Leadership Characteristics That Facilitate School

Leadership Characteristics That Facilitate School Challenge

Over the last several decades, the state of the U.S. education system has been in consistent decline. Part of the reason for this is: the change in the way that people are living their lives and how various curriculums is delivered by educators / administrators. Evidence of this can be seen by looking no further than a 2009 study that was conducted by Northeastern University and the Alternative Schools Network of Chicago. Where, they found that across the country there are 6.2 million high school dropouts. This represents 16.0% of: the 16 to 24-year-old age demographic. The biggest reason why this is occurring is because of a lack of leadership from: teachers and administrators. These individuals are responsible for creating an environment that can improve learning comprehension as much as possible. Given the fact that funding has been cut in many programs to reach out to students, this highlights how a lack of leadership is occurring. Where, educators and administrators are not letting the public know, about how this is contributing to the decline in the education system. As a result, various efforts to address reenrollment have begun to face a number of hurdles. Commenting about what was taking place the report observed, "Because of the widespread, pressing nature of the crisis and the large numbers of young people who have already dropped out, a national re-enrollment strategy should be a fundamental part of America's national education agenda. These programs have found that young people who have left high school before earning a diploma are not dead-end dropouts, but often are in fact students waiting and looking for opportunities to re-enroll and finish high school. The most successful programs are small (80-150 students), offering comprehensive after-school and summer activities, led by experienced principals and teachers, focused on learning in the real world, well-funded with local school site program and fiscal control, and track specific, measurable outcomes for student achievement including skill gains, enrollment, attendance, credit gains, promotions and graduations." ("High School Drop Out Crisis Continues," 2010) This is significant, because it shows how if leadership is applied by educators and administrators, it can have a dramatic impact upon improving the quality of education that everyone receives. To fully understand how we can apply this general concept to a specific educational setting, we must examine the most common characteristics in all successful leaders. This requires looking at how these individuals have: vision, the views of educators / administrators, the ability to work as a team, to be a good communicator / listener, embracing change and being willing to take risks. Together, these different elements will provide the greatest insights, as to how teachers and administrators must apply genuine leadership, to effectively improve the overall quality of education that is being received.

Vision

When most educators and administrators hear the word vision, they will often assume the traditional role that has taken place in an educational environment. Where, the teacher will follow the specific instructions of administrators, by covering the curriculum and teaching in a way that will support the educational goals of the administration. In most cases, this would often mean teaching in the traditional lecture format. The problem is that using this model will often, cause many students to slip through the cracks. As they find, the way that material is being presented is boring. At the same time, many educators are frustrated, because they believe that they can adjust from this general strategy, to improve learning comprehension. Yet, they are powerless to do so, as the administration could be taking a one size fits all approach, when it comes to education. Once this occurs, it can work similar to a cancer that will eat away at various achievement scores and possibly the accreditation of the school. This is because, the conservative vision that the administration is embracing, is only making the situation worse. A good example of this can be seen with a study conducted by the British Education Journal. Where, researchers were attempting to see the differences between: the quality of education received using the traditional lecture format and other alternative methods. To achieve this objective, they would survey students from fourteen different schools throughout Victoria, Australia. They were divided into two different groups. With one group: being presented the curriculum, in a different educational format. While the other group, would learn through the traditional classroom setting. The idea was to see, if the way students were presented the information would have an impact on: their perceptions of themselves and their desire to learn the underlying material. The results were, that that those students who were presented with the curriculum in different ways, were more interested in the material and they had greater levels of self-confidence. Where, the mastery and understanding of these concepts helped them to see themselves in a positive light. (Batten, 1989, pp. 259 -- 270) This is important, because it underscores how the vision that the administration has, will have a ripple effects on the staff. At the same time, those educators who do not question this vision, are doing an injustice to the students, by not wanting to use the best techniques to reach out to them. When this occurs, these difference or lack of vision can cause the overall quality of education to decline. Where, the traditional methods that have worked in the past are continuing to be utilized. This is challenging, because with globalization occurring requires individuals to have more specialized skills. Where, they must be prepared for what they will encounter in the real world. The way the information is presented, is tied directly to the vision of educators and administrators, as it will highlight how much passion they have. Where, the vision of an individual can help to challenge the status quo for the better. The biggest challenge for educators and administrators is being able to communicate this vision with others, when they are resistant to such changes or have differences of opinions.

However, when you look at what is required to have vision as a part of true educational leadership, it is clear that there are of different principals that must be embraced. The most notable would include: having a sense of purpose, setting achievable objectives and having flexibility. A sense of purpose is when you are defining, how you want the various kinds of curriculum to be provided to the students. This will often involve creating a general outline, as to what an individual believes, would be the best way to reach out to everyone. At which point, they could take these different ideas and communicate them with other educators. This will help them to utilize the ideas of different individuals and will allow you to formulate them, into one workable solution. ("Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Change," 2010)

Next, you would want to take the sense of purpose that was established and create achievable, yet challenging objectives for the staff / student body. The idea is to use these as both short / long-term goals, to motivate students and improve the overall amounts of learning comprehension that is taking place. This will allow everyone to be able to effectively focus on specific learning objectives. At the same time, this strategy is pushing each person to become better, by setting long-term objectives that are challenging enough for all individuals to be adequately tested. ("Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Change," 2010)

Then, you must have flexibility, this means being able to adjust to various changes that are occurring within the classroom or at the school level. This is important, because most administrators claim to have vision, yet they have no flexibility. To be able to effectively adjust to new challenges and to ensure that you are reaching out to as many people as possible requires: giving greater flexibility to administrators / teachers. This would provide them with the basic curriculum that needs to be followed. Then, giving them the ability to deviate in how it is presented and when it is covered; will help to improve the way the material is presented. Once this takes place, it will increase the total amounts of learning comprehension, as educators are reaching out to students in numerous ways. If this kind of strategy could be utilized, it would dramatically improve the underlying amounts of learning comprehension and it will provide vision inside the educational environment. ("Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Change," 2010)

Once this occurs, it means that this vision will become a part of the culture of the school. As more teachers and administrators will embrace those ideas: that can achieve this objective and give them greater job satisfaction. This is the key for having and effectively applying vision inside any kind of educational environment.

The Views of Educators and Administrators

The views that educators and administrators have, about how to most effectively meet various educational objectives will play an important role, in determining how the different values are applied to the school. This is because these opinions are often shaped, based upon how the administration, is providing educators with the tools they need to achieve this objective. Those administrators that are able to provide educators with this will more than likely have favorable opinions of the current strategy (from the staff and the public). While those administrators that are unable to achieve this objective, will more than likely face possible resistance issues to new ideas that are being presented. This will make creating a change in the educational environment more challenging, as educators will often view what is happening, with a certain degree of skepticism. At the same time, the positive or negative views of the educational values of the administration, will affect the general public. As they will often, view what is happening in a more controversial light that could be played out in the media. The key for effective educational leadership is: to address these issues and then help everyone to see how the new values could improve, the overall quality of education that is being received. A good example of this can be seen with Jaime Escalante. He was a teacher, who was sent to an East Los Angeles high school that was underperforming all of the other schools in 1974. At the time, he was hired to teach math, to students that many believed would never be able to excel academically. This is because, the common thinking was: the gang infested environment and the urban blight that was occurring, would slowly undermine any educational opportunities for students in the majority of these students. At the same time, it was often believed that many of the standardized tests for college were to challenging. As the students in these areas, did not receive the resources or support that they needed to be successful. This would create the belief in educators and administrators, that there was no way to effectively reach out to these students, as the external forces were to challenging for most individuals. When Escalante arrived at the school, he challenged these ideas, by telling everyone about his vision of reaching out to these students, so that they would have the opportunity to be successful in life. At which point, he made the prediction that he would teach and prepare these students for advanced calculus placement exams. Given the fact that Calculus is such a challenging subject, many teachers and administrators thought that Escalante was out of his mind. However, by 1982 the methods that Escalante was using, would allow him to present the material to students in a way that they could understand. Where, he would find out each individual's unique learning style and cultural traditions. At which point, he would incorporate them into the lesson plan and then show students how they could use what they were learning in the real world. The effects of using this strategy, is that Escalante was able to inspire students, to the point that the majority of the class could pass the advanced placement examination for college level Calculus. Over the course of time, the methods that Escalante was using would serve as a blue print for educators around the country, who were seeking similar results. ("Jamie Escalante Biography, " 2010) This is significant, because it shows the heated amounts of negative beliefs that could be encountered, by a teacher or an administrator who has the vision, to challenge the conventional thinking. Where, many of their ideas will be ridiculed at first. Then, when people see how effective they are, is when they will be accepted as part of the culture of the educational environment. The challenge is being able to overcome these different beliefs, so that everyone can see the true effects that the vision of the educator or administrator can have on the overall quality of education that is being provided.

To overcome the different beliefs that many have to any proposed changes in values, will often be based upon previous experience or stereotypes that they may have about what is occurring. This is problematic, because even when an individual is shown that their thinking has been flawed, is the point that they could still defend this belief. This is because they do not want to lose face, by having to admit that their position is wrong. Therefore, they more than likely will use various self-defense mechanisms, to prevent this embarrassing situation. The key to overcoming the various beliefs that someone may have about the differences in values is: to understand their individual values. This means that you must ask them what are the most important aspects of education and how the overall quality could be improved. This will automatically, change the state that the person is in, by having them share their ideas with you. Once this take place is when you can be able to address the various issues that they may have. At which point, it becomes possible for the individual to see how their beliefs are flawed, by intelligently discussing their ideas and then showing the person where they are harming the students. This will help to change the culture of acceptance within an educational environment, as these different values could be implemented to redefine the school and the way staff interacts with students. At which point, it is possible to begin to implementing positive changes for the better, while having everyone enthusiastically supporting these different ideas. (Bluestien, 2001, pp. 281 -- 285)

This is significant, because it shows how one of the major challenges that all leaders will face in an educational environment is: the underlying amount of beliefs that educators and administrators will have. This is often based on previous experience and various stereotypes of an individual. The key to overcoming the negative beliefs is to find out the views of those who are against the new values being introduced. Where, you want to know their specific thoughts on how the quality of education can be improved. This will automatically place the individual into a resourceful state of mind, while allowing you to subtly point out how their beliefs could be hurting this objective. Once this takes place, is when the odds improve dramatically that this person will begin to accept certain aspects of your values. At which point, you could implement these different ideas, into one unique set of values for the educational environment. This will change the belief of educators and administrators, as they are focused on improving the overall quality of education that is being provided to students at the school.

The Ability to Work as a Team

All leaders have the ability to inspire everyone that is working with or underneath them. In the world of education, this basic principal is no different, as administrators and educators must work together, to achieve the various objectives established. The biggest challenge is being able to have everyone feel as if what they are doing, is contributing to the larger goals of the organization. To achieve this objective, you must ensure that you are respecting the ideas of other teachers / administrators. At the same time, you must ensure that everyone has an effective way of voicing their concerns and having them addressed, in a timely manner. This will help both educators and administrators to feel, as if the leadership is genuinely interested in the various challenges that they will face. Then, you want to ensure that teachers are receiving the different resources that they require to be successful. This is important, because when educators do not receive the tools that they need to achieve their objectives, it will often undermine their ability to reach out to the different students. As they do not have, what they need, to most effectively present the various ideas in the curriculum to each individual. At which point, the educator may become frustrated with the team environment, with the feeling that it is not better than other failed strategies in the past. To prevent this from occurring, it is imperative to provide educators with the various resources they need. This means, letting them know if: such tools can realistically be obtained and the possible time frame that they are facing for receiving them. Over the course of time, this will help the staff to realize that the administration is doing everything possible, to be able to address the various resource issues at the school. Once this takes place, it will help to create a selfless attitude within the educational environment, as the various frustrations and needs have been addressed, to help teachers achieve their objectives. ("Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Change," 2010)

This is important, because building an effective team relationship, is an important aspect that all leaders must be focused on maintaining. Where, you must ensure that you are addressing the different needs of the various team members as realistically as possible. This will help everyone to feel, as if the administration is doing everything they can, to improve the quality of education inside the school. At which point, educators and administrators will be more enthusiastic about what is occurring, helping them to become productive team members that are contributing positively to the educational environment.

Be a Good Communicator and Listener

Earlier, we briefly touched upon the importance of being a good communicator and listener. As these tools, are used to find out: what issues are standing in the way of educational leaders and how to help build teamwork. Yet, when you look beyond these different issues, it is clear that communication and listening are critical for administrators / educators. This is because, a part of their jobs are being able to communicate and listen to others on a regular basis. However, within each school environment there are educators and administrators that are not effective at these two skills. In many cases, this is often associated with the attitude: that they know what is best and do not want to hear anything differently. Once this occurs, it can mean communicating and listening to these individuals will be very challenging. As they will often have trouble telling you what is on their mind, much less listening to your ideas. Over the course, of time, this has the ability to create confusion and undermine the quality of education that is being provided to the students. ("Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Change," 2010)

To help mitigate these possible effects you must utilize various strategies that can improve the underlying amounts of communication that is taking place. An effective way to do this, is to have those educators that are facing the most difficulties communicate the different challenges that they are dealing with. During the process, you want to use what is known as active listening. This is when you are attentively listening to everything that is being said from the person you are speaking with. Once they have finished, you want to repeat what they said in their own words back to them. This will help the other person, to realize that what they are saying is important to you. At the same time, it will help you to ensure that you understand the points that the other person is trying to make. Then after listening to what the other person has to say, is when you want to begin making your point in a respectful, but non-confrontational way. This will help to improve the underlying amounts of communication that are taking place. Over the course of time, this will enhance the effectiveness of your educational leadership, by being able to understand what issues could be influencing the administrators and staff. (Nichols, 2009, pp. 139 -- 176)

These are important attributes of all leaders, as the ability to communicate and effectively listen to what someone has to say, will determine their attitude towards you as well as the overall strategy. When you can listen and communicate with them, the individual will feel as if their ideas are respected. At which point, a leader can be able to motivate someone and give them a sense of vision, by positively affecting the individual. This is when, you can be able to improve the quality of education that is being provided and continue to adapt to various challenges that will be faced. In many ways, one could effectively argue that good communication and listening are necessary for effectively leading anyone. ("Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Change," 2010)

Embracing Change

A constant challenge that all administrators and educators will face, is addressing various changes that could occur. This is because the world of education is constantly evolving, based upon new ideas and techniques. The challenge is being able to identify these changes early enough and then to implement them, so that they do not hurt the underlying educational environment. To achieve this objective all educators / administrators must keep an open mind and be flexible when utilizing their strategies. As they realize that what is working today may not necessarily be effective at addressing the different challenges in the future. A good example of this can be found by looking no further than charter schools. These are schools that receive public funding, but also are able to obtain private donations. As a result, these kinds of schools have greater flexibility in how the curriculum is applied. ("Charter Schools Program," 2010) This is important, because it underscores how some administrators and educators realized that their schools need to change, in order to remain viable. Where, they were able to understand how the current model that is often used in the public school system is not working. This is because the way the curriculum is delivered will more than likely be limited to a few approaches. At which point, the school would have trouble in continuing to provide students with a high quality education. Realizing what was occurring many schools began to embrace this idea, as a way to maintain the basic curriculum standards, while improving the overall quality of education. This is significant, because it shows how all educators and administrators must be prepared to adapt to various changes that will take place. As they could occur, on any level in an educational environment to include: the classroom, within the school or in the district.

Taking Risks

Whenever you are exercising any kind of leadership, there are going to be risks that are associated with possible actions. This is because, there will be a certain amount of uncertainty surrounding, as to if the strategy that is being proposed, would address the obvious educational challenges. The most important tactic that all leaders need to use is: to instill the risks of not taking action, to address the underlying problem. This will help to allow others to weigh, what possible consequences could occur, based on upon the status quo remaining in place. Given the poor state of education, it is more than likely that all educators and administrators would want to embrace another strategy that could move them away from the status quo. Once this takes place, is when administrators would give educators, the flexibility to experiment and utilize different techniques inside the classroom. This will encourage innovation, as the staff is willing to begin freely discussing, the ideas that they may have for improving the underlying amounts of education in the classroom. At which point, educators and administrators are able to overcome the culture of not taking risks that are often accompanied by the status quo. Where, an individual is afraid to speak their minds, for out of fear they could be ridiculed or face some kind of retribution. Once this takes place, is when educators can begin to improve their techniques and the various ways that they reach out to students. This will cause the overall quality of education that is being provided to improve dramatically, by giving educators the flexibility to adapt and apply new techniques in the classroom, without fear of retribution. This is significant because, it underscores a key attribute that all leaders must possess, in order to be successful, in reaching out to the staff and students. ("Charter Schools Program," 2010)