Leadership Preparation Programs Research Articles

Changing cultural norms through education: voices from Ghanaian women principals

PurposeThis study examined how cultural factors positively or negatively influenced women's access to the principal role and influenced their leadership experiences. The researchers used Hofstede (2011) six dimensions of national culture as a conceptual framework. The Hofstede (2011) model of national culture consists of six dimensions (6D) that the investigators utilized to interpret and code the data. This framework allowed the researchers to comprehend the impact of cultural norms and values on women leaders and how women leaders work within those behavioral patterns. Utilizing this framework to map women educational leaders' experiences provided nuances in the dimensions within this region.Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative research paradigm and a phenomenological approach, this study explored the experiences of 12 women principals in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem District (KEEA) of the Central Region of Ghana. The phenomenological approach is represented in cultural and social experiences. It enables researchers to describe the meaning of individuals' experiences (Creswell, 2007). This approach helped the researchers describe the participants' perceptions and experiences as Ghanaian women school leaders. This study sought to answer the following research questions: What are the experiences of women principals in Ghanaian K-12 public schools? What challenges do these women encounter in their work as principals? What support exists for these women to effectively execute their leadership roles? A criterion sampling was used to select principals. Data collection included one-on-one in-depth interviews and field notes.FindingsFindings revealed that these women navigated cultural norms and beliefs in order to exercise their own leadership style and pursue their careers in education. These women leaders were also able to gradually change the teachers' and community members' mindsets on women and leadership.Research limitations/implicationsThis study took place with 12 women within one district in one region of Ghana. While this is a limited sample, this study is significant because it increased one's understanding of how women leaders in patriarchal societies navigate cultural beliefs and norms in order to execute their responsibilities. This study informs educational reforms on gender equity and leadership preparation programmes and sheds light on culturally informed leadership practices unique to women.Practical implicationsBased on the study's findings, the researchers offer some recommendations for practitioners, policy makers and scholars.Social implicationsGiven the global call to promote equity in all aspects of social, economic and public life, the question is not whether we should support women educational leaders but rather how we can better support these professionals navigate cultural norms embedded in patriarchal and traditional societies.Originality/valueCurrently, majority of scholarly articles written on the experiences of women educational leaders come from South Africa (Diko, 2014; Mestry and Schmidt, 2012; Moorosi, 2010). In Ghana, quantitative studies have focused on factors accounting for gender disparity in education leadership in specific districts (Segkulu and Gyimah, 2016) and stereotypical perceptions of women principals (Pwadura, 2016). However, there are a limited number of qualitative studies that explore the experiences of women principals. This study is designed to fill this knowledge gap by employing a qualitative design to explore the experiences of 12 women school principals located in the KEEA municipality in the Central Region of Ghana. Thus, the gap in knowledge that this study seeks to bridge is both methodological – in terms of the use of a qualitative approach – and topical – in terms of exploring the experiences of female principals.

Educational Leadership and the Impact of Societal Culture on Effective Practices

Research into what is effective leadership in different cultures provides guidance for leaders moving from one culture to another (House et al, 2014). There is a paucity of empirical research into how culture impacts effective educational leadership in culturally diverse communities, which provides the direction and focus for this study. The cultural backgrounds of staff can impact what they expect about i) how leaders communicate, ii) what actions help build trust and collaboration and iii) how decisions can or should be made (Hofstede, 1991; Meyer, 2014). This study analyses the extent to which school leaders adapt their behaviours in response to the cultures of their staff. Findings suggest that leaders in schools do adapt their actions, most often using different communication styles but also methods of building collaboration and trust, and decision-making structures. Culture impacts what are effective leadership practices (Dorfman et al, 2012) and educational leaders need to understand these potential impacts if they work in culturally diverse communities. This is important to consider for school leaders and leadership preparation programmes.

Leveraging Women’s Leadership Talent to Promote a Social Justice Agenda in Ethiopian Schools

Background: Research that identifies and celebrates the positive attributes of women educational leaders advancing a social justice agenda in traditionally male-dominated, Sub-Saharan African (SSA) societies is sparse. Studying female educational leadership in SSA conceptually brings to the fore issues associated with the intersectionality of gender, leadership, pervasive abject poverty, and cultural mores from a critical theory lens that runs counter to the White, western, male conceptions of leadership underlying much of the existing literature in the field. Purpose: With a focus on Ethiopia, we sought to understand the way in which women educational leaders, as traditionally oppressed groups in a patriarchal society, utilize their past marginalization as they advance a social justice agenda to promote educational opportunities for traditionally underserved students, particularly females. Research Design: Using transformative leadership as our theoretical lens and semi-structured interviews as our methodology, we conducted a grounded phenomenological study of eight Ethiopian women who were in educational leadership positions ranging from assistant principal to regional supervisors. We recruited the women leaders through direct contact, reputational nomination, and leadership positions they held. Findings/Results: Our findings paint a portrait of these female leaders as tenacious and determined, with a strong sense of self-agency and moral courage, whose identities are born out of their humble beginning and multi-focal understanding of issues from being female, from poor communities, submersed in male-dominated culture. These identities drove the participants to work towards emancipatory policies to acknowledge and intervene in “power differences” that directly influence school performance for girls and women in Ethiopia. Conclusions/Recommendations: Increasing workforce diversity with respect to gender, recasting leadership preparation programs as equity-oriented institutions, and addressing key public policies to support women in leadership positions are foundational recommendations that can lead to gender equity in education in Ethiopia.

Evidence-Based Leadership Preparation Program Practices: From the Perceptions of Georgia Rural School Leaders

Evidence-Based Leadership Preparation Program Practices: From the Perceptions of Georgia Rural School Leaders

What’s Your Excuse? Sensemaking About Chronic Absenteeism in a Rural, Latinx High School

Nationwide, over seven million students are chronically absent from school each year, impacting academic success and future job earnings. Latinx high school students have among the highest absentee rates across all racial groups. Using critical sensemaking theory, this qualitative case study examines how school, district, and community leaders make sense of chronic absenteeism in their diversifying local high school. This study is situated in Hensonville Secondary School (a pseudonym), a small, rural high school in Iowa serving a predominantly Latinx student body. Findings reveal that persistent deficit narratives placed upon Latinx and/or low-income students drive the perception of absentee students as “others” that do not fit the expectations of the educational leaders or of the broader community. Power and privilege in the district were evident as white educational leaders blamed Latinx students and those from low-income backgrounds for chronic absenteeism while minimizing the institutional and contextual factors that may be contributing to low student attendance. Collaborative partnerships are increasingly being used to address chronic absenteeism, and we also investigate these efforts in Hensonville. white educational leaders in diversifying rural communities, and the leadership preparation programs educating these future leaders, must rely on culturally relevant/responsive strategies in order to best support their students and reduce chronic absenteeism.

Leading Schools and Districts in Times of Crisis

The COVID-19 school closures highlighted the importance of crisis management for school and district leaders. Crisis management, however, has not received sufficient attention from school leadership preparation programs or education leadership researchers. This article synthesizes research spanning schools and other organizations, including those in the private sector, to describe a framework for understanding crises and crisis management in schools and districts and the key competences this literature suggests for successful navigation of crisis situations. We use this framework to discuss leaders’ responses to the COVID-19 school closures in spring 2020. We conclude with an argument for more consciously incorporating crisis management training into both preservice and in-service preparation and support for education leaders and for opening new lines of inquiry into crisis leadership at the school and district levels.

Accepting Educational Responsibility: Preparing Administrators to Lead Inclusive Schools

Educational leaders are expected to lead schools for increased outcomes for all students. Effective leadership of inclusive schools requires certain skills and dispositions. However, many principals do not have background in special education and there is criticism that educational leadership preparation programs are inadequately preparing aspiring school leaders. In this study, we surveyed graduate students in a leadership preparation program to understand their perceptions of their knowledge and skills related to leading inclusive schools. The results of the study contribute to the body of research regarding curricular and experiential changes needed in preparation programs to prepare leaders for inclusive schools.

Empowering Teachers Through Instructional Supervision: Using Solution Focused Strategies in a Leadership Preparation Program

The purpose of this study was to determine how students in an educational leadership preservice program perceived the effectiveness of solution-focused supervision (SFS) taught in an instructional supervision class. Interviews, observations, and artifacts, and a case study design, were applied to address two primary research questions. Findings revealed the use of solution-focused (SF) strategies produced positive outcomes, but required dramatic paradigm shifts from study participants. Moreover, the researchers found that respondents used a wide range of SF strategies in the clinical cycle exercise. Participants, furthermore, affirmed that SF structures and language promoted reflection, conversation, and empowerment of teachers. These positive dispositions toward solution-focused supervision, however, did not come without difficulties and initial doubt.

School Leadership Burnout and Job-Related Stress: Recommendations for District Administrators and Principals

Principals are critical to improving schools, but job-related stress and burnout are factors that can limit principal effectiveness and lead to untimely turnover. Extant literature, leadership preparation programs, and district policies have largely ignored principal burnout despite the increased complexity of the principalship and increasing rates of turnover. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated principal burnout given the added demands and transitions associated with school closures, reopening, and social distancing protocols. The purpose of this article is to provide a set of recommendations for district administrators and school leaders in order to reduce burnout. We hope these recommendations provide an initial starting point for taking action to reduce principal burnout.

The roles of school leaders in developing future-ready learners: the case of Singapore

PurposeAn education system can only be successful if it can develop future-ready learners who can continue to learn after graduation, take on their future lifework and thrive in the future society and environment. This article examines the economic, social and environmental trajectories of Singapore and proposes that it is important for future-ready learners to develop habits of practices that will support the skills, knowledge and values that are pertinent to these trajectories.Design/methodology/approachSchool leaders are responsible for creating environments and implementing practices that are conducive for fostering habits of practices that are crucial for future-ready outcomes. The authors discuss the inadequacies of traditional teaching and learning practices in supporting these habits and elucidate how newer paradigms such as constructivism, connectivism, coagency and communities of practice might be more useful in achieving this. The authors also present a case study of a school leadership preparation programme that aims to develop future-ready learners.FindingsThis paper provides insights into how newer paradigms of teaching and learning can be supportive for developing desirable habits of practices for future readiness.Originality/valueThis discussion piece introduces a fresh concept – habits of practices – that is relevant in preparing future-ready learners in Singapore.

Examining Educational Leadership Doctoral Students’ Self-Efficacy as Related to Their Role as a Scholarly Practitioner Researcher

Aim/Purpose: This study examined an educational leadership doctoral preparation program to better understand how students’ self-efficacy evolves from the lens of a scholarly practitioner researcher as they progress through specified checkpoints to degree completion. The aim was to identify what factors contributed to building scholarly practitioner researcher skills and what factors hindered the development of doctoral students as they progressed through their educational leadership preparation program. Background: Doctoral programs have the highest attrition of graduate programs, with almost half of the successful students taking six to seven years to complete. Thus, educational leadership doctoral preparation programs must find ways to enhance students’ perceived capability in an effort to facilitate their progress through the program in a timely manner. The researchers believe having high research self-efficacy coupled with evidence-based practices to strengthen scholarly practitioner research skills may be a contributor to effective program progression if viewed from the lens of a scholarly practitioner researcher. Methodology: A mixed-methods study utilizing an ex-post-facto research design based on descriptive statistics coupled with an analysis of qualitative data examined students’ perceived self-efficacy of educational leadership doctoral students in relation to their rate of progression. Contribution: This study provides other doctoral programs a lens into the importance of maintaining students’ high self-efficacy, specifically in the area of scholarly practitioner research to ensure efficient progression through the program to completion in a timely manner. Findings: Educational leadership doctoral students in the specified cohorts reported high self-efficacy at the pre-, mid-, and post-assessment checkpoints in the program during their coursework tier, and findings revealed this high self-efficacy was sustained throughout this progression to the dissertation tier. Four overarching narrative themes influencing students self-efficacy in scholarly practitioner research were identified as Social Support, Academic Challenges, Discipline, Effort, and Motivation, and Personal Challenges. Recommendations for Practitioners: Educational leadership and related doctoral programs should consider using a scholarly practitioner researcher approach. This focus may lead to faster rates of degree completion and better prepared students to solve problems of practice in their practitioner settings. Recommendation for Researchers: While the results are promising in support of evidence-based practices to prepare scholarly practitioner researchers, in turn sustaining or supporting high levels of self-efficacy may prove impactful, thus warranting further research. Impact on Society: Ensuring high levels of self-efficacy may help students to complete their doctoral degree in a timelier manner due to the perception they are capable of program completion and may also, better prepare students to serve as scholarly practitioner researchers in their educational settings. Future Research: Future research should continue longitudinally to examine self-efficacy from the lens of a scholarly practitioner researcher to better understand how this shapes doctoral students’ efforts and capabilities in their doctoral work from admit to program completion. Additionally, future research can quantitively assess a model identifying the relationship between self-efficacy and the four identified themes for the development of doctoral students’ research skills as scholarly practitioners.

Disrupting Dysconsciousness: Confronting Anti-Blackness in Educational Leadership Preparation Programs

This article examines liberatory pedagogical practices utilized in graduate level courses offered within an educational leadership preparation program (ELPP). The research explores how these tools support the development of culturally responsive school leadership and actively anti-racist leaders in a program purporting to develop social justice-oriented school leaders. The author analyzes data collected from student course evaluations (SCEs) and assignments in courses taught across two years. Findings indicate that students perceived the liberatory pedagogical practices employed within the course to be vital in pushing them towards disrupting the pathologies of racism and anti-Blackness cultivated during their primary through post-secondary schooling experiences. The findings also indicated that students responded positively to the use of liberatory pedagogical practices and frameworks that centered race and explicitly used race language.

How aspiring principals applied course-based learning to develop school improvement plans

PurposeSchool improvement planning and implementation is one organizational process by which principals may positively impact school and student outcomes. Limited research, however, has explored how principal preparation programs prepare aspiring leaders for this common school leadership activity. This study examined aspiring principals engaged in the school improvement process by evaluating what they included in their school improvement plans (SIPs) that were developed as part of their field experience.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examined SIPs aspiring principals collaboratively developed as part of their field experience. Using an abductive analysis method, combining both deductive and inductive coding methods, authors examined 77 SIPs in which aspiring principals used school level data in planning.FindingsEach aspiring principal's SIP was contextually specific. No two plans were identical relative to who was targeted for improvement and how the plan was to be implemented, indicating aspiring principals can apply course-based learning and implement important data-driven decision-making skills in field-based school improvement projects.Research limitations/implicationsFindings are exploratory and limited to SIPs developed by aspiring principals in one university program in one large urban school district context. The findings that specific requirements and program structures affected the aspiring principal's school improvement planning process as did the overall school context adds to current understandings of how course-based learning is applied. However, further investigations are needed.Practical implicationsFindings provide evidence of how school leadership preparation programs may impact leadership development relative to skills associated with school improvement planning. The findings also suggest the importance of detailed analysis of aspiring principals school improvement planning as a program evaluation process.Originality/valueThis study was the first to document the content of aspiring principals' field-based SIPS and how skills in data-driven decision-making were applied in a SIP field-based activity.

State of States: Landscape of University-Based Pathways to the Principalship

This study describes the landscape of school leadership preparation programs in the United States, including pathways to the principalship (master’s, certification, educational specialist) and the delivery modes for each pathway (face-to-face, fully online, hybrid). First, data was collected from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data on the number of degrees and certificates awarded by every postsecondary institution receiving U.S. federal student aid from 2013 to 2018. Then program websites were searched and coded by two independent coders. All discrepancies were resolved; the final dataset was analyzed using measures of central tendency. This study found that master’s programs were the most common route to the principalship, and there were more than double the number of master’s offerings than certification and more than double as many certification offerings than educational specialist. The most common delivery modes across each pathway were, from most prevalent to least: face-to-face, fully online, and hybrid. Ten states had an offering in every pathway and modality, but no individual university offered every pathway and modality. Twenty-one states had one or more universities that offered all pathways but not all modalities. Implications are that program faculty informed decisions about what pathways and modalities to offer, these data allow for sampling techniques that can help researchers conduct more inferential studies to measure the impact of leadership preparation on school outcomes, and these data allow for research that differs by pathway, providing a more nuanced understanding of preparation. Finally, this study serves as a call for a centralized database for tracking SLPP data.

Academic Leadership During a Pandemic: Department Heads Leading With a Focus on Equity

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented crisis with momentous challenges for higher education institutions. Academic leaders have been charged with restructuring their systems, ensuring instructional quality while operating with significantly diminished resources. For department heads of units with leadership preparation programs, the complexity of this crisis is layered upon fundamental scholarship about leadership, which reports the effectiveness of leadership as a collective incorporating the shared and diverse talents of faculty, students, and program stakeholders. This work of educational leadership rests on a public and democratic ethic promoting social justice and equity as the practices and outcomes for schooling at any level. In this article, three department heads of educational leadership units in major research universities use dialogic inquiry to reflect on our responses to complex demands brought forth by the pandemic. We share insights into our decision making, as we have led with a focus on equity. We address dilemmas and conflicts that we have addressed as departmental leaders during this critical period of institutional challenges, changing institutional policies and practices, and declining resources, as we have worked to ensure equitable access and distribution of resources for students, faculty, and staff. We conclude with implications for department heads who strive to maintain a focus on equity during times of sweeping organizational change.

An Examination of The Relationship Between A Redesigned School Leadership Preparation Program and Graduates’ Cultural Competence

ABSTRACT Culturally competent leaders positively affect school environments which in turn fosters equitable learning. Educational leadership preparation programs bear the responsibility of preparing culturally competent school leaders. Few programs assess their graduate students’ cultural competence and its development. Using the Cultural Competence for Educational Leaders (CCEL) instrument, this convergent triangulation mixed methods study examines change in cultural beliefs and motivation, cultural knowledge, cultural skills and the overall cultural competence of students after going through a redesigned combined Master’s Degree and educational leadership certification program. Qualitative data were gathered through focus group interviews, an open-ended survey question, and program document analysis. Findings show statistically significant increases in graduates’ cultural knowledge, beliefs and motivations, and skills. Changes were perceived to be influenced by the cohort model, culturally diverse and social-justice oriented adjunct-instructors, a required “Leadership for Social-Justice” course, and social-justice embedded throughout the program as a cross-curricular theme.

Horses Preparing Superintendent Candidates for the Leadership Arena

Background: This study considers the use of animal-assisted interventions (AAIs), specifically horses, in an educational setting, which has received minimal attention in the human–animal interaction research. Purpose: The study sought to understand perceptions of students in an educational leadership preparation program as they participated in equine assisted learning (EAL) activities. Methodology/Approach: Participants ( n = 66) were graduate students who completed an open-ended survey questionnaire in 2014 to 2018. In addition to the survey answers, the data included observation notes and course evaluations. Data were analyzed for themes and transfer. Findings/Conclusion: Evidence in understanding the impact of EAL activities. In addition, the study explores student perceptions of how they related the EAL experiences to not only their own traits and beliefs as leaders (self-awareness), but also in exploring their beliefs and biases about systems leadership in public education. Implications: The use of AAIs in educational programs may provide students a living, active metaphor for what they need to do in their own leadership lives, question boundaries, and gain a sense of self as a future system leader.

Implementing School Improvement Plans: Perceptions and Implications of Aspiring Principals for Educational Leadership Programs

This study examines what aspiring principal candidates in one university-based preparation program learned as a result of developing and implementing a school improvement plan. A case study approach was used to examine 53 aspiring principals’ reports of what they learned from implementing school improvement plans. Findings revealed three significant themes: (1) the importance of collaboratively engaging the participants of the school improvement plan; (2) the essential need of establishing relationships; and (3) understanding the significance and impact of data-driven decisions. Findings can inform leadership preparation programs to redirect coursework that will help aspiring principals improve leadership skills.

VARIATIONS IN EXPERIENCE AND MEANING: LEADERSHIP INVOLVMENT AND IDENTITIES WITH SPECIAL EDUCATION AND DISABILITIES

This study focused on various ways retired school principals conceived leadership identity and accounted for involvement in special education with students identified or identifying as disabled. Participants’ narratives regarding what it meant to be involved with special education and/or disability and relationships between conceptions of involvement and identities served as primary data. Conceptions included, but were not limited to, perceived ways participants viewed their attentiveness and commitment to special education. In this study, identity was understood as a professional identity in relationship to one’s social identities and in response to others’ social identities. Employing a phenomenographic approach, findings were grouped into pools of meanings, labeled as categories of description, and presented in an outcome space. Findings evinced participants accounted for involvement with special education and/or disability through professional responses, risk-taking, and working toward socially transforming their schools. They experienced involvement as active presence, critical reflection, advocacy, and resistance. Findings suggested participants’ involvement in special education was influenced by personal experiences with disability and relationships with individuals with disabilities. Participants experienced identity through compassion, learning, spirituality, and dis/abled-ness. Discussion of how leadership preparation programs can recruit and prepare school leaders in special education is provided.

Activism in Practice: The Influence of a Rural School Leader’s Beliefs and Practices in Disrupting Historical Patterns of Underachievement in Traditionally Marginalized Students

Despite the fact that rural communities across the United States are rapidly diversifying (Fusarelli & Militello, 2012), little research has examined the beliefs and practices of successful rural educational leaders, specifically in high poverty schools and districts where traditionally marginalized students demonstrate improving learning outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs and practices of a rural educational leader whose school or district met established study criteria for a high poverty, high performing school, in which traditionally marginalized students demonstrate increasingly productive learning outcomes. Interviews with the leader were conducted, and the data were coded and analyzed using a constant comparative method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).The following research question guided the study:What impact do the beliefs and practices of a rural school district leader have on the learning outcomes of traditionally marginalized students in the Rocky Mountain West?The findings from this study contribute to the paucity of research on culturally responsive rural superintendent-principals. Identifying the rural leader’s beliefs and practices provides support for educational leaders who serve in that uniquely rural dual role, about which very little has been written. It informs leadership preparation programs, graduate students, researchers, and policy makers about the need for nuanced culturally responsive training for rural educational leaders.