A Study of Urban School Leadership
A Study of Urban School Leadership
Project Summary
Following three early-career urban school leaders from charter schools, district public schools and Catholic schools this study examined the practices of these leaders as they mobilized faculty, engaged students and families, and enriched their own professional efficacy through the Academy. In consequence, this long-term study illuminates how these urban school educators sought to promote educational equity in their schools, drawing on their work with the Lynch Leadership Academy to help them do so.
Approach
This study seeks to understand urban schools as complex systems. Specifically, to discern systems features critical to adaptive outcomes our case studies draw on complexity theories, an analytic framework which relies upon rich, systemic analyses among multiple systems levels, actors, and elements to understand developments in schools and derive implications for designing those educational systems to promote greater equity. Most notably, the complexity lens “frames leadership as a complex interactive dynamic from which adaptive outcomes (e.g., learning, innovation, and adaptability) emerge” (p. 298), and in doing so reveals “the essential nature of what leadership is—a process” (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2007, p. 299).
Measurement & Metrics
This is a qualitative study. We assessed the degree to which the practices enacted at five long-term study sites driven by three different Leadership Academy "Fellows" aligned with critical features of the complex adaptive system:
- Recognizing and generating productive tensions throughout the school "system";
- Distributing power and authority; and
- Generating a school culture committed to common ideals.
We created a "systems transformation heuristic" (STH) which offers a means to assess the degree to which the principals had embraced these three key tenets of the heuristic as determined by their responses to a series of features linked to the STH on a scale of 1-to-4. For instance: -Would you say there is a collaborative culture at your school? -Are there systems in place for teachers and other staff to lead and influence school-wide practices? -Do you believe the administration at your school is committed to ensuring all students succeed?
Key Findings
There is a synergistic relationship among the key factors that emerged through our research: generating productive tensions, sharing power and authority, and creating a shared school culture; When schools collectively commit to eradicating the 'opportunity gap' they generate a productive tension that can inform their ongoing work; as school personnel work in concert toward shared goals and committed to the same ideals their interactions generate a climate in which relational trust can flourish, and relational trust is key to risk-taking and promoting systems change.