Investigating School Leadership Practice: A Distributed Perspective

Spillane, James P.; Halverson, Richard; Diamond, John B.

doi:10.3102/0013189x030003023

Cited by 1,123 publications

(1,004 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…This finding also reflects the intimations of Alexander et al (2001) on the importance of what they call ‗collateral leadership' among both staff and community groups in the community-care networks they study, as a complement to-not a substitute for-more vision-based leadership. Our findings here converge with and develop existing literature in Europe and North America on distributed leadership in health-care settings (Denis et al, 2000;Huxham and Vangen 2000;Buchanan et al 2007a), local government (Hartley and Allison 2000) and education (Leithwood et al 1999;Spillane et al 2001;Gronn 2002). These studies illustrate the importance of subtle, distributed forms of leadership in settings characterized by the ambiguity of objectives and power relationships that typifies public-service organizations, particularly professional bureaucracies.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Leadership, Service Reform, and Public-Service Networks: The Case of Cancer-Genetics Pilots in the English NHS

Martin

Currie

Finn

2008

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

108

107

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In attempting to reform public services, governments worldwide have sought to effect change through policies aimed at both transforming structures of public service provision and facilitating the agency of public servants working within these. Various obstacles have been found, however, to impede the effectiveness of such efforts. In this paper, the authors examine the role of organizational networks and distributed leadership-two prominent policies aimed at structure and agency respectively-in the establishment and consolidation of service reform in the English National Health Service. Using a comparative case-study approach, they contrast the trajectories of two attempts to introduce and gain acceptance for service reform, noting important differences of context, process and outcome between the sites. The findings indicate the importance of dispersed, as well as distributed, leadership in achieving change in a networked public-service setting. Effective leaders may indeed achieve change through the structures and processes of the network. However, the coexistence alongside the network of other organizational forms constrains the ability of leaders to achieve change without complementary action beyond the boundaries of the network.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Leadership, Service Reform, and Public-Service Networks: The Case of Cancer-Genetics Pilots in the English NHS

Martin

Currie

Finn

2008

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

108

107

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“…Collaboration and communication were strategies for expanding and solidifying instructional emphasis. Spillane, Halverson, and Diamond (2001) argue that it is more legitimate to examine school leadership as the cumulative activities of a broader set of leaders, both formal and informal, within a school rather than as the work of one actor. The principals in our study were quick to attribute their work to a broad leadership base in their schools.…”

Section: Emphasizing Collaboration and Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Instructional Leadership in a Standards-based Reform

Supovitz

Poglinco

2001

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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The spotlight of educational leadership is on instructional leadership. As pressure for improving student performance in the current standards-based accountability environment swells and test results are increasingly scrutinized, school principals are being urged to focus their efforts on the core business of schooling--teaching and learning. But what does it mean to be an instructional leader? What do principals that are instructional leaders do differently than other principals? How do they spend their time? How do they shape the cultures of their schools? How knowledgeable are they of subject-matter content? How do they work with, and develop, other leaders in their schools? In this study we sought to find answers to these questions by exploring the collective wisdom of several effective instructional leaders.Instructional leadership, not just by the principal but by a wider cast of individuals in both formal and informal leadership roles, can play a central role in shifting the emphasis of school activity more directly onto instructional improvements that lead to enhanced student learning and performance. By contrast, the status quo in most schools is diffuse attention to instruction scattered amidst a variety of environmental, social, and organizational distracters that lead to fragmented and uneven instructional focus. Principals are typically engrossed in organizational care-taking and the responsibility for instructional decisions falls to individual teachers. When individual teachers independently determine the kind and type of instruction in their classrooms, three things tend to occur. First, the instructional culture of the school tends to splinter, as there is no overriding instructional guidance and no coherent glue to tie instruction to a larger whole. Second, the quality of instruction varies widely, as teachers bring different experiences and have different notions of what is good teaching. Third, the content that students receive, even in the same grade, differs from classroom to classroom, as each teacher prioritizes what students ought to know.

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“…Cognitive processes are important to understand how school leaders can make a difference. Through interaction with others, these cognitive structures result in making sense of one's social context, which in turn operates as a guiding framework for present and future leadership behavior (Spillane, Halverson, & Diamond, 2001;Weick, 1995). As such we believe that insight into principal's thinking processes will advance our understanding of how and why they take action.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%