Leadership coaching: a multiple-case study of urban public charter school principals’ experiences

The purpose of our multi-case study was to understand the experiences of non-novice New York City and Washington, DC public charter school principals who had participated in leadership coaching as a component of their leadership development. Eight New York City and Washington DC public charter school principal cases were selected through purposeful sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, documents, and artifacts, which were analyzed, coded and grouped into three broader themes: the coaching process, the impact of coaching, and principal leader identity construction. The findings supported the following conclusions: (a) Participants’ experiences of coaching were inconsistent with the coaching literature; (b) The impact of coaching was shaped by perceived competencies of the coach and the structure of the coaching session; and (c) Participants’ leader identity construction was supported through the process of coaching.     

Investigating instructional leadership in Kuwait's educational reform context: school leaders’ perspectives

This study explores the practices of Kuwaiti school principals acting as instructional leaders during education reforms, using qualitative content analysis of standardised open-ended interviews with 28 randomly selected school principals. The results showed that principals faced obstacles related to the deeply-ingrained centralised structure in the Ministry of Education, whose mandates conflicted with the stated goal of building principals’ capacity. There were variations in instructional leadership dimensions, including defining the school’s mission, managing the instructional programme, and creating a positive climate for teaching and learning. A gradual, planned decentralisation is recommended to improve educational leadership practices in Kuwait.     

Why mission matters more for (some) charter principals

Reflecting post-bureaucratic organisation theory, education reformers intended charter schools to empower school-level leaders, most typically principals, with autonomy to pursue clear, student-centred missions. Yet little research explores whether charter school principals have more power than traditional public school counterparts. We summarise the limited literature addressing the issue. Second, we present findings from interviews with nine charter leaders from six US states who have experience in leading both charter and traditional public schools, a unique data set. Both prior research and our findings suggest that generally, leaders feel more likely to be held accountable for results in charter schools than in traditional public schools. Furthermore, without oversight from school boards and central office administrators, charter leaders report having more power over budget and personnel, and more ability to collaborate with teachers. At the same time, standalone charter leaders report needing business support and training, while those from charter management organizations feel free to focus on academic success.     

中小学校长课程领导研究综述

随着课程改革和课程问题研究的逐步深入,原来隐藏在课程背后的各种深层次问题逐渐浮现出来,对课程领导的研究也从课程管理的研究中分离出来,成为课程理论研究的一个新兴领域。课程领导对中小学校长提出了更高的要求。因此,对校长课程领导进行研究已成为推进课程改革与课程发展得以顺利进行的需要。     

试论美国特许学校的新型绩效责任制度

特许学校是美国近十年发展起来的一种新型公立学校形式。本文在介绍绩效责任理论含义和特许学校运动发展的基础上,从“立法”和“特许”的角度论述了特许学校新型的绩效责任制度,并结合图表分析了它与传统公立学校绩效责任的差异,最后简单说明了特许学校是如何发展内外部绩效责任的。     

“No Excuses” Charter Schools: A Meta-Analysis of the Experimental Evidence on Student Achievement

Many most well-known charter schools in the United States use a “No Excuses” approach. We conduct the first meta-analysis of the achievement impacts of No Excuses charter schools, focusing on experimental, lottery-based studies. We estimate that No Excuses charter schools increase student math and literacy achievement by 0.25 and 0.17, respectively, for approximately each year of attendance. These are large and meaningful gains. Moreover, these effects are substantially larger than those of attending other kinds of charter schools. We discuss policy implications and offer necessary caveats.     

Disentangling school leadership and its ties to instructional practices – an empirical comparison of various leadership styles

This paper investigates the direct and indirect ties between various leadership styles, namely, instructional, transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership, and the instructional practices of teachers by applying a structural equation model. For this purpose, we analyzed survey data of n = 3,746 teachers from 126 schools collected by the Hamburg school inspection in Germany between 2012 and 2015. The underlying model is based on Leithwood’s framework for guiding research on leader effects on learning and instruction. First, the results show that a bi-factor model seems to be the best measurement model. Next, it is shown that mediating variables are influenced by a leadership core as well as by different leadership facets. Third, we found that for influencing complex instructional practices like cognitive activation with challenging content, a combination of leadership styles is most promising, while for classroom management instructional leadership is the only and, thus, the primary determinant.     

课程与教学改革的展望:加强理论与实践的对话

要进一步完善课程与教学改革 ,我们必需加强理论与实践的对话。本文第一部分探讨课程与教学理论与实践之间的关系 ,以及两者出现差距的原因 ;第二部分探讨实践者研究 (或教师研究 )作为强化理论与实践的对话之一个取向 ,并根据有关文献探究 ,将实践者研究的目的、与学术研究的关联、沟通方式组成一个初步架构 ,亦会讨论香港一些实践者研究 (如行动研究 )的例子 ;第三部分探讨课程与教学理论工作者的研究取向如何在实践层面有助于课程与教学改革 ,并对学术的理解 ,以及大学与学校建立伙伴关系的定位作一审视。     

Teachers’ perceptions of the organisational climate: a tool for promoting instructional improvement

The current push for principals’ to be accountable for student outcomes has led to a renewed interest in the role of leadership in instructional improvement. This article describes the development and validation of a survey that focused on organisational management features that are likely to bring about improvement in instruction. The development of the instrument involved a multistage approach that included: identifying key organisational management features important to instructional leadership and an effective school, based on research and theoretical underpinnings; clearly articulating key constructs; and modifying, adapting and developing items to assess those constructs. After pilot testing the survey, the survey was administered to 216 teachers selected from four high schools in Western Australia. To ensure that the survey was reliable, we used [Trochim W. M. and J. P. Donnelly. 2006. The Research Methods Knowledge Base. 3rd ed. Cincinnati, OH: Atomic Dog] framework for construct validity. Analysis of the data provided evidence to support the reliability and validity of the questionnaire in terms of both the translation and criterion validity. The development of this survey provides principals with an economical and psychometrically sound tool that can be used as part of a process involving critical self-reflection.