Assignment overview and learning objectives

¶ … role of leadership in the field of education has been increasingly brought to the forefront. This is because there was a shift in the standards that are used to evaluate students and greater amounts of scrutiny surrounding teaching methods. The combination of these factors has created a situation where educators are forced to become leaders who can help schools to adjust with these changes. (Davies, 2008, pp. 1-12)

However, the process of demonstrating effective leadership requires going above and beyond what is expected of everyone else. This will set a new example of standards that can be followed inside an educational environment. Evidence of this can be seen with observations from Davies (2008) who said, "Leadership establishes a set of values and purposes that underpin the educational process in school. Most significantly, it is the individual passion and commitment of the leader that drives the values and purpose into reality. Values without implementation do little for the school. It is in the tackling of difficult challenges to change and improve, often confronting unacceptable practices, that passionate leaders show their educational value." (Davies, 2008, pg. 2)

This is illustrating how anyone who is leader must have specific attributes that will allow them to overcome issues of resistance. Once this takes place, is when they can have a positive impact in transforming the educational environment. To fully understand how these kinds of leadership changes can occur requires examining: strategies that can be utilized, how technology can invite transformations and providing recommendations for using different mental models. Together, these elements will highlight a basic strategy for inviting change inside an educational environment through exhibiting strong leadership practices.

Describe the problem / issue identified

The basic problem that most educators are encountering is a lack of resources and support. This is troubling, as teachers are being held to higher standards and forced to follow predetermined procedures. For instance, the current approach with Obama's Race to the Top is building off of many of the basic principles from the No Child Left behind Act. This is where schools were held to higher standards based upon annualized results (to determine the performance of teachers). Those schools that are continually falling behind will be forced to change by: receiving reductions in their funding. The latest proposals are taking these ideas one step further, through forcing schools to compete for additional funding from student achievement scores. This is problematic, as these ideas are providing some general guidelines. Yet, they are not discussing how educators will achieve these goals. (Klein, 2012, pp. 14 -- 40)

This is challenging, as no one is providing any kind of effective leadership to help educators improve their techniques and the quality of education. To achieve these objectives requires having effective leadership inside the school. This means that there must be some kind of transformation inside the educational environment. (Klein, 2012, pp. 14 -- 40)

Otherwise, this program will have the same kind of results as others from the past. The only difference is that U.S. students will continue to fall further behind their peers in countries such as: South Korea, Japan, the UK, Canada, Australia and China. If left unaddressed this will have an impact on their ability to earn a living and to be informed about current issues (such as: politics and the economy). This is when there is a possibility that the U.S. could lose its competitive edge by not dealing with these challenges while they are manageable. These elements are showing the potential impact of the lack of effective leadership inside an educational environment. As a result, it is imperative that educators begin exhibiting strong leadership on the school level to address these issues. This is when they will be able to change the atmosphere and philosophy inside the organization. (Klein, 2012, pp. 14 -- 40)

Describe strategies you identified, per the research for addressing that issue(s)/problem(s).

There are a number of different theories that are highlighting how they can address specific issues. To be able to apply particular concepts inside a school environment requires that any kind of philosophy must have a certain degree of flexibility. This will help educators to be able to continually apply these ideas in different kinds of situations. Once this occurs, is when a working foundation will be established that can be utilized by teachers to provide effective leadership at their schools.

A strategy that could be implemented into an educational environment is transformational leadership. This is where there is a focus on a number of attributes to build a common understanding among stakeholders including: appealing to self / collective interests, setting the example, understanding individual strengths / weaknesses and working to implement positive changes. The basic idea with this technique is to create a common purpose among educators (in reaching the larger goals for the school). This will give them a sense of personal satisfaction by knowing that they are doing more to help students to be as successful as possible.

According to a study conducted by Tourish (2010), transformational leadership has been shown to be so effective that a number of business schools are beginning to teach these practices. The reason why, is because this strategy is designed to build a common foundation of communication and understanding among stakeholders. When this happens, everyone is more motivated to go the extra mile. Moreover, they are willing to adjust their approach in order to help the organization achieve its goals. If this is used in an educational environment, it will allow teachers to create a common foundation of understanding between various stakeholders. This is when educators, administrators and parents can begin creating a number of standards that can be implemented inside the school. (Tourish, 2010, s40 -- s59)

The basic steps that would be utilized during the process include:

Step 1. Introduction and talking about issues impacting the school: In this phase, an educator will begin discussing challenges at the school and what other educators' feel should be done to deal with these issues. This will help to create a common bond in talking about potential problems and working together to create solutions that will benefit everyone. (Tourish, 2010, s40 -- s59)

Step 2. Have discussions with the administration: In this stage, the educator will talk with administrators about possible solutions for addressing challenges at the school. During this process, is when the individual must be open minded and respectful. This will help the administration to see that the educator is going the extra mile to tackle the most common issues. (Tourish, 2010, s40 -- s59)

Step 3. Talk with parents: During this stage, there must be a focus on talking with parents about possible challenges at the school and how they believe it should be addressed. This will be an open a process of communicating with: different stakeholders and learning what kind of challenges are most important to them. Once this takes place, is when an effective channel of communication is established to ensure that everyone is working together. (Tourish, 2010, s40 -- s59)

Step 4. Discuss new proposals with different stakeholders: In this stage, there is communication with everyone about how these challenges are impacting the school and the way they can be dealt with. For example, if everyone is concerned about low achievement scores, a committee could be established of: parents, teachers and administrators that will discuss these issues. This is when the problem can be examined and different solutions are found. (Tourish, 2010, s40 -- s59)

Step 5. Implementation: When introducing the strategy, there will be a series of team leaders who will consistent of key allies. Their job is to talk to everyone indirectly about these changes and any kind of problems they are having. This will help to quickly identify issues and provide a way of evaluating the effectiveness of the approach. (Tourish, 2010, s40 -- s59)

Step 6. Monitoring: To determine the success of this strategy, there will a concentration on if students are improving. The best way that this can be achieved is by collecting and looking at the percentage increase or decrease in grades. This will serve as an early warning sign about the effectiveness of the strategy. If there are any kinds of changes, they can be introduced prior to any standardized testing. This will allow enough time for new techniques to have an impact on learning comprehension. (Tourish, 2010, s40 -- s59)

These elements are showing how transformational leadership is an effective tool that can address a number of issues affecting various stakeholders inside a specific educational environment. (Tourish, 2010, s40 -- s59)

Evidence of this can be seen with observations from Robinson (2008) who said, "The first meta-analysis indicated the effectiveness of transformational leadership. Inspection of the survey items used to measure school leadership revealed five sets of leadership practices or dimensions: establishing goals and expectations; resourcing strategically; planning, coordinating, and evaluating teaching and the curriculum; promoting and participating in teacher learning and development, and ensuring an orderly and supportive environment. The second meta-analysis revealed strong average effects for the leadership dimension involving promoting and participating in teacher learning and development and moderate effects for the dimensions concerned with goal setting and planning, coordinating, and evaluating teaching and the curriculum." These ideas are showing how this approach will address a number of changes inside an educational environment. (Robinson, 2008, pp. 635 -- 674)

Describe the technology-based plan you previously developed to facilitate the change (or part of the change) identified.

To help improve learning comprehension there will be a focus on using technology in the classroom and as a tool for collaboration. This is when different computers and audio visual aids will provide students with alternative forms of learning the concepts presented. Moreover, this will allow them to see how these ideas can be used in the real world. Once this takes place, is when their understanding of the material will improve by reaching out to different learning styles and explaining how this can be utilized. (Turney, 2009, pp. 71 -- 83)

At the same time, technology can be used to communicate between different stakeholders. During this process, is when there will be a focus on talking about those issues that are impacting the school and possible challenges. Furthermore, these solutions can help to show the results of the strategy and provide a way for different stakeholders to meet via teleconferencing. When this kind of approach is used, everyone can track and discuss their views in an open format. This will help to create strategies that will effectively monitor the plan that has been introduced. (Watson, 2009, pp. 25 -- 34)