Embedding inquiry-based practices in schools: The strategic role of school leaders

The context of this study were research and development projects in Dutch secondary education, particularly funded by government to combine practice-based research with school development goals for inquiry-based culture. Aiming at better understanding of the strategic role that school leaders play in embedding inquiry-based practices in schools, the research question of this study was to explore to what extent and how do school leaders use the opportunity of participating in funded research and development projects for encouraging and integrating inquiry-based practices in their schools? Differences concerning the integration of inquiry-based working in the school as professional learning community were examined, distinguishing between school leaders’ strategies of capacity building. Twenty-eight school leaders of Dutch secondary schools, involved in nineteen projects, were interviewed retrospectively. Analyses showed the majority of the school leaders to be convinced that inquiry-based working is important for their schools’ development as a professional community. Their strategies for achieving school level project significance differed in school leaders’ successive attention on personal or interpersonal capacity building with regard to inquiry-based practices. Moreover, while some school leaders were actively involved with capacity building right from the start of the research and development projects projects, almost two-third of the school leaders developed interest in inquiry-based practices during the projects and started to enact in the final year of the project. In discussing the results, it is proposed that the interaction of strategy and context needs further study, for instance to inform peer learning among school leaders that are novice and experienced in inquiry-based practices as a means to develop the school as a professional learning community.     

Spirituality Matters: Spirituality and the Community College Leader

The purpose of this study was to explore community college president and chancellor perceptions of the phenomenon of spirituality and the role of spirituality in their leadership style. A hermeneutic phenomenological research design guided this study. A total of 14 community college presidents and chancellors were purposely selected and participated in semistructured one-on-one interviews. Participants were selected because of their interest in the topic of spirituality and leadership, their demographic characteristics, and their leadership position. The major findings and conclusions connected spirituality to the work of community college leaders. The researchers conclude that community college leaders define spirituality using both religious and nonreligious associations, depict qualities of spirituality in their leadership, characterize their influence on organizational culture in terms of symbolic leadership. These leaders also endorse self-care and renewal for themselves and aspiring community college leaders through the incorporation of spiritual practices. This study holds several implications for current and aspiring community college leaders who seek to enhance their leadership effectiveness and to sustain themselves despite the demands and challenges associated with their positions.     

Influences on peer evaluation in a group project: an exploration of leadership,demographics and course performance

Collaborative learning strategies are widely used in higher education to deepen learning, promote team-building skills and achieve course learning objectives. Using peer evaluation is an important strategy to ensure that engaged and active students are rewarded for their efforts, and to discourage loafing within groups. However, less is known about what biases may influence students’ peer evaluations. In this paper, we investigate what variables students may (consciously or unconsciously) use to evaluate their peers. We explore the role of sex, race, course performance and group leadership on peer evaluation. We also investigate whether these variables correlate with students’ final course grade. We found that students who reported being leaders in groups were evaluated higher than peers who reported being followers, and that course performance positively correlated with peer evaluations. White students received higher peer evaluations than students of colour. This difference reflects trends in group leadership and course performance, with more white students than students of colour reporting being leaders in groups and receiving higher grades.     

An Instrumental Case Study Analysis of Anticipatory Leadership Practices in Community Colleges

This qualitative instrumental case study explored the experiences and perceptions of seven community college leaders of their use of anticipatory leadership. Two research questions guided this study: (a) How do community colleges use anticipatory leadership to respond to internal and external changes? (b) How do community college leaders use anticipatory leadership principles for problem solving? The themes that emerged to address question one were engagement with others is required to respond to change effectively, data analysis and currency of knowledge are required to identify gaps and to respond to them, leaders must be willing to take calculated risks, and leaders must communicate effectively in order for change to occur. The themes that emerged to address question two were analysis of data is instrumental to identifying and closing the gaps in institutions, leading to better informed decisions; and anticipatory leadership reduces the need to use reactionary leadership practices. The findings of the study are that the participants identified and supported that anticipatory leadership practices are effective for responding to change. The anticipatory leadership practices highlighted as needed by the participants included the need for leaders who are engaged, have the skills and ability to utilize data to make decisions, are current in their higher education knowledge, take calculated risks when needed, and can communicate effectively. These skills are needed for community college leaders to be able to be proactive versus reactionary in their decision-making, as well as effective with their gap analysis identification, trend predictions, decision-making, and problem solving.     

Assessing the impact of a program designed to develop sustainability leadership amongst staff members in higher education institutes: a case study from a community of practice perspective

This study focuses on the impact of a sustainability leadership development program (SLDP) designed to develop staff members as leaders who encourage sustainability practices within institutions of higher education (IHE). Using the framework of community of practice (CoP), we explored the program’s contribution by interviewing 16 staff members who had attended the program. At the individual level, we found that the SLDP provided participants with opportunities to learn from and with other members of the CoP and to engage them in debate about the various meanings of ‘sustainability’, increasing their environmental awareness and their environmental involvement within the IHE’s community. At the institutional level, the SLDP disseminated the college’s socio-environmental mission statement, increased its administration’s commitment and involvement, served as a platform for addressing local socio-environmental problems and initiated an Education-for-Sustainability (EfS) activists’ network. However, the participants indicated that the SLDP had limited impact on the environmentalism of other staff members and that the on-going mentoring and support from the college administration was insufficient. This study highlights the importance of such EfS professional programs to the development of both staff members and entire institutions as sustainability leaders. It also suggests ways to increase staff involvement in institutional EfS discourse.     

Calculating the power of alternative choices by school leaders for improving student achievement

This paper addresses a wicked problem faced by leaders wanting to be evidence informed in their choices of school improvement priorities and the most productive leadership practices to enact in pursuing those priorities. While local contexts will always be central to these choices, results of research ought to provide useful points of departure. But determining what relevant evidence recommends, local context aside, is far more difficult that the admonition to be ‘evidence informed’ seems to imply and the research community has offered few systematic solutions to the problem. This paper offers one possible solution, the calculation of ‘Power Indices’ using, for the purposes of illustration, evidence about the effects of a selected set of potential school improvement priorities (teachers’ emotions) on student learning, in combination with evidence about the effects on teacher emotions of a selected set of transformational leadership practices. Results argue for the value of a unique line of future research enabling school leaders to make choices about both school improvement priorities and how they might best pursue those priorities that systematically reflect the results of relevant evidence.     

Facilitating a culture of relational trust in school-based action research: recognising the role of middle leaders

Abstract

Practices such as formal focused professional dialogue groups, coaching conversations, mentoring conversations and professional learning staff meetings have been taken up in schools and pre-schools as part of long-term action research and development activities to improve the learning and teaching practices. The development of relational trust has long been described in the literature as pivotal for the ongoing ‘success’ of such research and development in sites. In this article, we attempt to re-characterise relational trust as it is accounted for by participants in action research. We present data from a cross-nation study of middle leaders from Australian primary schools and Swedish pre-schools. Middle leaders are those teachers who ‘lead across’; they have both an acknowledged position of leadership or responsibility for the practice development of colleagues and a significant teaching role. The larger study examined the practices of middle leaders; and in this article we draw on interview data from one of the case-study sites that illustrate how colleagues in schools recognise the role middle leaders have for facilitating action research and teaching development. This article specifically presents excerpts from semi-structured interviews with 25 teachers, three principals, three executive teachers and three district consultants. Interviewees described how nourishing a culture of relational trust and mutual respect are critical features in the change endeavour. For them, the practices of the middle leader who facilitated the action research were instrumental in developing trust for teacher development. Analysis of participant accounts revealed five dimensions of trust: interpersonal trust, interactional trust, intersubjective trust, intellectual trust, and pragmatic trust.     

Extending Face-to-Face Interactions: Understanding and Developing an Online Teacher and Family Community

Technology has been quickly changing human interactions, traditional practices, and almost every aspect of our lives. It is important to maintain effective face-to-face communication and interactions between teachers and families. Nonetheless, technology and its tools can also extend and enhance family–teacher relationships and partnerships. This paper reviews definitions for online teacher and family community in early childhood programs and closely examines the literature associated with several key elements that comprise the community as recognized by the authors. Key elements that emerged were common or shared goals, interactivity, collaboration, trusting relationships, and sense of belonging or connectedness for a working online community, especially among teachers working with families of children with disabilities. Additionally, practical suggestions for teachers and family members are provided for developing and collaborating on an online community.     

The Structure of Discourse in Collaborative Learning

The authors examined the types of discourse structures that emerge during peer learning and the ways in which those structures are related to learning. One hundred and five 5th graders learned about writing conclusions that summarized the results of experiments they had conducted with electrical circuits. In groups of 4, they discussed the quality of 3 conclusions. The discourse structure of the discussions could be readily characterized as a network of arguments and counterarguments. The quantitative measures of the quality of those argument structures were positively related to improvement in the students' ability to write their own conclusions. In addition, the students who simply discussed whether the 3 conclusions were OK or not OK generated less complex argument structures than the students who discussed which of the 3 conclusions was best and which was worst. The results demonstrate the importance of considering the structure of peer discourse as a mediator of what students learn from peer interactions.     

A case study of using an online community of practice for teachers’ professional development at a secondary school in China

In this case study, an online community was designed at a secondary school in China for the teachers to prepare their lessons collectively, reflect on their teaching practices, collect comments from peers, and share resources. A survey was administered to the teachers to investigate their perceptions on the online community for their professional development. Two hundred and eighty-three teachers responded to the survey and eight teachers were further interviewed by email. The result showed that most teachers liked using the online community as they could gain subject knowledge and could obtain support from peers, share experiences and get feedback, and exchange resources. Also, online entries confirmed that transformational changes in teaching pedagogy and students’ learning activities occurred along the time. However, certain teachers did not participate in the online community frequently. This paper describes the context of the case study, design dimensions of the online community, teachers’ positive perceptions on using the online community, and transformational changes. Also, strategies for promoting effective use of the online community are discussed and follow-up studies to address the challenges involved in this study are proposed.     

Change in a culture of collegiality and consensus-seeking: a double-edged sword

ABSTRACT

The study aims to move beyond idealised and predominantly trait-based typologies of leadership and leadership roles and addresses collegial leaders’ practice of change in higher education. Collegial leaders at two research-intensive higher education institutions, who had received educational leadership training, were studied. In the study, we explored ordinary actions and change practices as a way of understanding emerging practices among collegial leaders. Five categories were identified that show how collegial leaders experience change, process change and organise the practice of change. The article also contributes a critical discussion on the notions of collegiality in a consensus-seeking context, which may be relevant for academic developers, policy makers, and researchers alike.     

New immigrant parents’ experiences in a parent education programme

The immigrant population in Hong Kong is steadily increasing every year. This immigrant population largely comprises families, most of whom have pre-school and school-age children. However, limited information is known on the practices that immigrant parents adopt when they become involved in their children’s schooling. In the present study, the researcher implemented a Quality Education Fund project called ‘Building a caring community: Family support and empowerment.’ The project aimed to promote parent education and to build a caring community by implementing a group parent education program (GPEP) for low-income and new immigrant parents. The parent leaders conducted an outreach parent education program in which the low-income, new immigrant parents (target parents) had their children enrolled in two kindergartens. The parent leaders imparted parenting knowledge, shared positive parenting strategies, and exchanged their own experiences with target parents. The present research aims to study how new immigrant parents evaluate their experiences and the effectiveness of the GPEP. Results suggest that providing opportunities for mutual support and emotional healing correlates with improved parenting attitudes and practices.     

Distributed leadership with the aim of ‘reculturing’: a departmental case study

This article considers a secondary science department that has, since 2000, developed distributed leadership as a form of human capacity building. Using a longitudinal ethnographic case study allowed us to consider how distributed leadership can be nurtured and developed in a department. Our analysis centres on two key issues: the nature and pattern of distributed leadership practices and the continuity that provides coherence to those practices. From our analysis, there appear to be two major conclusions. The first of these is the need for administrators to be purposeful in the appointments that they make to formal leadership positions. To enact distributed leadership practices requires leaders who can exercise both formal power and influence. The second conclusion relates to the time required for continuity of leadership practices to give rise to changes that lead to teachers managing the teaching and learning programme.     

多域探索:网络意见领袖的研究热点分析

随着互联网成为人们获取信息的主要来源,网络意见领袖成为重要的意见群体。探讨网络意见领袖的研究热点对于把握传播理论的发展、推进相关研究具有重要意义。以收录在CSSCI或北大核心目录中的刊物为数据来源,选取28个高频词构建共词矩阵,对相异矩阵进行聚类分析,使用Gephi呈现关键词共现网络图,通过共词分析法发现国内网络意见领袖研究的五大热点,即网络意见领袖的特征和作用机制、网络意见领袖的识别、突发事件中的意见领袖、大学生意见领袖的引导和培养、消费意见领袖和营销传播,并根据研究现状提出未来可继续深入探索的方向。     

Students’ learning outcomes and peer rating accuracy in compulsory and voluntary online peer assessment

Peer assessment can be conducted online with rapid development of online learning technology. The current study was conducted empirically to investigate peer rating accuracy and student learning outcomes in online peer assessments, comparing compulsory and voluntary peer assessment. Section 1 (N?=?93) was assigned to the voluntary group and Section 2 (N?=?31) was assigned to the compulsory group. The results showed the voluntary group scored significantly higher than the compulsory group in the final task of the course, while there was no significant difference on the final task score increase. Students who participated in the voluntary group provided more accurate scores (i.e. peer rater accuracy) than those who participated in the compulsory group. The peer score leniency/severity rating, comparing peer assigned scores with the teacher assigned scores, were generally consistent with the peer rater accuracy results. The current study offers insights for researchers who are interested in studying the effect of online peer assessment activities. The results are also of interest for instructors who may want to conduct peer assessments in online courses and are choosing between compulsory and voluntary formats.     

Using scaffolded rubrics to improve peer assessment in a MOOC writing course

This study explored the value of using a guided rubric to enable students participating in a massive open online course in writing to produce more reliable assessments of their fellow students’ writing. To test the assumption that training students to assess will improve their ability to provide quality feedback, a multivariate factorial analysis was used to determine differences in assessments made by students who received guidance on using a rating rubric and those who did not. Although results were mixed, on average students who were provided no guidance in scoring writing samples were less likely to successfully differentiate between novice, intermediate, and advanced writing samples than students who received rubric guidance. Rubric guidance was most beneficial for items that were subjective, technically complex, and likely to be unfamiliar to the student. Items addressing relatively simple and objective constructs were less likely to be improved by rubric guidance.     

Entrepreneurial Community College Presidents: An exploratory qualitative and quantitative study

This study examined the entrepreneurial, nontraditional fundraising behaviors and activities of 23 community college presidents using interview and survey data. The institutional characteristics that facilitate entrepreneurial action and how presidents are raising these new revenues were explored. “Best practices” and implications for future research and practice are provided. The results of this analysis revealed meaningful information that is beneficial for community college presidents seeking to transform their colleges through entrepreneurial leadership. These findings indicate entrepreneurial presidents do exist and their practices can be identified. The findings also indicate that presidents' engagement in certain specific entrepreneurial practices do result in increased nontraditional funding secured. A summary of these key findings may be used as a guide for current and future community college leaders who desire to become more entrepreneurial.     

The adaptive professional: Teachers,school leaders and ethical-governmental practices of (self-) formation

This article analyses the relations that teachers and school leaders establish with themselves and with others—especially those who would seek to govern them—through the professional and personal–professional activities that increasingly accompany pedagogical and administrative practice today. Specifically, the article seeks to analyse the conditions under which such ‘ethical-governmental’ relations have become possible and to clarify the lines of power, truth and ethics that are in play within them. In this way, it is argued, their intelligibility may be recovered; their contingencies disclosed. The article first posits a non-psychologised, ‘enfolded’ notion of the self on which analysis rests before turning to an analytics of (self-) government of the conditions themselves. An important element within this entanglement of diverse events, discourses, practices and foldings is the ensemble of policies and practices developed by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. The article argues that the programmes of this national agency are a salient and widespread force for acting upon teachers’ and school leaders’ self-constitution as a subject of their own actions—a subject which, in consequence, is enjoined to be more agile, self-reliant, engaged and entrepreneurial than its ‘routine-bound’ predecessors; a subject we describe as the ‘adaptive professional’.     

Bringing equity to underserved communities through STEM education: implications for leadership development

ABSTRACT

STEM Education is sweeping the United States, prompted primarily by the recent adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards. The surge in interest in STEM Education is beneficial for local schools and communities, and promises to positively impact students, teachers, school leaders, community members, and the future workforce. Unfortunately, inequitable hegemonic structures and practices limit urban students’ access to knowledge, resources, and a comprehensive and fair educational experience. This article explores the STEM activities in place at the Center for Innovation in STEM Education (CISE), at a local university in greater Los Angeles. From a historical context, CISE data show that an approach to STEM education that focuses on serving underrepresented populations by creating a pipeline, can serve as an example for K-12 schools, universities, and educational leaders seeking equitable practices in the field of STEM education. We identify implications for leadership development for school leaders, teacher leaders, and districts.     

Disadvantaged preschool children from rural areas: the importance of home practices and nursery attendance in the development of early literacy skills / Niños preescolares vulnerables de sectores rurales: importancia de las prácticas del hogar y la asistencia a jardín infantil en el desarrollo de habilidades de alfabetización temprana

Abstract

This research analyses the impact of home practices, sociodemographic variables (family income and parents’ education) and attendance at a formal education programme prior to the development of early literacy skills of 240 children (four years old) from rural and urban disadvantaged families starting nursery school in Chile. The results show that the development of literacy skills was higher in urban children. In rural areas, family practices (words games) and family income had the most predictive weight on the performance of children and no differences were found between those who attended a prior educational programme and those who remained at home; while in urban areas, programme attendance had the highest impact, so that children who remained at home attained a lower developmental level, similar to those of rural areas. The implications of these findings for educational practice and policy are discussed.