ECE) can improve children’s educational trajectories. However, the ECE field globally faces challenges that compromise its quality, with COVID-19 childcare closures further intensifying complexities. One solution to improve ECE working conditions is to use a distributed leadership framework to create professional learning opportunities that enhance staff interactions and equity of voice (staff input/investment). Limited research has explored this approach in relation to key outcomes like staff satisfaction, staff retention and classroom quality. The current study filled this gap by examining a job-embedded professional development initiative in the United States, Flamingo Early Learning (FEL). Using a distributive leadership framework, FEL was implemented in two cohorts of 18 ECE programme and 416 educators. Quantitative analyses of FEL online course data from 108 educators showed improvement in content knowledge. Classroom observation data from 64 educators revealed enhanced teacher-child interaction quality. Qualitative analyses of focus groups with 17 educators highlighted increased equity of voice, barriers to achieving the initiative’s goals and lingering effects of COVID-19. Findings were further examined in relation to staff role. Recommendations include using policy-driven initiatives to iteratively develop and evaluate professional learning models that promote distributed leadership and thereby greater ECE educator empowerment, satisfaction and practice.

Distributed leadership practices and student science performance through the four-path model: examining failure in underprivileged schools

PurposeAs a failure analysis emphasizing school leadership in underprivileged schools serving socioeconomically disadvantaged and minority students, the study is interested in determining whether and to what extent variations in distributed leadership (DL) practices are related to student performance through the mediating effects of four-path variables.Design/methodology/approachThis research conducted secondary data analysis using the 2015 PISA American data. The study employed factor analysis and structural equation models (SEMs) to investigate multidimensional associations among a set of variables, including school socioeconomic status (SES), student composition, DL practices, school four-path factors and student performance. The research used a design-based resampling approach with balanced repeated replication (BRR) weights to analyze the complex survey data.FindingsThe results indicate that, within a DL framework, teacher leadership in instructional management is positively and directly related to student performance. Governing board leadership in school administration is indirectly related to student performance through four-path variables' mediating effects. Importantly, though the two leadership sources help improve student performance, they are less prevalent in underprivileged schools with disproportional minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students.Originality/valueThis research is a failure analysis through the lens of DL for underprivileged schools. The study used rigorous quantitative approaches and examined multidimensional associations among school socioeconomic status (SES), DL, school factors that school leaders could maneuver and student performance. The evidence sheds light on remedial actions in failed schools to focus on improving teacher leadership and organizational capacity.

School Heads of Departments’ Roles in Advancing Science and Mathematics through the Distributed Leadership Framework

The prioritization of quality education, especially in science and in mathematics, positions effective teaching and learning as a major school leadership goal. Effective curriculum implementation hinges on power dynamics in schools; this puts distributed leadership in the spotlight. Heads of departments (HoDs) are important role players in the distributed leadership structures of schools. This qualitative case study explored the roles of HoDs in four South African high schools to determine how opportunities were created for teaching and learning science and mathematics in the context of distributed leadership. Unstructured interviews were conducted with 13 participants. The findings show that, in distributed leadership structures, HoDs in science and mathematics played the roles of instructional leaders; school-based subject and classroom specialists; and that they were accountable for learner performance in their departments. Their actions supported other players in school leadership, including teachers in the classroom and principals, to improve teaching and learning through distributed leadership structures. We recommend that further studies explore and compare how HoDs navigate the complexities of their roles in different school contexts.

Theorising leadership for inclusion in the Irish context: A triadic typology within a distributed ecosystem

Leadership for inclusion is a contested concept with competing definitions suggested by many researchers and educationalists. While broad and narrow interpretations of ‘inclusion’ exist, this article focuses solely on the inclusion of learners with special educational needs (SEN) in Irish mainstream schools. A critical literature review of various different leadership typologies, relevant to inclusive education, is presented, from a practising principal's perspective. This review is used to theorise a hybrid leadership typology, present in schools where children with SEN are included in mainstream classes. The centrepiece of this theoretical model is that any leadership approach, in an inclusive education setting, must be triadic in structure. As a construct, it must be underpinned by a triad of teacher leadership, managerial leadership and values leadership. The argument is advanced that if this triadic structure is to flourish, then a distributed leadership framework is a necessity.

Development and Application of a Distributed Leadership Framework to the Curriculum Mapping of Quantitative Skills in First-Year Undergraduate Agriculture Degrees

Quantitative skills (QS), the ability to use mathematical and statistical reasoning in context, are considered essential threshold learning outcomes in Australian university agricultural courses (degrees). Curriculum mapping can be used to determine how the existing curriculum fosters the development of QS, and identify where opportunities for skills development are missing in the curriculum. To address the challenges of curriculum mapping this paper describes the development and application of a modified distributed leadership model based on the merging of Kotter’s eight steps for structural change (2014) and Jones, Hadgraft, Harvey, Lefoe and Ryland’s framework for distributed leadership (2014). Distributed leadership is built on the foundations of change theory, moving beyond the traditional leadership boundaries and has been increasingly used in higher education. This case study demonstrates how distributed leadership has been used successfully in determining the graduate level QS and driving the mapping process for the first-year curriculum. Curriculum maps showed when the QS were taught, practiced and assessed across 10 science degrees, including three agriculture degrees, at a regional Australian university. As a result, holistic curriculum changes were flagged with the aim of enhancing QS development for both on campus and distance learning students.

School leadership practice across international policy contexts: Organizational roles and distributed leadership in Denmark and the United States

This comparative analysis applies a distributed leadership framework to data from teachers and leaders taking the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL). Because the policies educators in Denmark and the United States respond to in their daily practice are related through the transnational policy borrowing process, we are better able to understand how these policies impact educators in their respective countries by comparing their leadership practice through a shared lens: the CALL framework. In this exploratory analysis, we take a comparative perspective by asking: How does distributed leadership practice compare in the US and the Danish contexts of schooling? And: How do views on leadership practice vary according to professional roles in specific national and local (school) contexts? Our conceptual framework has three components: neoinstitutional theory, translation theory, and distributed leadership. We use multilevel confirmatory factor analysis and t-tests with SY2015–2016 CALL data to compare and contrast the pattern of leadership practices teachers and school leaders take-up in Danish and US schools. We found that the leadership practices aligned to a school-wide focus on learning are closely associated with the work of monitoring teaching and learning and building nested learning communities, particularly in the US context of schooling.

Examining Distributed Leadership Practices by School Grade Configuration

ABSTRACT In this study, we apply a distributed leadership framework to better understand the nature of leadership practices distributed in schools by grade configuration. In this analysis we examine the following research question: What are the differences between school-level grade configuration (elementary school or secondary school) and the extent and distribution of leadership practices in the school? This study uses multilevel confirmatory factor analysis to examine leadership practice in schools using the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning.

Rethinking distributed leadership: dimensions, antecedents and team effectiveness

PurposeStudies of distributed leadership (DL) are increasing, but are not systematic, often taking a normative position emphasizing the superiority of DL to solo leadership and using the term in an imprecise way. The purpose of this paper is to re-conceptualize DL and develop a systematic framework to identify dimensions of DL and their association with team effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachBased on a comprehensive review of existing literature, this paper develops a systematic framework of DL and team effectiveness by deriving eight research propositions.FindingsBased on two perspectives, role space occupation and dependency of actions, the paper identifies four main dimensions of DL: shared, conjoint, fragmented and dispersed leadership, each of which represents a specific pattern of DL activities. A leader-task-context (LTC) framework is developed to analyze outcomes of DL dimensions in different settings. The eight propositions developed clearly identify where DL can be best applied, how particular configurations of DL affect team performance, and in what situations it is most effective.Originality/valueThis paper has made several contributions. First, the authors address the question of what constitutes DL by conceptualizing its dimensions. Second, the authors extend the DL literature by arguing and modeling how different contexts influence the fulfillment of DL. Third, the authors develop an analytical framework of DL – the “LTC” framework – to help build a foundation and guide further research on the relationships between DL and team performance.

Distributed leadership of school curriculum change: an integrative approach

ABSTRACTSince its inception in 1999, the distributed leadership framework of Spillane, Halverson, and Diamond [2004. “Towards a Theory of Leadership Practice: A Distributed Perspective.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 36 (1): 3–34. doi:10.1080/0022027032000106726] has supported research into leadership and change in schools. Whilst the conceptual integrity of the framework is sound, research based upon its premises has attracted some criticism. The research has had a narrowed focus which has not generally reflected the inseparability of the elements of the framework and the situation within which leadership is enacted. In addition, it often fails to account for the complexity of critical elements of the environment such as micropolitics. This position paper proposes a reconfiguration of the distributed leadership framework as a research framework in response to this critique. The paper asserts that this new perspective that is presented is able to respond to the critique through an integrated approach that encompasses situation, social distribution and task enactment and which supports an integrated approach to research methodology. This adapted framework has the potential to more fully support research design that is actuality holistic and embedded in the context.

From legislation to implementation

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the leadership practice of an 11-member district team of educators assembled to respond to one of the most comprehensive bullying laws in the nation – the Massachusetts Anti-Bullying Law of 2010. This three-year case study provides school leaders and legislators with an in-depth, fine-grained analysis of how leadership was practiced by a district team of de facto leaders charged with implementing mandatory legislative policy throughout a six-school, 5,000-student, K-12 public school district.Design/methodology/approach– This three-year case study employed an analytical, distributed leadership framework to identify, categorize, and analyze key artifacts used by a team to design and implement system-wide the comprehensive requirements of legislation. Using Weft qualitative data analysis software and the open, axial, and selective coding guidelines of Strauss and Corbin, data from semi-structured interviews and document analysis revealed a number of hidden structural considerations exerting significant influence on the leadership practice of the team.Findings– Findings from this study suggest that leadership is perhaps more fluid than previously theorized. Defining leadership as a force that moves between and among organizational stakeholders (as opposed to a person or position), this study identified a number of structural considerations exerting influence on the leadership practice of a team. Furthermore, this study suggests that foreknowledge of these structural considerations may help to foster organizational learning, to leverage preexisting social and intellectual capital, and to more successfully navigate the requirements of complex organizational change such as legislative mandates and standards-based reform.Research limitations/implications– Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to replicate this study in other school districts or large organizations who are responding to state or federal legislation.Practical implications– The paper includes implications for state and local educational leaders as they struggle with the increased demands of standards-based educational reform.Social implications– This study has implications for those seeking to understand how legislation is received and assimilated by schools as well as those seeking a greater understanding of formal and informal leadership.Originality/value– This paper fulfills an identified need to study how leadership is practiced in response to standards-based state and federal legislation.

The High School Principal’s Influence on Novice Teacher Induction Within a Distributed Leadership Framework

A novice teacher’s first few years of teaching are a time of transition from preservice preparation to a time of practice. It is during this time that he or she will form a professional identity, much of which will derive from his or her induction opportunities and experiences. However, that same beginning teacher has a nearly 50% chance of leaving his or her current teaching position within the first 5 years of teaching. Teachers often point to disappointment with their school administrator as a reason for leaving. This study sought to understand the role that principals play during a novice’s early years of teaching, recognizing that much leadership for induction is distributed among a range of other school personnel. In the two suburban high schools studied, principals did not take an active role in establishing satisfying and supportive conditions for novices. In large part, leadership responsibility was left to the subject area department chair and departmental colleagues, one of whom was the assigned mentor. For most of the novice teachers in the study, the induction experience was unimpressive.

Distributed leadership: principals describe shared roles in a PDS

This paper examines principals’ descriptions of the implementation of an urban professional development school (PDS) network through the lens of a distributed leadership framework, in order to explore the role of the principal and its relationship to the goals of a PDS and its major stakeholders. By analysing semi-structured interviews with PDS principals, participant observation field notes and PDS School Action Plans through a distributed leadership lens, the authors seek to understand how principals describe the development and emergence of distributive leadership in a PDS network, and how descriptions of their PDS work connect to the development of various dimensions of their leadership. Based on data analysis, the authors propose three categories of emergent leadership interrelationships: frameworks, relationships and practice. These provide the basis for a deeper understanding of the critical aspects of leadership that PDS can facilitate in school leaders’ development and impact. The authors propose that principals construct meaning about their own leadership development and ability to enable effective school change by connecting their knowledge and understanding of what leadership entails and how it is shared with others. Research on the principal’s role in an urban PDS provides insights into how additional PDS roles provide new perspectives and opportunities for converting the principal into a change agent.

Contextualizing Distributed Leadership Within Early Childhood Education

This article seeks to establish a new research agenda on distributed leadership by linking early childhood and school leadership research. It begins with a discussion of how distributed leadership is conceptualized, including a discussion of the main features and meanings of distributed leadership as defined by key scholars who have maintained a sustained interest in this topic. It explores theoretical bases underpinning leadership research that have adopted a distributed leadership framework in general and within early childhood education organizations in particular. By critiquing the application of learning derived from school-based research within early childhood settings, this article aims to engage readers across different education sectors to collaborate in reconceptualizing distributed leadership in the future.

Identifying elements critical for functional and sustainable professional learning communities

AbstractIn this paper, we examined data collected as part of a 5‐year project designed to foster reform‐based urban science teaching through teachers' communities of inquiry. Drawing upon a distributed leadership framework, we analyzed teacher “talk” during professional learning community (PLC) meetings. This analysis yielded five elements: teacher learning and collaboration, community formation, confidence in knowledge of content and guided inquiry, concerns about the impact of accountability measures on teaching and learning, and sustainability of reform. Follow‐up interviews with participants reinforced the importance of these elements. While accountability measures were found to have a significant impact on science teaching, participants were also able to use their PLC‐based experiences to develop strategies to deal with such external constraints. Facilitation and leadership also play key roles in establishing and maintaining PLCs in this urban setting. Finally, we present a revised framework that incorporates the elements we identified to describe those local and systemic factors critical for successful implementation and influence of professional development efforts. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 95: 543–570, 2011

Socially Focused, Situationally Driven Practice: A Study of Distributed Leadership among School Principals and Counselors

This study investigated how school counselors and principals perceive their professional relationship with each other. Specifically, it used Q methodology to develop 45 statements about the relationship between the school counselor and the principal. Subsequently, 39 professional school counselors and principals sorted the statements. Four factors emerged, each representing a distinct view of this relationship. The factors were analyzed using a distributed leadership framework. Although each factor contains constructive attributes of the school-counselor–principal relationship, one factor contains characteristics closely approximating the distributed leadership framework reflected in the literature and in the current school counselor and administrator professional standards.