Moral Imperative of School Leadership

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• Outline for Newport School Leaders
• Michael Fullan, 2003

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• I. Changing the Context
• A. Context structure, framework, environment,
  situation, circumstance, ambience, surrounding.
• B. Organization for Economic Cooperation and
  Development (OECD, 2000) PISA study (Programme
  for International Student Assessment) literacy
  study of 265,000 15 year-olds in 32 countries
• PISA showstwo students with the same family
  characteristics going to two different schools
  one with higher and one with lower socio-economic
  profile could expect to be further apart in
  reading literacy than two students from two
  different backgrounds going to the same school.
  (p. 21)

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• C. Context is social, not individual. Context
  overrides personality. behavior is a function
  of social context (Gladwells Tipping Point,
  p.150) The power of context is that what really
  matters is little things (p.150). We are better
  people in a good environment than in a bad one.
• Most of us will pay attention to the plight of
  individual students if those around us are doing
  so.
• D. Starting Point for changing context Change
  the situation i.e.
• Create a community around people where new
  beliefs can be practical, expressed, and
  nurtured.
• Key to change is new experiences!

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• E. Its NOT a rational process of
  analyze-think-change INSTEAD its
• SEE-FEEL-CHANGE
• What must the leader do? Facilitate the process!
• Help people see new possibilities and
  situations.
• Seeing something new hits the emotions.
• Emotionally charged ideas change behavior or
  reinforce changed behavior. (Kotter Cohen,
  2002)

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• F. Principals Teachers Affecting context
• Teachers working together for the continuous
  betterment of schools.
• Leaders (principals) guiding and supporting the
  process at all levels.
• Whatever the strategy, (LFS??) it must generate
  passion, purpose, and energy intrinsic
  motivation on the part of principals and
  teachers
• Teacher passion, purpose, and capacity directly
  impacts student engagement and learning.
• If we dont think of producing teacher and
  student development simultaneously, we will miss
  the point.

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• G. Evolution of teaching profession.
• Four quadrants, knowledge-poor, knowledge-rich,
  informed prescription, informed professional
  judgment.
• Four historical labels
• Uninformed professional judgment
  (knowledge-poor/professional judgment ) 1970s
• Uninformed prescription (knowledge-poor/external
  prescription) 1980s
• Informed prescription (knowledge-rich/external
  prescription) 1990s
• Informed professional judgment (knowledge-rich/pro
  fessional judgment) Present
• Informed professional judgment is collective, not
  individualistic driven by best knowledge,
  pursued continually, and has a solid moral
  purpose at its foundation.
• Primary role of principals is to help create and
  sustain disciplined inquiry and action by
  teachers.

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• H. Successful Companies Going from GOOD to
  GREAT! Jim Collinss study of 1,435 companies in
  Fortune500 from 1965 to 1995 focused on 11
  companies that have sustained financial success
  over a minimum of 15 years.
• Collins identified six core factors of success
  - Level 5 Leadership, First Who Then What,
  Confront the Brutal Facts, Hedgehog Concept,
  Culture of Discipline, and Technology Accelerates
  - that he organized into three themes -
  disciplined people, disciplined thought, and
  disciplined action.
• 1. Level 5 Leadership Self-effacing, quiet,
  reserved, even shy blend of personal humility and
  professional will (Lincoln Socrates not Patton
  or Caesar).
• 2. First WhoThen What Good leaders first got
  the right people on the bus, the wrong people off
  the bus, and the right people in the right seats,
  and then they figured out where to drive it.

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• 3. Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet never lose
  faith) Lesson learned from a former POW, called
  the Stockdale Paradox. You must maintain
  unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in
  the end AND at the same time have the discipline
  to confront the brutal facts of your current
  reality.
• 4. Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three
  Circles) Transcend the curse of competence
  just because youve been doing something for a
  long time doesnt mean you have all the answers
  or are the best at it.
• Three intersecting circles What you are
  Passionate about, What you are Best at, and What
  drives your in this case economic engine.
• 5. Culture of Discipline when you have
  disciplined people, you dont need hierarchy.
• 6. Technology Acceleration pioneers in the
  application of carefully selected technology.

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• Level 5 Executive Builds enduring greatness
  through a blend of humility and professional
  will.
• Level 4 Effective Leader Catalyzes commitment
  to and pursuit of a clear and compelling vision,
  stimulating higher performance standards.
• Level 3 Competent Manager Organizes people and
  resources toward the effective and efficient
  pursuit of predetermined objectives.
• Level 2 Contributing Team Member Contributes
  individual capabilities to the achievement of
  group objectives and works effectively with
  others in a group setting.
• Level 1 Highly Capable Individual Makes
  productive contributions through talent,
  knowledge, skills, and good work habits.
• The best principals are executives!

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• II. Barriers to School Leadership
• A. Self-imposed Barriers
• Perceived system limitations fear of
  resistance, lack of systemic insight, system
  promotes wide variations of leadership dynamic.
• If-Only Dependency if only this would happen
  then
• Loss of Moral Compass Principals must be firmly
  grounded in the moral foundations of their
  profession (Why am I doing this? What do I stand
  for? What legacy do I wish to leave?)
• Not Taking Charge of Personal Professional
  Development principals must be active lifelong
  learners.
• Responsibility Virus Overresponsibility and
  underresponsibility, Who is responsible for
  success?

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• B.Systemic Barriers
• Centralization vs. Decentralization must be
  balanced or you will have overcontrol or chaos.
• Role Overload and Role Ambiguity Wanted A
  miracle-worker who can do more with less, pacify
  rival groups, endure chronic second-guessing,
  tolerate low levels of support, process large
  volumes of paperwork and work double shifts (75
  nights a year). Carte blanche to innovate, but
  without much money, limited ability to replace
  personnel, and without upsetting the wrong
  people. Must be thick-skinned, partially blind
  and deaf but able to listen and react
  appropriately in any and every situation.
• Limited Investment in Leadership Development
• Neglect in Leadership Succession wreaks havoc
  in continuity
• Absence of System Change Strategy Four major
  problems with reform policies (Fullan et al,
  2003)
• Sheer volume of new initiatives blunts impact of
  each.
• Distracting or inconsequential policies
  unconnected to student learning.
• Policies poorly implemented.
• Gaps exist in policies (failure to establish
  early childhood program)
• Advanced definitions of the Principals role are
  too limited Principal leadership is becoming
  increasingly difficult to define.

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• C. Two ideas in summary
• 1. New directions call for new leadership at
  the school level
• 2. The principal must lead a radical return to
  the moral purpose of schools

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• III. The Moral Imperative at the School Level
  The New Principal (principle)
• Moral purpose of the highest order is having a
  system where all students learn, the gap between
  high and low performance becomes greatly reduced,
  and what people learn enables them to be
  successful citizens and workers in a morally
  based knowledge society.
• The principal is strategically placed best to
  accomplish this task.
• A. Levels of the moral imperative levels on a
  continuum of Making A Difference
• Level One Individual Many principals are
  committed to making a positive difference in the
  lives of individuals but the principal with moral
  purpose must ask, What is my role in making a
  difference in the school as a whole?

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• Level Two School Level Nine Improvement
  Strategies
• Set high expectations for students.
• Share leadership and stay engaged.
• Encourage collaboration among faculty staff.
• Use assessment data to support student success.
• Keep the focus on students.
• Address barriers to learning.
• Reinforce classroom learning at home by engaging
  families.
• Employ systems for identifying interventions.
• Define special education as the path to success
  in the general education program.
• the moral imperative of the principal involves
  leading deep cultural change that mobilizes the
  passion and commitment of teachers, parents, and
  others to improve the learning of all students
• B. Trust is the key to improvement! (Bryk
  Schneider, 2002).
• As a social resource for school improvement,
  relational trust facilitates the development of
  beliefs, values, organizational routines, and
  individual behaviors that instrumentally affect
  students engagement and learning.

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• The school principal is the key person in
  demonstrating relational trust in four dimensions
  or criteria.
• Respect
• Competence
• Personal regard for others
• Integrity
• Characterize the day-to-day behavior of the
  principal
• Characterize the culture of the school.
• Embedded in the culture of relationships across
  all participants.
• Relational trust with a strong press for moral
  purpose produces very tough cultures that work
  diligently inside and outside the school to get
  results.

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Moral Imperative of School Leadership

• . The Culture of Discipline A culture of people
  who take disciplined action.
• a consistent system with clear
  constraintshired self-disciplined people who
  didnt need managed, and then managed the system,
  not the people.
• D. Summary Leading schools requires principals
  with the courage and capacity to build new
  cultures based on trusting relationships and a
  culture of disciplined inquiry and action.