Effective school leadership and vision implementation through ISLLC standards

ISLLC Standards

Strategic plans are most successfully implemented by effective leaders. In the educational field especially, effective leadership is of the utmost importance. The young people educated in the school system are our future leaders, and hence the best of education should be ensured for them. Schools consist of a variety of persons in charge of the educational paradigm, system, and leadership. It is only with effective leadership that effective education, and ultimately, an effective general system of training can be ensured for the young people of the country. Effective leadership is to a great extent dependent upon a dependent vision for the organization as a whole.

Effective Vision in School Education

Vision means that each individual within the organization knows what his or her actions need to be to ensure that they take appropriate action for fulfilling the mission of the organization. The role of the leader is therefore effective communication of the vision to ensure that individuals understand how to accomplish this by means of each individual role. In the context of school education, the leader creates a vision for the school to be implemented by means of strategic plans.

According to..., implementing an effective vision is not so much an issue of planning for the future as it is an ability to effectively diagnose the current status and needs of the school involved. In order to create strategic plans, therefore, it is of utmost importance to effectively diagnose the problems in the current system. Strategic plans are then implemented to address and improve the strategies that are in place to handle the existing problems.

School leaders - especially those jut beginning their careers - need to articulate a variety of philosophies. The most important of these is a personal philosophy concerning education and the leader's particular role in implementing this philosophy. This philosophy is then demonstrated by means of actions that can be observed by both subordinates and peers in the profession. To do this, stakeholder groups and individuals need to be identified, because they are a definite part of creating the vision for the school. Such stakeholders include teachers, staff, parents, students, and the district.

According to the CCSSO (2008), consistency in education leadership policy is an important element in effective visioning procedures. This requires high quality leaders, which are cultivated by means of a set of specified standards, such as those implemented by the CCSSO. In strategic planning, it is important to understand tat student achievement is the ultimate aim of implementing the vision.

Articulating the Vision

The vision for an educational facility means that specific values for learning are implemented by each individual involved in the process of teaching learners. According to the CCSSO (2008), such individuals are to include staff, students and families in order to ensure that the vision of the school is optimized. A vision is implemented by means of strategic planning.

Strategic planning then entails challenging standards, facilitating teamwork, structuring work and student assessment, supporting innovation, and developing leadership in others. According to Bruce Hammonds (2006), the most important element in implementing vision is articulating it. If a vision is articulated, those involved can be educated regarding its specific elements. Hammonds emphasizes that visions need to be articulated in practical terms in order to make them effective in practical terms.

The articulation of a vision means explicating it in practical terms via strategic planning. In addition, such strategic planning is only effective once all teachers agree upon the strategies to be used. This means that each individual's belief system needs to be involved in the strategic planning process. Fundamentally, each individual is therefore to be involved in the process that determines the way in which the vision is to be achieved. Effective leadership is crucial in achieving this.

Effective Leadership

According to Hammonds (2008), leaders should not only determine, but also consolidate the belief systems of individuals to make a collective success of strategic planning for school systems. As such, leaders are to implement the necessary strategies to ensure that each individual in the school supports the actions necessary actions for the success of the vision. As such, leaders are to hold individuals accountable for the success of the vision.

The first step is to develop a vision of the ideal school according to the individual stakeholders. These ideals are then to be consolidated in a collective vision, for which all individuals are accountable. Such accountability are then the responsibility of the leader or leaders involved. Individuals are then to be motivated and inspired to reach the goals identified. As Hammonds puts it: "A vision is an image of a desired future."

Defining the Future

According to the MSDE (2008), one of the leader's important tasks is to be specific in terms of vision. As mentioned above, all the values and ideals of individual stakeholders should be consolidated in the collective future vision. This collective vision is then to be used in creating a strategy by means of which each individual's tasks will contribute to achieving the future ideal of the school. This also includes the school community.

The community within which the school functions also has its own set of core beliefs and values. These should be included in the vision for the school. The MSDE emphasizes that the core values and beliefs of the school vision should initially be defined by the main stakeholders, including the staff and administrators. After these have been defined, the community can be approached in order to determine any elements that should be added. This is a process of consensus building between the school and the community. Such consensus can then culminate in values and objectives such as student achievement, expectations of students, and the encouragement of diversity in schools.

Leadership Practice Communities

According to Deborah Helsing (2008), leadership practice communities (LPCs) operate upon the principle of collaboration among educators, and particularly among leaders in the field. Indeed, the research shows that leaders in collaboration show a greater sense of focus, purpose and value in implementing strategic vision at their schools. This has also translated to teachers themselves, in that they have found a greater sense of connection between themselves and others in the profession.

Community entails that teaching is indeed not an isolated profession. It influences many aspects and persons within the community. Learners are influenced, who in turn influence their parents and friend, who in turn influence their parents and friends. As such, the collective values within the community translate themselves to the vision of the school and its leaders. As such, it becomes a cycle of influence that strengthens or limits the vision initially implemented.

Conclusion

While planning for educational improvement may be a lengthy process, this does not need to be overly complicated. Leaders particularly need to recognize the value of collaboration in strategic planning. Indeed, many authors hold that strategic planning is most effectively implemented by means of collaboration. In the educational setting particularly, the recognition of each stakeholder is particularly important.

Education includes many stakeholders. Learners, parents, educators, and the community can all collaborate in order to implement the most effective planning strategy for the future of schools. It is therefore time that educational leaders understand that their role in the education process is by no means either isolated or unimportant. When all stakeholders are recognized, planning can be optimized for the benefit of all.

Sources

Beatty, Brenda. (2007, Nov). Going through the emotions: leadership that gets to the heart of school renewal. Australian Journal of Education. Database: FindArticles.com:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6475/is_3_51/ai_n29391264

CCSSO (2008). Educational Leadership Policy Standards: ISLLC 2008. www. ccsso.org/ISLLC2008Research

Hammonds, Bruce. (2006, Aug 3). Developing a Powerful School Vision. Leading and Learning. http://leading-learning.blogspot.com/2006/08/developing-powerful-school-vision.html

Helsing, Deborah (2008, Sept-Oct). Leadership practice communities: improving teaching and learning. Leadership. Database: FindArticles.com:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HUL/is_1_38/ai_n28095522

MSDE. (2008). School improvement in Maryland. http://mdk12.org/process/leading/vision.html