A volume in International Research on School Leadership Series
Editors Alan R. Shoho and Bruce G. Barnett, University of Texas at
San Antonio Our fourth book in the International Research on School
Leadership series focuses on school leadership in an era of high
stakes accountability. Fueled by sweeping federal education
accountability reforms, such as the United States' No Child Left
Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (R2T) and Australia's Performance
Measurement and Reporting Taskforce, school systems around the
world are being forced to increase academic standards, participate
in high-stakes testing, and raise evaluation standards for teachers
and principals. These results-driven reforms are intended to hold
educators "accountable for student learning and accountable to the
public" (Anderson, 2005, p. 2, emphasis in original). While
policymakers and the public debate the merits of student
achievement accountability measures, P-12 educational leaders do
not have the luxury to wait for clear guidance and resources to
improve their schools and operating systems. Instead, successful
leaders must balance the need to create learning communities,
manage the organizational climate, and encourage community
involvement with the consequences testing has on teacher morale and
public scrutiny. The chapters in this volume clearly indicate that
as school leaders attend to these potentially competing forces,
this affects their problem-solving strategies, ability to
facilitate change, and encourage community involvement. We were
delighted with the responses from colleagues around the world who
were eager to share their research dealing with how leaders are
functioning effectively within a high-accountability environment.
The nine chapters in this volume provide empirical evidence of the
strategies school leaders use to cope with problems and negotiate
external demands while improving student performance. In
particular, the voices and actions of principals, superintendents,
and school board members are captured in a blend of quantitative
and qualitative studies. The breadth of studies is impressive,
ranging from case studies of individual principals to
cross-district comparisons to national data from the National
Center for Education Statistics. To highlight important findings,
we have organized the book into five sections. The first section
(Chapters 2, 3, and 4) highlights the problem-solving strategies
used by principals and superintendents when pressured to turn
around low-performing schools. In the second section (Chapters 5
and 6), attention is devoted to ways in which school leaders act as
"buffers" by reducing the impact of external demands within their
local school contexts. Next, Chapters 7 and 8 explore creative ways
in which financial analyses can be used to assess the cost
effectiveness of programs and services. Chapters 9 and 10 examine
how principals enact their instructional leadership roles in
managing curriculum reforms and evaluating teachers. Finally, in
the last section (Chapter 11), Kenneth Leithwood synthesizes the
major themes and ideas emerging across these chapters, paying
particular attention to practical issues influencing school leaders
in this era of school reform and accountability as well as
promising areas for future research.
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