Educational Administration Quarterly current issue

Leadership for Literacy Coaching: The Principal's Role in Launching a New Coaching Program

Matsumura, L. C., Sartoris, M., Bickel, D. D., Garnier, H. E. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:17:04 PDT

Purpose: This study investigated the relationship between principal leadership and variation in teachers’ participation in a new literacy coaching program: Content-Focused Coaching^® (CFC). Research design: Twenty-nine schools were randomly assigned to participate in the CFC program or to serve as a comparison. Interviews were conducted with elementary school principals and coaches, and teachers completed surveys describing their experiences with their new coach. Correlation analyses investigated the relationship between the categories of principal support and the frequency of teachers’ participation in individual coaching activities. Principals’ actions and beliefs were also compared across schools, with teachers’ relatively high and low participation in coaching, to identify patterns in principal leadership. Findings: Principal leadership was significantly associated with the frequency with which teachers conferred with their new CFC coach and were observed by their new coach as teaching reading comprehension lessons. Principal behaviors associated with teachers’ increased engagement with coaches included actively participating in the CFC program and publicly endorsing the coach as a source of literacy expertise to teachers. Principal beliefs regarding a literacy coach’s role and responsibilities were associated with the frequency with which teachers opened their classrooms to the new coaches. Implications: This study provides insight into the features of principal leadership that may support coaches in engaging with teachers and gaining access to their classrooms. Observing teachers’ lessons is a critical dimension of effective coaching and a difficult task for coaches to accomplish. Learning how principals can positively contribute to this process could help schools and districts make more effective use of their literacy coaching resources.

Performing Cultural Work in Demographically Changing Schools: Implications for Expanding Transformative Leadership Frameworks

Cooper, C. W. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:17:04 PDT

Purpose: Marginalizing dynamics can emerge in school communities that are experiencing rapid demographic change, even when led by equity-oriented principals.The purpose of this article is to consider how educators can serve as transformative leaders through their performing cultural work that addresses inequity, crosses sociocultural boundaries, and fosters inclusion. Cornel West’s theories on the cultural politics of difference inform the discussion, as does the literature on transformative leadership for social justice. Research Design and Methods: This comparative case study examined two North Carolina elementary schools that have experienced rapid demographic change, and it explored educators’ and families’ responses to cultural diversification and their views about school—family relations. Data analysis was conducted via an iterative process that identified common themes, entertained alternative conclusions, and triangulated interview, observational, and document data. Data revealed participants’ general beliefs, concerns, and fears about demographic change, particularly as they relate to their communities’ growing Spanish-speaking Latino population. Findings: Provided are data-based profiles of school principals and the sociocultural contexts of their school communities. Findings emphasize contradictions between the principals’ equity-oriented stances and their exclusionary beliefs and practices; school community members’ notions of cultural difference; and the biases, segregation, and brooding tensions affecting the schools. Implications for Research and Practice: The opportunities that principals have to perform cultural work as a form of transformative leadership are discussed, along with the value of explicitly infusing the notion of cultural work into transformative leadership frameworks.

Organizational Ethics and Teachers' Intent to Leave: An Integrative Approach

Shapira-Lishchinsky, O., Rosenblatt, Z. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:17:04 PDT

Purpose: The present study focuses on developing a conceptual framework that explores the relationships between teachers’ intent to leave and a spectrum of ethics perceptions. The authors argue that these relationships are mediated by organizational commitment (affective and normative). Research Design: Organizational ethics was measured by teachers’ perceptions of ethical climate (caring and formal), organizational justice (distributive and procedural), and tendency to misbehave. Participants were 1,016 schoolteachers from 35 schools affiliated with a secondary-level school network in Israel. Findings: Results of a multilevel analysis reveal direct relationships between intent to leave and dimensions of all three ethical constructs. The mediation effect of affective and normative commitment was full for caring climate and partial for procedural justice and tendency to misbehave. Conclusions: The contribution of this study is the integrative approach to organizational ethics as predicting teachers’ intent to leave, an approach rarely taken in previous research. The results may have implications for educational policies that focus on improving ethical perceptions while containing teachers’ voluntary turnover.

Literacy Coach Role Implementation: How District Context Influences Reform Efforts

Mangin, M. M. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:17:04 PDT

Purpose: This study examines the outcomes of one regional intermediate school district’s effort to promote literacy coach role implementation in its 20 constituent districts. The findings from this study provide information about the kinds of district-level contexts that influenced literacy coach role implementation and how those contexts were influential. Research Methods: Data were collected from 20 districts that participated in a literacy coach training program provided by the regional intermediate school district. Interviews were conducted in spring 2007 with assistant superintendents or their designees. Findings: Districts’ implementation of literacy coach roles was influenced by four contextual factors: state and national reform, finances, student performance data, and existing roles and programs. Variations in these factors were associated with differences in districts’ implementation of literacy coach roles. Implications: This study has implications for how districts understand their role in relation to schools and the implementation of reforms.

Assessing Schoolwide Cultural Competence: Implications for School Leadership Preparation

Bustamante, R. M., Nelson, J. A., Onwuegbuzie, A. J. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:17:04 PDT

Purpose: The initial purpose of this mixed methods study was to assess the instrument fidelity and construct-related validity of a 33-item instrument called the Schoolwide Cultural Competence Observation Checklist (SCCOC) by eliciting school leaders’ views. The SCCOC was designed as one tool for use in conducting school culture audits, which determine how well a school responds to the needs of diverse groups. The results revealed unexpected qualitative findings from school leaders’ narrative responses to open-ended items. The implications of these findings for school leaders and school leader preparation are discussed. Research Design: On a Web-based questionnaire, practicing school leaders in two large western states responded to open- and closed-ended items on the relevance of SCCOC items to cultural competence in actual school settings. Participants’ narrative responses were analyzed using an iterative process of coding and constant comparison to identify emerging themes. Themes were validated using intercoder reliability. Findings: Research team members reached consensus on four primary themes that emerged from analysis of narrative data: policy as a paradox, programs as instrumental to culturally competent practice, school culture and climate as integral to schoolwide cultural competence, and numerous barriers to cultural competence. Under the theme of barriers, five subthemes were revealed. Conclusions: The findings inform future research and the need to focus school leader preparation on examining personal biases, privilege, and beliefs about others who are different, as well as guiding leaders to develop culturally responsive skills and knowledge and the ability to assess schoolwide cultural competence.