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DOCUMENT RESUME EA 025 850 ED 370 215 Mendez-Morse, Sylvia AUTHOR Leadership Characteristics That Facilitate School TITLE Change. Southwest Educational Development Lab., Austin, INSTITUTION Tex. Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), SPONS AGENCY Washington, DC. PUB DATE 92 CONTRACT R1291002003 NOTE 67p. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, 211 AVAILABLE FROM East 7th Street, Austin, TX 78701. Information Analyses (070) PUB TYPE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE *Administrator Role; *Educational Change; Elementary DESCRIPTORS Secondary Education; *Leaders; *Leadership Qualities; *Organizational Change ABSTRACT Accompanying the frequent calls for school reform is the assumption that the leadership needed to bring change will somehow emerge. Education rcsearchers have begun to examine school administrators' leadership si1ls looking for the characteriscics that help or impede efforts to improve education for at-risk students. Personal qualities have an important influence on educational leadership. Research into leadership characteristics has included study of individual factors, situational elements, and a combination of factors. Studies of the differences between leaders and followers attempted to isolate the specific characteristics that created effective leaders. The conclusion was that no one characteristic distinguiahes effective leaders from ineffective ones. Current research identifies several leadership characterisics: vision, valuing human resources, stressing student-centered schools, communicating and listening, being proactive, and taking risks. These characteristics are important in two dimensions considered necessary for effective leadership--initiating structure and consideration for others. As leadership research continues, it is clear that leaders are more than just managers. They possess special characteristics that help change organizat"ms. (Contains 99 references.) (JPT) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** 0 " Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Chan U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educations, tileacialch and Impinvemeni EDU ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERICI This document nes been reproduced as Waived I rpm ihe deison di Organization difiginating it 0 Minor changes nave been made to trnprove reproduction duality Points of view Or opinions slated tn this docu msnt do not necessarily represent offioat OERI posdon or PottCY Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Sylvia Méndez-Morse Change 1992 Southwest Educational Development Laboratory 211 E. Seventh Street Austin, Texas 78701 512/476-6861 0 SJ Copyright, 1992 This publication is based on work sponsored wholly, or in part, by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U. S. Department of Education under contract number RP91002003. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of OERI, the Department, or any other agency of the U.S. Government. 4 Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Change 5 Table of Contents Introduction 1 History of Leadership Research 5 Traits Model of Leadership: Leaders versus Followers 5 Situational Leadership: Impact of the Setting on Leaders 6 Effective Leaders: Two Dimensions 7 Contingency Models: More than the Situation 8 Nonleader Leadership: Many Leaders 9 Current Leadership Research 10 Leaders vs. Managers 10 Vision 11 Shared Vision 12 Valuing Human Resources 13 Transformational Leadership 13 Characteristics of Leaders Change 15 20 Vision Believing that Schools are for Student's Learning 25 Valuing Human Resources 33 Communicator and listener 38 Proactive 40 44 Risk-takers Summary of Characteristics 47 49 Conclusions Implications for further research 53 55 References Acknowledgments This manuscript would not have been possible without the review and critique of colleagues and friends interested in leadership characteristics that facilitate school change. I greatly appreciate the guidance, advice, and assistance of George Baker, Dale Rudin, Nancy Chavkin, Jerry Morse, Martha Boethel, Victoria Boyd, Deborah Jolly, Wes Hoover, and Richard Tompkins. Their generous feedback was invaluable; however, the author alone assumes responsibility for the final document. Special thanks are extended to Lori Kitchens for her expertise in preparing this manuscript for publication and to Rosalind Alexander-Kasparik for her artistic consultation. Muchisimas gracias a todos por todo. SEMM, 1992 vii Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Change Introduction Calls for educational reforms to address the needs of at-risk students are frequent. Their focus has been primarily on the the what students should learn, context content circumstances students should be learning in, and outcomes the knowledge and skills students should acquire. Important changes have come about as educational reform efforts focused on the needs of at-risk students. Data on students graduating with marginal skills and students not completing high schools have led researchers to question the established currimlum, standards, and practices of school systems. Information on underachieving students' performance has led to the exploration of methods that better meet these students' needs. Innovative instructional strategies such as cooperative learning have been implemented and found to benefit certain at-risk students (Slavin, Karweit, & Madden, 1989; Levin, 1988). Novel programs that include child care for teenage parents have been introduced and shown promise in increasing students' graduation rates (Garden, Casey, & Christianson, 1984; Forman & Linney, 1988; Pedro-Carroll & Cowen, 1985; Shapiro, 1987). Yet despite such efforts and the visibility of positive results, high drop out rates persist and minimally skilled students continue to graduate from schools. Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate School Change Unfortunately, accompanying the calls for reform in school systems is an underlying assumption that the leadership needed to execute these changes will somehow emerge. As the reforms are implemented, the leadership skills of school administrators guiding these changes have received attention from researchers. Consensus exists on the critical role leaders play. What types of individuals are these leaders who initiate and maintain successful educational changes? Do leaders of educational change share similar characteristics? Which characteristics are unique to specific roles? This paper, a companion to two other syntheses (Boyd, Unfortunately, 1992; Hord, 1992), reviews the literature to determine the accompanying the calls for characteristics that appear to facilitate or impede the reform in school systems is implementation of school improvement interventions for at-risk an underlying assumption students. In the context of this paper, characteristics are the that the leadership needed personal qualities that contribute to a person's leadership to execute these changes will practices. This paper examines the influence of these personal somehow emerge. characteristics on educational leadership. The paper begins with a brief review of some key leadership concepts. Next, there is a discussion of the characteristics found to be unique or common in effective educational leaders. Finally, this synthesis concludes with a discussion of the implications of leaders' characteristics on implementing or initiating change within an educational system. The information will be useful to practitioners attempting to implement an educational innovation or a systemwide 2 Leadership Characteri-nics that Facilitate School Change change at the school or district level. In addition, this information may be used for professional development. The information might also be useful for the evaluation and selection of individuals who are responsible for change efforts and for the development of training programs of educational leaders. Finally, this paper attempts to raise awareness about individuals who promote educational change. 1 0