Comparative Perspectives on Organizational Learning, Instructional Leadership, and Culturally Responsive Practices: Conclusions and Future Directions

A Model of Successful School Leadership from the International Successful School Principalship Project

“…Their leadership characteristics, dispositions and qualities are developed over time, and, as Ylimaki and Jacobson [18] observed, are socially constructed from the interaction of the life experiences and knowledge of principals with their work. Some had early leadership opportunities, but their success as a principal is generally crafted through a blend of on-the-job learning, formal and informal professional learning, mentoring or sponsorship by significant others, and some serendipity in the pathways to leadership.…”

“…Indeed, developing leadership in others is a focus of their work. Successful leadership, then, is best thought of as layered and multidimensional, with, for example, instructional leadership influence distributed within a school, and having multiple foci such as academic improvement, satisfying accountability policies, and promoting democratic education [18,19].…”

School Development in Culturally Diverse U.S. Schools: Balancing Evidence-Based Policies and Education Values

“…In these descriptors, we also see a void in the humanistic values of education and an ontology of education emanating from the later enlightenment and romantic heritage that impacted Dewey's early work [7] (pp. [29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. In other words, we see traditional education values and pedagogical methods that support being and becoming in a democratic way of living being replaced by numerical evidence-based values and data analysis methods that support the use of externally developed programs proven to improve student outcomes on standardized tests.…”

Circuit managers as agents of school development and support: A conceptual analysis

“…It rose to prominence again in the United States in the 1970s when the instruction dimension of the role of the principal was emphasized (Townsend et al, 2013;Cheng-Yong, 2012;Neumerski, 2013;Purinton 2013, Lai & Cheung, 2013Townsend et al, 2013;Cheng-Yong, 2012;Sofo et al, 2012;Çalik et al, 2012;Ylimaki & Jacobson, 2012Goff et al, 2012Klar, 2012Hallinger & Lee, 2012). From the 1960s onwards, the definitions of this concept ranged from any activity in which the principal engaged in order to improve instruction, to certain types of activities or actions such as classroom observation (Gorton as cited by Gurr et.al, 2006).…”

“…It is important to understand that instructional leaders focus on school goals, the curriculum, instruction, and the school environment (Stewart, 2006:4). This construct emerged during the 1980s as a branch of the effective schools research (Xie & Shen, 2013;Neumerski, 2013;Purinton 2013, Lai & Cheung, 2013Townsend et al, 2013;Cheng-Yong, 2012;Sofo et al, 2012;Çalik et al, 2012;Ylimaki & Jacobson, 2012Hallinger & Lee 2012; Goff et al, 2012Klar, 2012. It focused on the manner in which leadership improved educational outcomes and also on the role of the principal to influence teachers on their teaching and learning practices as the teachers engaged in helping learners to learn.…”