Emerald | Journal of Educational Administration | Table of Contents

Leaders of School Technology Innovation: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Change Facilitator Style Questionnaire (CFSQ)

Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - This paper describes a construct validation study with respect to internal structure for Change Facilitator Style Questionnaire (CFSQ), an instrument designed to measure the leadership style of school principals as change facilitators.Design/methodology/approach - Participants included 614 K-12 teachers across the state of Florida involved in the Enhancing Educational Through Technology competitive grant program. Teachers completed the CFSQ to assess their overall perceptions of their principals in supporting a technology integration initiative. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed and carried out to verify the instrument factor structure. Five models were developed based on theory and practice, and were tested using CFA. Findings - The results showed the evidence of CFSQ's reliability and validity while also the need for reorganization to improve its validity with respect to internal structure.Originality/value - To the authors' knowledge, the study described in this paper is the first CFSQ validation study regarding its internal structure other than the researchers who designed and developed this instrument in recent two decades.

Teachers’ acceptance of absenteeism: Towards developing a specific scale

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Orly Shapira-Lishchinsky, Gamal Ishan) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - This study aims to develop and validate a measure of a specific attitude toward teachers' absenteeism that predicts this behavior more accurately than other general measures of job attitudes. Design/methodology/approach - Participants were 443 teachers from 21 secondary schools in Israel. In the first phase, the teachers answered anonymous questionnaires related to their general attitudes and their specific attitude through 'absenteeism acceptance'. In the second phase, each teacher submitted copies of his half-year absenteeism records six months after the end of the first phase.Findings - We used CFA to cross-validate the different job attitudes measures. We confirmed the construct validity of 'absenteeism acceptance' through convergent and discriminant validity, finding relatively weak negative relationships between 'absenteeism acceptance' and the general job attitudes. The criterion validity and predictive validity of the new measure was confirmed by intercorrelations that were found to be relatively stronger between 'absenteeism acceptance' and the two measures of absenteeism (frequency, duration) than between the general job attitudes and these two measures. Quasi-Possion regressions indicated that 'absenteeism acceptance' emerge as a better predictor for both of the absenteeism measures than other general job attitudes. Practical implications - This new measure will benefit schools and principals by allowing them to identify potential absenteeism antecedents and enable early intervention.Originality/value - Whereas past research on work absence focused primarily on general attitude antecedents, the present study addresses a specific 'absenteeism acceptance' measure. This measure can be advantageous in both understanding and predicting voluntary absenteeism more accurately than general attitude measures.

Mapping the Terrain of Educational Leadership and Management in East Asia

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Philip Hallinger, Darren A. Bryant) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to gain perspective on the extent to which the vision for knowledge production in East Asia set forth by Bajunid, Cheng, Hallinger, Walker, Dimmock and others almost 20 years ago has been fulfilled. We undertook an effort to map the terrain of knowledge production in educational leadership and management in East Asia since the year 2000. Our method of mapping this terrain involves the analysis of trends in publication of articles about and/or from East Asia in eight core educational leadership and management journals.Design/methodology/approach - Our methodology employed a descriptive, quantitative form of literature review. We identified a clearly delimited body of literature, comprised of all articles published about or from East Asia between 2000-2011 in 8 core educational leadership and management journals. Then we employed a systematic search for information within that literature and analyzed trends across the studies. This allowed us to map the terrain of recent research on educational leadership and management within East Asia.Findings - The volume of knowledge production from East Asia between 2000 and 2011 consisted of less than 6% of total output in the relevant journals. Although there was a discernible increase in the annual rate of publication over the course of the 12 year period, we treat the increase as relatively unimportant given the small volume. A substantial majority of the publications not only came from a few societies, but from a small number of universities. Citation analyses were highly consistent with all of the above trends, and reinforced a picture of limited impact.Research limitations/implications - Our study focused on a clearly delimited region, East Asia. Although we believe that the study may have implications for other regions of the developing world, we do not speculate on the extent of relevance. We intentionally limited our definition of the corpus of knowledge to a specific set of international refereed journals that are published in English. This ignores the potential contributions of conference papers, books, book chapters, research handbooks, domestic journals, and even other international journals in which educational leadership scholars publish.Practical implications - A practical limitation concerns our decision to focus on patterns of knowledge production rather than the content of research findings. The analyses presented in this paper neither examined topics studied nor specific research findings. Therefore, we did not attempt to characterize what has been learned from these studies conducted over the past decade. That means that the paper has limited direct relevance for the improvement of practice.Originality/value - To our knowledge, there have been no efforts undertaken to understand he nature of knowledge production in educational leadership and management in East Asia. When approaching this review in 2012, we were not under the illusion that the regional knowledge base would be either overly dense in terms of the concentration of studies within particular areas or broad in scope. However, future scholarship may be aided by this systematic assessment of the current knowledge base on educational leadership in the region.

Ethical blind spots in leading for learning: An Australian study.

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Michael Bezzina) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - This study aims to explore the dynamics by which exposure to a moral rationale is given expression in schools, and how this is perceived as impacting on teaching, leadership practice and student outcomes.Design/methodology/approach - Eleven Australian schools were part of a project in which they were supported in applying a conceptual framework involving moral purpose, learning and leadership to self-selected improvement initiatives. Extensive focus group interviews with the school project teams were analysed to identify recurrent themes, and to illustrate the dynamics of engagement with moral purpose. Findings - A significant insight that emerges from this study is that the movement towards increased moral sensitivity enhanced commitment to shared purpose. This movement provided a driver for ethically driven behavior. Part of the contribution of the intervention was to draw attention to these elements of moral purpose, which, in turn, increased teacher and leader sensitivity to their operation, and resulted in changed teacher practice and enhanced learning outcomes for students. Practical implications - The findings of this study highlight the potential of explicit attention to moral purpose in school communities, and suggest some points of emphasis for school leaders who are committed to improvement built on staff commitment. Originality/value - While many authors signal as a matter of principle the importance of moral purpose in schooling, and in the leadership of change, it is a comparatively under-researched area in terms of its practical application. This study makes a contribution to addressing that gap.

Critical Analysis of Accountability Policy in Alternative Schools: Implications for School Leaders

Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - The expansion of alternative education, globally, has coincided with a shift towards greater accountability for ensuring educational access and opportunity, high academic standards and increased graduation rates. While studies suggest the pervasive influence of accountability may be redefining how school leaders provide meaningful learning experiences and facilitating high achievement (Crum and Sherman, 2008; Spillane et al., 2002; Rutledge et al , 2010), little is known about school leaders of alternative schools administering accountability polices. If there are inconsistencies between meaningful learning experiences for at-risk students and performance- based standards outcomes, this may suggest issues around equity and alternative schools that should be evaluated. Using a theoretical frame of policy implementation, specifically the authoritative design of policy and social constructs of compliance to examine how alternative school leaders implement accountability policies. Design/methodology/approach - This cross case study employs a qualitative thematic strategy of data analysis in conjunction with Fairclough’s (1989, 1992, 1995) three-dimensional framework of discourse analysis to examine how seven school leaders at five alternative schools in California and Texas interpret and administer accountability policy. Findings - The theme of reconciliation: tension between compliance and innovation was revealed from the data. The discourses surrounding the nature of students at risk and policy compliance converged creating a notion that alternative school leaders were losing their autonomy as knowing what is best for their students amidst increasing accountability standards.Practical implications - While many of the administrators are positioned by their districts to act as an at-risk student expert when designing or sustaining academic and social programs at their respective alternative schools, they are in the process of losing some of their autonomy because of the pressures derived from accountability standards. However, school leaders continued to take responsive and reflexive actions to create distance between their settings and accountability policy in order to protect their students and schools from external pressures.Originality/value - The study presents original findings in the area of accountability policy implementation in alternative school settings. This work suggests that the social constructs of compliance and student risk factors converge with the authoritative nature of accountability policy. In turn, tension was created for alternative school leaders as they consider what is best for at-risk students.

Principals' perceptions of ‘quality’ in Mauritian schools using the Baldrige framework

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Jean Claude Ah-Teck, Karen E starr) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - This article reports the findings of a research project exploring Mauritian principals’ receptivity to the main tenets inherent in Total Quality Management (TQM). The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) framework (aligned with, and an outcome of, the TQM movement) provides a set of criteria for organizational quality assessment and improvement in the business, healthcare and education sectors. Given the imperative to improve the quality of schools in Mauritius, this study was designed to investigate the usefulness of the widely accepted MBNQA framework in the Mauritian context.Design/methodology/approach - A nation-wide questionnaire survey of school principals explored the nature and strength of the Baldrige theory of relationships between leadership, systems and processes of primary and secondary schools and the ensuing outcomes. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted.Findings - The findings indicate that Mauritian school leaders play a critical role in influencing school outcomes directly and indirectly through the inner workings of the schooling system.Research limitations/implications - The research relied on principals’ views as the unique source of data about school leadership. The perspectives of the other stakeholders within schools, including teachers, students and parents, should also count and would offer a richer description of leadership reality in Mauritian schools.Originality/value - This is the first ever study assessing empirically the notion of ‘quality’ in primary and secondary schools in Mauritius at the national level. It contributes new perspectives about leadership for school improvement.

Women secondary principals in Texas 1998 and 2011: Movement toward equity

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Jean C Marczynski, Gordon S Gates) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Purpose - Data gathered in 1998 and 2011 from representative samples of women secondary school principals in Texas are analyzed to identify differences in personal, professional, leadership, and school characteristics. Design/methodology/approach - Two proportionate, random samples were drawn of women secondary principals 13 years apart. The Texas Education Directory provided the sampling frame and school data were downloaded from the Public Education Information Management System. Principals were sent surveys including measures of situational and distributed leadership as well as demographic questions. Response rates of 65% and 42% were achieved on the 1998 and 2011 surveys respectively. Findings - While the percentage secondary schools lead by women principals show little change and is similar to previous research, a more nuanced examination of these women and their schools evidence progress. The diversity for women administrators has increased and women are more likely to hold positions in urban schools. Years of teaching experience has decreased and women appear to be entering the profession at a younger age. Change on both variables reflects averages for male principals. Leadership scores indicated lower adaptability and more directive styles for women in 2011; however, scores on the Distributed Leadership Inventory were high.Originality/value - Schools lead by women in 2011 possessed a larger proportion of students of poverty but no differences were noted in school enrollment or student passing rates on accountability tests. We encourage districts to continue fair hiring policies and argue women have become more competitive for the large urban high school principalships.

Review: Professional Development: What Works 2nd Edition By Sally J. Zepeda Reviewed by: B. Chase Kruse, University of Oklahoma

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Brandon Chase Kruse) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Not available.

Book Review: Bigger Isn’t Always Better: A Leadership Guide for Small School Administrators by George Murdock

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Michelle M. Butler) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Not available.

Educational Leadership Preparation: Innovation and Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Ed.D. and Graduate Education

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Nicolas Mize) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Not available.

Managing Legal Risks in Early Childhood Programs: How to Prevent Flare-ups from Becoming Lawsuits

literatinetwork@emeraldinsight.com (Elizabeth Sullins) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Abstract

Not available.