Support For Principals Research Articles

Stuðningur við skólastjóra í námi og starf

Í þessari grein eru kynntar niðurstöður rannsóknar þar sem markmiðið var að varpa ljósi á viðhorf og reynslu skólastjóra leik- og grunnskóla af stuðningi við þá af hálfu fræðsluyfirvalda sveitarfélaga sem og annarra, bæði í starfi og til að sækja meistaranám í skólastjórnun. Gagna var aflað með viðtölum við 14 skólastjóra sem höfðu samtals starfað sem skólastjórar í um 14 sveitarfélögum. Niðurstöður benda til þess að sá stuðningur sem skólastjórarnir fengu skipti þá miklu máli. Hann hafði áhrif á það hvernig þeir upplifðu starfið og hvernig þeim fannst sér ganga að sinna því og vinna samkvæmt eigin sannfæringu og þekkingu. Stuðningur fræðsluyfirvalda sveitarfélaga var skólastjórum einna mikilvægastur en hann var breytilegur. Skólastjórarnir túlkuðu stuðning fræðsluyfirvalda aðallega út frá því að hvaða marki þeir upplifðu velvilja og skilning af hálfu sveitarfélaganna gagnvart sér og skólastarfinu. Skólastjórarnir töldu þó að fræðsluyfirvöld þyrftu yfirhöfuð að taka meiri ábyrgð á stuðningi við þá og skólana, og að stuðningur þyrfti að vera meiri, markvissari og betur lagaður að þeirra eigin aðstæðum. Jafnframt komu fram vísbendingar um að huga þyrfti sérstaklega að stuðningi við skólastjóra sem koma að sameiningarferli skóla. Niðurstöður benda til þess að stuðningur fræðsluyfirvalda sveitarfélaga sé fremur lítill þegar kemur að meistaranámi í skólastjórnun og virðist vera litið á slíkt nám sem einkamál skólastjóra (og kennara). Annars sóttu skólastjórar helst stuðning í eigið tengslanet, til maka, aðstoðarskólastjóra og stjórnendateymis, auk annarra skólastjóra.

The Uncharted Nature of Licensure Requirements for Charter School Principals: Implications and Possibilities for Policy Action

The authors drew upon state policy documents and other public sources to review licensure requirements for charter school principals. The results indicate that few states have adopted licensure requirements for charter school principals compared with traditional public school principals, and many exempt charter school principals from licensure altogether. They found that training and support for charter school principals is available, but is concentrated in the states with the highest number of charter schools. These findings have significant implications for policy makers, charter school advocates, and authorizers. These implications are discussed and related to the existing literature regarding principal preparation and licensure.

Management of Secondary School Principals for Poverty Reduction in Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in Cross River State, Nigeria

This paper is focused on the management of secondary school principals for poverty reduction in achievement of sustainable development goals in Cross River State, Nigeria. The research design adopted for the study was survey design. The population of the study comprised 233 public secondary school principals in Cross River State. A questionnaire titled: Management of Secondary School Principals for Poverty Reduction in Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (MSSPPRASDG) was designed by the researchers and validated by research experts in measurement and evaluation. Data collected from 233 schools were used for the analysis. Using test-retest statistics, the reliability co-efficient of the instrument was 0.85. Weighted mean score, standard deviation and criterion mean were used to answer the research questions while z–test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that secondary school principals could contribute directly towards poverty reduction in achievement of sustainable development goals by partaking in and organizing entrepreneurship skills acquisition training for members of their staff in secondary schools in Cross River State. It was therefore recommended that the State Ministry of Education (SME) and State Secondary Education Board (SSEB) should set up organ(s) that will provide support and supervision for secondary school principals to encourage effective implementation of entrepreneurship skills acquisition training programs in order to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development goals in Cross River State, Nigeria.

School Autonomy and District Support: How Principals Respond to a Tiered Autonomy Initiative in Philadelphia Public Schools

ABSTRACTA tiered autonomy policy was recently implemented in Philadelphia, where select principals were granted autonomy to manage school operations while others were promised greater district support to improve school functioning. This article provides evidence on how principals used their autonomy and the extent of district support for non-autonomous principals. Principals granted greater autonomy were more likely to change teacher professional development and curriculum and instructional strategies, while principals with longer tenures and more leadership training were more likely to implement organizational changes. Non-autonomous principals reported a misalignment between school and district priorities and limited district support for improving school functioning.

Exploring factors that influence school planning in community high schools in the Solomon Islands: Principals’ perspectives

This article reports on an investigation of the factors that influence school planning in community high schools in the Solomon Islands. In particular, it examines principals’ experiences of having worked with school plans. While the international literature focuses on school planning and the planning process, much of this literature relates to Western contexts, which are sometimes irrelevant to the context of a developing nation such as the Solomon Islands. Thus contextual specificity is an important underlying factor in the study. While school planning is critical for schools, this research showed that most principals in community high schools in the Solomon Islands do not have the confidence to formulate, implement, and successfully evaluate a school plan. As qualitative research, this research gathered stories from community high school principals on Makira Island through semi-structured interviews. These interviews were analysed on a case-by-case basis and used a thematic analysis approach. Key findings of this research, regarding school planning, include the urgency of providing professional development and ongoing support for community high school principals, the role and priority of interpersonal and school-community relationships, the critical importance of school planning as a process, and the notion of seeing a school plan as a working, living document that supports the activity and development of a school. Implications from this research include the need for current and future school principals to undergo professional development that is geared towards improving understanding and skills in school planning. A thorough understanding of the essential elements of the school planning process, alongside ongoing support, will greatly enhance current and future community high school principals’ capacity to improve planning in their schools

XIA

Motivated by limitations in today's host-centric IP network, recent studies have proposed clean-slate network architectures centered around alternate first-class principals, such as content, services, or users. However, muchlike the host-centric IP design, elevating one principal type above others hinders communication between other principals and inhibits the network's capability to evolve. This paper presents the eXpressive Internet Architecture (XIA), an architecture with native support for multiple principals and the ability to evolve its functionality to accommodate new, as yet unforeseen, principals over time. We present the results of our ongoing research motivated by and building on the XIA architecture, ranging from topics at the physical level (``how fast can XIA go'') up through to the user level.

Support and challenge for school leaders

For three years from 2008 every school in England had a designated school improvement partner (SIP), portrayed as a critical friend, whose role was to support and challenge the headteacher. A mixed-methods study involving a national survey and face-to-face interviews evaluated the enactment of the national policy from the perspective of the direct recipients – the headteachers/school principals. Headteachers’ perceptions of their school improvement partners, and their experiences of the support and challenge provided by SIPs, varied. Much seemed to depend on individual SIP’s expertise and conduct. The SIPs’ prescribed agenda was seen as too focused on data rather than discussions about learning and teaching, and requirements for SIPs to report to the local authority and governors were in tension with trustful relationships with headteachers. The SIP programme could be interpreted as a commitment to the entitlement of headteachers to support and challenge, or as a mechanism for surveillance and discipline. Lessons are drawn for the ‘national’ and ‘local leaders of education’ who have replaced SIPs, and for anyone internationally concerned with support and challenge for school principals.

E‐Leadership of school principals: Increasing school effectiveness by a school data management system

AbstractIn recent years, school management systems have become an important tool for effective e‐leadership and data‐based decision making. School management systems emphasize information flow and e‐communication between teachers, students and parents. This study examines e‐leadership by secondary‐school principals through the Mashov school management system, implemented in 500 Israeli schools in order to increase school effectiveness. Semistructured interviews were conducted at the end of academic year 2010/2011 with 10 participants: eight secondary‐school principals, a Ministry of Education supervisor, and a director of the school principals' training program. The results indicate that the system provides extensive support for school principals in managing the organization, delegating responsibilities and promoting e‐leadership by teaching staff and, consequently, increases the pedagogical effectiveness of their school. e‐Leadership through the school management system changes the entire school culture. It includes making data‐based decisions; monitoring curriculum implementation and learning performance; interacting with teachers, students and parents; improving the school climate; and raising the level of student and parental involvement. The results are discussed in terms of the islands‐of‐innovation and comprehensive‐innovation models of technology implementation. In order to enhance e‐leadership, we recommend that school principals expand the implementation of school management systems among students and parents, delegate e‐leadership responsibilities and monitor the level of teacher activity within the system.

Improving the Small Rural or Remote School: The Role of the District

There is a robust body of work highlighting distinctive challenges encountered by leaders of small schools in pursuit of school improvement but this work has focused on the school as the unit of change and neglects the role of the district. As the district potentially influences what principals know and how they use their knowledge, this article examines how districts provide professional support for principals of small schools in rural or remote environments. The article identifies from the literature features of effective districts in supporting change and improvement in their schools. A case study is then presented of one district in Western Australia. This district's magnitude and remoteness yield rich insights into strategies assisting principals to enhance performance and vitality of rural or remote schools and their communities. Finally, suggestions are made for strengthening these strategies referring to the new model of supporting schools on the cusp of its implementation in Western Australia.

Keys to Successful Leadership: High Support for Capable and Versatile Principals

What are the prerequisites for principals’ success within a decentralized and deregulated Swedish-policy environment characterized by democratic equity values and neo-liberal practices? Twenty-four secondary school principals identified internal and external factors that promote or inhibit principals’ success. The discussion concerns whether the current crossfire of demands produces superficiality and threats to democracy due to the working conditions described by the principals.

Surviving the First Year: What Helps Principals Last the Distance?

This research study investigated the induction experiences and perceptions of a group of novice principals in a national, Christian, independent school system. Semi-structured interviews were used to generate discussion, elicit experiences and present recommendations about providing support for novice principals. The study found that eight of the nine principals experienced difficulties with role clarification, administration issues, financial management, time management and the isolation in the principal’s position. Initial shock in the role, policy development, lack of leadership training, staff relationships and information overload were also serious issues for the group. From both the literature and the interviewees’ perceptions and comments, recommendations for systemic improvements are made regarding the needs of newly appointed principals.

Leadership Comes around Again

A GREAT deal of research on effective schools has told us that principal as is one of the most important ingredients of a school that works. Such a principal keeps the school's focus on instruction, sets a constructive tone and high expectations, works to ensure a common curriculum, and provides leadership for teachers. Since the heyday of the effective schools research in the 1980s, however, very little has been done to evaluate whether or not principals are being prepared to be instructional or whether much of their time on the job is spent in this capacity. Layer atop this, then, the concern about the declining pool of building-level leaders and the need for stronger leadership in an age of strict accountability, and one can understand why the national discussion has focused on recruiting strong candidates and setting standards for training and evaluation. The hard part, of course, will be getting beyond the rhetoric of need and quality, so that in another 20 years someone else is not writing about the need for the principal to serve as the leader of a school. The Push and Pull Of Accountability In its new publication, In Pursuit of Quality Teaching: Five Strategies for Policymakers, the Education Commission of the States takes on this issue of leadership. The authors, Robert Palaich and Michael Allen of ECS, note that the conflicting demands of school leadership - coupled with the pressure of high-stakes assessment, shortened average job tenure, and the increasingly small difference in pay between teachers and principals - have led to a growing shortage of school and district leaders, especially principals. The media, too, have frequently reported on the issue over the past year. Moreover, administrators quoted in a Washington Post story in June pointed out that principals are frequently held accountable for test scores but don't have the power to hire and fire teachers. The Public Education & Business Coalition, a Colorado-based partnership of leaders from education, business, and the community, recently put together some Key Learnings from its school-based projects. Here are a few that deal with the matter of leadership: * Leadership development must extend far beyond the principal's office. Teachers and others with a vested interest in the success of the school should participate in leadership development opportunities. * There is a clear distinction between leadership skills and management skills. Leadership training for principals must focus on the former. * Leadership development activities are most effective when they occur concurrently with curriculum, instruction, and assessment reform in a school. * Lasting change in schools is most likely to occur when a complacent staff becomes inspired by a leader or a new pedagogy. An outside party can contribute to this change by providing resources and nurturing relationships within the school. * Barriers to reform are more perceived than real. Finding Good Leaders A survey of 151 students enrolled in principal preparation programs at four universities, published in the spring 2000 issue of ERS Spectrum, found that the top three motivators for becoming a principal were: the chance to make a positive impact (nearly 60%), the chance to make a difference (more than 45%), and the chance to take on a personal challenge (more than 40%). Salary was the fifth reason for becoming a principal (less than 35%). When asked about inhibitors to becoming a principal, the number-one response was and bureaucracy (nearly 50%). Nearly 35% listed the increased time commitment, followed by possible litigation, discipline problems, and standardized tests (all less than 25%). Salary ranked sixth among inhibitors (a bit more than 20%). Considering their findings, the researchers' recommendations for school boards and communities were to increase salaries, reduce paperwork and/or provide assistance, consider ways to shrink the school bureaucracy, support principals through improved legal training, provide greater support for principals on disciplinary issues on their campuses, balance the emphasis on standardized test scores with emphasis on other forms of assessment, and provide for administrative assistants with broader responsibilities in order to decrease the time pressures on principals. …

The District Superintendent and School Improvement: A Western Australian Perspective

ABSTRACT The contribution district superintendents can make to school effectiveness and improvement is a neglected area of research in Australia. Research in the US suggests four ways in which superintendents impact on school improvement: the evaluation of principals and auditing of schools; the matching of school and district goals; the provision of informal support for principals; and the appointment and positioning of principals. Within an Australian setting of devolution to school‐based management, evaluation assumes major importance at school level and at district superintendent level in the pursuit of school effectiveness and improvement. An evaluation of the performance of two superintendents in Western Australia took place in 1990. It focused on superintendent performance within one key accountability area, the provision of principals’ professional development. The evaluation procedures and results are described and analysed, and implications are drawn for improving district superintendent evaluat...

Support for beginning principals: First hurdles are highest

Support for beginning principals: First hurdles are highest