While schools' official vision statements--statements school leaders write telling their own deep vision for what they want their school to be--generally aren't empowering, they could be. A well-crafted vision statement is a powerful tool because it articulates the promise a leader and school staff make to students and provides focus. Drawing on…

In the 21st century, policymakers and educators agree that improving the quality of K-12 education requires effective leadership practices and collaborative efforts. Particularly, research has shown that a leadership approach that focuses on a continuous improvement can achieve impressive results. Successful leaders empower teachers to be the best…

Author and educator Owen Griffith shares how leaders can infuse small acts of gratitude to energize their schools and create a positive, thriving culture. Leaders must begin by practicing gratitude personally, then slowly introducing the practice to their faculty and eventually students. With the right attitude and creativity, the acts of…

School leaders are expected to be visibly in charge, always on top of their game, doing the right things to advance the school, and exuding confidence and command. For these traits, leaders have extensive resources to draw on to foster their professional growth. The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the regional and state…

Drawing on the literature about responsible leadership in business administration, this article brings the concept of responsible leadership to the fore in the theoretical and empirical debates about educational leadership and to encourage scholars to study the particular characteristics and determinants of responsible leadership in schools. More…

School principals are confronted with a variety of issues as they provide leadership and organization to their schools. Evidence is growing that successful school leaders influence achievement through the support and development of effective teachers and the implementation of effective organizational practice (Davis, Darling-Hammond, LaPointe,…

For many years, researchers seemed to subscribe to the paradigm that leaders are born and not made. Seminal research, however, suggests that leadership qualities are developed over time and through professional development (PD) experiences and performance assessments (Day, Harrison, & Halpin, 2008). This paper focuses on the assessment of…

As Internet-based communications and interactions by and between students and school staff become more prevalent, an appreciation of school rules for student behavior is important. Students carry electronic devices, sending and receiving communications inside and outside school, so two key questions exist regarding search and seizure of such…

Among quality measurement systems, there is no clear description of how administrators are expected to move through the process. This is not necessarily a fault of the systems; it is not their intention to script a program's process. Yes, there are many tasks that are logically the administrator's responsibility--important things that must get…

Leadership is a lonely obligation. Every leader, no matter how many followers, is an individual actor, sharing ideas and concepts, mostly verbally, in the hope of producing a result that benefits the operation and the people whose lives those operations affect. Every school leader asks himself or herself: How can I effectively move the…

Legacy thinking is about a person--as an individual. How he interacts with others on a one-to-one basis every day. Someone with personal hopes, goals, desires and expectations. Thinking about one's legacy can help one better understand his strengths and weaknesses and help him steer his legacy in the right direction. In this article, the author…

The Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education is a 360 assessment of principals' learning-centered leadership behaviors. The instrument was designed to provide formative and summative assessment to principals on the leadership behaviors most important to student learning. The purpose of this report is to describe the standard-setting…

This article utilizes an acceptance of an evolutionary pattern in how humans have understood the nature of leadership in order to extend this pattern into the 21st century. Based on the works of numerous writers, such as Gebser, Sorokin, Bellah, Habermas, Foucault, Berger, and Wilber, it is possible to outline the origins of predominant worldviews…

Helping staff get along with each other can sometimes be more challenging than helping young children get along. A director can feel like a referee instead of a leader of professionals when staff bicker with each other. Many directors find that efforts made to strengthen everyone's skills in giving and responding to feedback help a great deal.…

This book invites readers to contemplate careers in administrative leadership. Drawing from knowledge acquired as president of Kansas State University, and from his multifarious experiences at other universities and in government service, the author takes the reader through the cycle of a presidency--from the decision to apply, to life after…