This is the first volume in the re-imagined series Research and Theory in Educational Administration. The volume includes a variety of perspectives written by university professors in the field of educational administration, which moves our thinking beyond the traditional scope of organizational theory and institutional analysis. It is this combination of theory, of new directions in leadership preparation and new narratives of participation that we hope will contribute to a more engaging volume for its readers—graduate students, researchers, and practitioners. The volume will provide evidence of and explanation for changing patterns of institution production explored through academic and epistemic drift. It also provides a deeper understanding of how state regulation is related to the school administrator pipeline or pathways. The concepts explained and illustrated in the volume hopes to provide a better framework for understanding how administrator preparation is unfolding across the U.S. and internationally, as well as the direction of the field of educational administration in the future.
Leading Research in Educational Administration: A Festschrift for Wayne K. Hoy is the tenth in a series on research and theory dedicated to advancing our understanding of schools through empirical study and theoretical analysis that was initiated by Wayne and Cecil G. Miskel. This tenth anniversary edition honors and celebrates the research leadership Wayne has provided in the field of educational administration through his distinguished career. The festschrift is organized around the analysis of school contexts and includes constructs Wayne and his protégés have studied and researched: climate, trust, efficacy, academic optimism, organizational citizenship, and mindfulness. It concludes with the work of colleagues on the salient contemporary issues of innovation, power, leadership succession, and several others focused on improving schools. Chapter authors all have close connections to Wayne - former students and their students, as well as colleagues and friends.
In this important new collection Murphy and Hallinger bring together descriptions of a wide range of the new models in use in educational administrative training. Most of these eleven models have developed in response to contemporary criticism of the educational administrative theory movement, and each, in its own way, strives to bridge the chasm between educational theory and practice. The approaches represented here stress the importance of the administrators' engagement in the daily life of the school, and encourage administrators to learn from one another. While some models have come from leadership academies, others have been developed and tested in state departments of education, professional associations, and educational institutions. The book represents an important resource for those working with pre- and inservice administrators as they learn ways in which their involvement can improve the nation's schools.
Sponsored by the University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA), the British Educational Leadership, Management, and Administration Society (BELMAS), and the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management (CCEAM), this is the first book to provide a comprehensive and comparative review of what is known about the preparation and development of primary and secondary school leaders across the globe. It describes current issues and debates and offers an assessment of where the field of leadership development is headed. Key features include the following: Global Focus: this book provides the first comprehensive look at leadership preparation and development across the globe. The chapter authors are distinguished scholars, drawn from the US, UK, Europe, Asia, Canada, Australia/New Zealand, and Africa. Topical & Geographical Focus: provides researchers and policymakers with critical descriptions and assessments of both topical and geographical areas. International Expertise: chapter contributors are drawn from a variety of theoretical perspectives and represent all major continents.
EDITORS This introduction to the International Handbook of Educational Lead ership and Administration describes some of the motivation for devel oping the book and several assumptions on which is based much of the work represented in its 31 chapters. A synopsis of the contents of those chapters is also provided. SOME KEY ASSUMPTIONS It is sometimes suggested that the search for an adequate understanding of leadership is doomed to fail. After all, there is little evidence of agreement about the concept in spite of prodigious efforts dating back hundreds if not thousands of years. Such a view is captured, for exam ple, in Bennis' observation that: Of all the hazy and confounding areas in social psychology, leadership theory undoubtedly contends for top nomination. Probably more has been written and less is known about lead ership than any other topic in the behavioural sciences. (1959, page 259) We do not find this state of affairs discouraging (nor entirely accurate) and, of course, it did not prevent Bennis from proceeding either. One reason for our desire to continue in the face of such discouraging words is that a great deal of leadership research aspires to develop a general theory, a theory which applies to all or most domains of organized human activity. This aspiration inevitably produces decontextualized and, therefore, abstract categories of practice. Howard Gardner's (1995) depiction of leadership as story telling is a case in point.
This series is dedicated to advancing our understanding of schools through empirical study and theoretical analysis. Scholars, both young and established, are invited to publish original analyses, but we especially encourage young scholars to contribute to Theory and Research in Educational Administration. This first issue provides a mix of beginning and established scholars and a range of theoretical perspectives. Eight separate but related studies were selected for this first issue. Three of the research pieces deal with the intended and unintended consequences of policy and political initiatives in schools. Do high-stakes accountability environments threaten the potential of learning organizations? Marks and Printy grapple with that question. Not surprisingly, they anticipate the latent dysfunctional consequences of high-stakes accountability as they provide a careful analysis of urban school district responses to state policies. Well-intended initiatives produced unintended consequences that threatened the capacity for organizational learning in these schools. In a similar fashion, Jones and Malen’s findings suggest that political strategies that use insider dynamics can foster successful enactment of reforms but often at a cost of undermining efforts to implement the policy. Song and Miskel focus their analysis on national reading policy. An examination of national interests groups and policymakers suggests that an assessment of various groups’ influence is necessary if policy actors are to make sensible judgments in choosing allies and building coalitions for effective actions. Two of the papers are informed by contingency theory. Ogawa and Studer are concerned with the relationship between the school and its community. They propose that both buffering and bridging strategies enable schools to deal with parents effectively. Because schools depend on parents for resources, they bridge to parents in cooperative fashion, but because parents often pose uncertainty, schools also buffer parent influence by limiting their access. Yet, there is divergence from contingency theory because schools depend primarily on parents to provide socio-cultural rather than material resources; hence, schools often use strategies that shape rather than diminish dependence on parents. Rowan, also draws ideas from contingency theory to examine the extent to which the nature of teachers’ instructional work affects patterns of instructional management in schools. His data support the explanation that teachers who face increased task variety actively work to construct "organic" patterns of instructional management to reduce task uncertainty and to increase workplace motivation and commitment. Three papers examine teachers in schools. Rowan is intrigued by the variation in the nature of teachers’ work both in terms of task variety and task uncertainty. He finds that teachers do not see their work as many organizational theorists do, that is, as a non-routine form of work; in fact, teachers view teaching as either as a routine task or "expert task." In spite of the fact that many teachers endorsed a constructivist view of teaching, few concluded it was a non-routine task. Moreover, teachers in different disciplines have different views about both the nature of academic knowledge and desirable teaching practices. Both Goddard and Hoy and his colleagues use social cognitive theory to develop an argument of the importance of collective efficacy in positively influencing student achievement. Hoy, Smith, and Sweetland build on their earlier work to demonstrate that collective efficacy of schools is pivotal in explaining student achievement in a sample of rural schools. Goddard shows that that collective efficacy is also an important predictor of the practice of involving teachers in important school decisions. He concludes that the more we learn how school practices are related to collective efficacy, the more we will know about what school leaders
Growing discontent with the performance of educational institutions is common in the USA today and little is being done to address the real problem - that of the need to reform and restructure the entire educational system. A key issue in this reform is the training and development of leaders in educational administration; as experienced "leaders" retire, so new professionals are called to assume the mantle of the "old hands" and vital new opportunities exist for those willing to take up the challenge.; This vitally practical text is about the selection, preparation and professional development of aspiring school leaders over the course of their careers, concentrating on ways to increase their overall effectiveness - particularly in changing times. It looks at changes that have been made and considers what can be adapted from existing systems in order to make radical improvements for those in leadership positions.; It is intended for use by postgraduate students in education, teacher trainings, heads of education faculties and teachers in leadership positions, school board members and aspirant superintendents.
