eJournal

BC Educational Leadership research. Issue 4.
april 2006

Educational Leadership development in bc

From the editor’s desk: Guest Editor Corine Clark

Our April and May issues of the BCELR e-journal focus is on educational leadership development. Fullan has described this current period as a time for unprecedented attention to leadership. International and local initiatives in leadership development underscore the importance of school leadership in improving student learning. Concomitantly, there is a focus on improving the quality of existing leadership development programs and the launching of new initiatives within school districts, in postsecondary institutions and provincewide.

 The BC Educational Leadership Council (BCELC) at www.bcelc.ca is studying the succession challenge as large numbers of principals, teachers and district leaders retire within the next five years.  A recent Report on Education cites the demographic changes, noting that 70 % of school administrators and 55% of teachers are age 50 and above and could retire within the next five years.  This aging workforce has enormous implications for supporting the development of future school leaders.

At the same time, the notion of distributive leadership has garnered considerable attention. Distributive leadership conceptualizes leadership functions and activities as spread across people, place and situation throughout an organization. It shifts our concern from the development of the individual leader to the interactive web of leaders, followers and situations. Recent understandings of the need for “learning-focused leadership” suggest that it cannot be accomplished by one person but rather requires an interrelated set of roles and functions addressed simultaneously across a system (Leithwood, 2003).
 
Current research, demographic changes and a shift to a distributed, team-based view of leadership are reflected in leadership development programs in BC.  Rather than only offering programs for aspiring and newly appointed principals and vice-principals, school districts are designing leadership development programs that are an organization-wide phenomenon and strive to build the leadership capacity of teachers and, in some cases, all employee groups.

Given the interest in this topic and the number of submissions from the field, the April issue is directed toward conceptualizations of leadership, leadership survey results and descriptions of effective leadership development practices in school districts. In the May issue the focus will be on postsecondary leadership programs and the processes of leadership coaching and mentoring. In this issue, nine school districts describe their programs, each demonstrating many of the common features of effective leadership development cited in the current literature (S. Davis, et al, 2005): research-based curriculum based on leadership practices or standards; problem-based learning; adult learning theory; theory to practice application; cohort groupings; mentorships; collaboration between university programs and school districts; self-assessment and personal growth plans; and use of web-based technology.

We hope that these two editions generate knowledge about what exists in our province, facilitate connections and enable practitioners, scholars and policy-makers to learn from one another as we study, plan and implement educational leadership development programs.

article snapshots

Dr. Bruce Beairsto, Superintendent, of School District No. 38 (Richmond) and BCELC Consulting Partner, presents a working conception of the terms leadership, management and administration. In his article he creates a scaffold of shared meaning that can support constructive discourse and enable continuous individual and collective learning.

Dr. Bill Mulford, Director of Leadership for Learning Research Group at the University of Tasmania, Visiting Professor at UBC this past year, and Honorary Visiting Professor to the National College for School Leadership www.ncsl.org. in the UK, reports on a research project carried out through the Australian Research Council.  The findings suggest that school leadership that makes a difference in student learning outcomes is related to distributive and transformational leadership, organizational learning, context and a broadened understanding of student outcomes.

Stanley French, Executive Director of BC Principals’ and Vice-Principals’ Association, provides an executive summary of the Quality Leadership in Education Needs Survey of practising BC principals and vice-principals. The survey gathered opinions and advice to help BCPVPA with its strategic planning for leadership training and to assist the BCELC develop effective leadership programs. The results indicate principals’views about the important aspects of their role, how they learn best and how new school leaders can best be supported in the early stages of their career.

Wendy Lee, Executive Director of BC School Superintendents’Association, presents the results of the School District Leadership Programming Survey, conducted by the BCSSA for the BCELC. The survey of all 60 public school districts, indicates that 78% of districts have educational leadership programming. School district leadership development programs show a depth and breadth of learning structures and processes that reflect current thinking in leadership development.

Gordon Bell, Elementary Principal, Chairperson, Steering Committee member and graduate of the Kamloops/Thompson Executive Development Program, highlights components of this longstanding leadership development program in School District No. 73.   The .20 Internship field-based experience, is a unique leadership learning structure in this district which is seldom implemented in BC, yet is recognized as a feature of effective leadership program designs.

John White, Director of Instruction in School District No. 41 (Burnaby) chronicles his district’s journey in developing leadership capacity through a process that engaged a number of design teams. This resulted in the creation of a district leadership profile, a summer institute and induction program for newly appointed administrators, and a broad-based teacher leadership program that provides teacher leaders with skills and knowledge to support them in various formal and informal leadership roles.

Elizabeth Lemay, Elementary Principal who is involved as one of the collaborative team in the planning and delivery of the Nechako Lakes Leadership Development Program, shows us how this large geographically dispersed district with a contrastingly small population of students and staff, provides powerful professional learning to develop both formal and informal leadership capacity.  This district’s belief in distributed leadership and the transformative role of experiential learning, mentorship and collaborative learning is captured in their leadership program. Over the course of the Nechako Lakes program there is learning about leadership resulting in the leadership for learning.

Peter Norman, Associate Faculty at Royal Roads University and consultant with the BC government Leading the Way leadership program, collaborated with Jordan Tinney, Assistant Superintendent, and Keven Elder, Superintendent of School District No. 63 (Sannich), to create the Saanich Leadership Development Program Framework document Leadership, Learning and Change. This program is designed to enhance and extend leadership capacity in the service of student learning.  It is based on leadership competencies in innovation and change and draws from the best research on appreciative inquiry and a strength-based approach.

Dr. Elisa Carlson, Elementary Principal and Associate Faculty of Royal Roads University and Peter Drescher, Deputy Superintendent of School District No. 36 (Surrey), both have taken an active role in the design and delivery of the district’s Leadership Academy Board and Leadership for Learning Program. In this article, they emphasize that Surrey has been highly intentional in developing a comprehensive leadership program. They describe the conceptual framework for leadership development and professional growth, the role of the Leadership Academy Board, their district’s development of leadership standards and other key features that demonstrate that Surrey has made a substantive commitment to building leadership capacities at all levels.

Bonnie Chappell, Director of School Services and former Secondary Principal, for School District No. 57 (Prince George), writes about Prince George’s Encouraging Leadership Program and its collaboration with the University of Northern British Columbia  Masters of Education in Leadership degree program. This project will be of particular interest to districts which may wish to collaborate with a university in the co-planning and co-teaching of educational leadership development with cohorts of teachers.

Bev Terry, Manager of Curriculum in School District No. 46 (Sunshine Coast), in this article summarizes a presentation given with her administrator colleagues Ann Skelcher, Susan Budgell, Kerry Mahlman and Deborah Palmer at the 2004 National Staff Development Conference and the recent 2006 Staff Development Council of BC conference. The Sunshine Coast administrators created a cycle of learning and practice related to their work as educational leaders within the context of monthly principals’ meeting. Their approach sustained a focus and reflection on topics related to their leadership practice, modeled strategies for application within their schools and embedded continuous professional learning for new and experienced principals and vice-principals.

Irene Corman, Associate Superintendent and Instructor in Leadership Studies at the University of Victoria, and Diane J. Marshall, Elementary Principal with district responsibilities for Leadership Development and Mentorship, in School District No.61 (Greater Victoria), describe how their district is cultivating sustainable leadership by ensuring that new vice-principals and new principals transitioning to these roles are well-prepared. A design feature of their District Leadership Development Program enables new principals to participate in a structured peer coaching system. Experienced partner/coaches meet individually with new principals to discuss issues, problem solve, build their relationship and ultimately learn from one another.

Suzanne Hoffman, District Administrator for Professional and Instructional Services in School District #35 (Langley) shares a number of leadership programs and initiatives that support the recruitment, retention and succession planning for potential leaders and those already in leadership positions. Hoffman reports on Langley’s Principal and Vice-Principal Performance Standards. The standards provide a description of the desired behaviours of principals and vice-principals within five domains: Educational Leadership, Management, School Climate, Interpersonal Relations and Professional Growth. The performance rubrics within each domain enable leaders to self-assess their performance and set their own personal growth plans.

As editor, I have provided a bibliography of selected web-based and print entries for educational leadership development and distributive leadership to serve as a resource for research and planning within districts and organizations.

We wish to thank our contributors to this issue and BCELC for enabling the School Leadership Centre e-journal to share more broadly some of the examinations commissioned for their February 2006 Symposium on the Leadership Challenge in Public Education.

Upcoming Issues of BCELR

MAY

Educational Leadership Development.
This second issue on Educational Leadership Development will focus on postsecondary programs with submissions from three universities and articles on leadership coaching and mentoring.
Submission deadline: April 30, 2006.

JUNE

Action Research
Data driven decision making has become an expectation for all actions in schools.  This journal will consider the sorts of action research that educational leaders are involved in, the strengths of these approaches, and what further is needed.
Submission deadline: May 23, 2006

Submissions

Submissions are invited from all educational leaders across BC: teachers, students, parents, district staff, researchers, government officers, principals and vice principals, union representatives, superintendents. Submissions will be reviewed by the editorial staff of BCELR. Note that copyright of every article published through BCELR remains with the author.

• Submit your document as a word document, with contact information (e-mail and phone number) and a short biography.
• E-mail to slc.edu@ubc.ca
• BCELR will notify you of the document’s receipt, and will further notify you if the article will be published.

Articles

Dr. Bruce Beairsto: Learning to Lead [download article]

Bill Mulford: Leadership for School and Student Learning – What Do We Know [download article]

Stanley French: BC Principals’ and Vice-Principals’ Association
Leadership Needs Survey [download survey]

Wendy Lee: School District Leadership Programming Survey [download survey]

Gordon Bell: Forty Years Later: Still Training Educational Leaders
Executive Development Program/Leadership Development ProgramSchool District
#73 Kamloops/Thompson [download article]

John White: Building Your Leadership Capacity:
A Foundation for Distributed Leadership [download article]

Elizabeth Lemay: Nechako Lakes Leadership Development Program [download article]

Peter Norman: Saanich Leadership Development Program Framework
Leadership - Learning - Change [download article]

Elisa Carlson and Peter Drescher: Leadership: A Blueprint for Succession and Development [download article]

Bonnie Chappell: Building Leadership Capacity Through the Encouraging
Leadership Program School District # 57 (Prince George) [download article]

Bev Terry: Cause Causit We Determine Our Fate by the Decisions We Make [download article]

Irene Corman and Diane Marshall: Cultivating Sustainable Leadership: One District’s Approach [download article]

Suzanne Hoffman: The Leadership Quandary: One District’s Response [download article]

editor's selected bibliographies

Educational Leadership Development

Distributive Leadership