Leadership Strategies for School Turnaround: A Review of Research Evidence. Brenda Mendiola, Mingda Sun, Jingping Sun (University of Alabama)
This study reviews the term school turnaround and its indicators and identifies effective school leadership practices that proved to be successful in improving school conditions, teacher-related outcomes, and student learning (varied forms of school turnaround). These leadership practices constitute the framework to understand school leaders for school turnaround. This review includes published and unpublished research from major journals in the field of educational leadership, the AERA repository, and the ProQuest Dissertation database.
Finding the Right Fit: Strategies That Support Educational Leaders Implementing Reforms. Stephanie Kay Cline, Shawna Richardson, Jackie Mania-Singer (Oklahoma State University)
This qualitative case study used Fullan’s (2009) model of Forces for Leaders of Change to explore how two effective elementary principals in a suburban, midwestern district described the role of culture in leadership during continuous reforms. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and document review. Findings revealed while each of the principals had a distinct approach suited to her site, both used school culture to accomplish organizational objectives, emphasizing integration of reforms into existing practice.
A Tale of Leadership in Two Title I Award-Winning Schools. Michael Bryan Shaffer, Marilynn Quick (Ball State University)
This case study synthesizes the stories of two Title I principals, who collaborated with stakeholders in their school communities to elevate opportunities for students in underperforming urban and rural settings. Their schools, initially designated as “failing,” transformed into receiving national Title I recognition. The 2009 ELCC standards provided the conceptual framework for the study as the analysis of interview and achievement data aligned with ELCC functions. Implications for leadership programs are also included.
Research to Prepare Teachers and School Leaders for Educational Renewal: John Goodlad’s 20 Postulates. Noelle Paufler, University of North Texas; Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, Arizona State University
Changing policies that hold teachers and school leaders, and universities that prepare them, accountable has restored the capacity of John Goodlad’s vision for educational renewal to (re)frame related reform conversations. For this conceptual study, we examine how Goodlad’s 20 postulates, accordingly, (a) have (re)shaped educator preparation; (b) have been (or will be) impacted by such accountability policy; and (c) might be extended or expanded for the next generation of school leaders, teachers, and students.
