Winner: Education: Ed.D. in Education Leadership (Graduate)
Abstract (click to view)
The role of the principal on the campus has shifted due to the significant workload of managing the school and the increased amount of accountability for teaching and learning. Through a solid vision and focused mission, the school's culture and student learning can achieve success. However, for a school principal to succeed in building the capacity of the teacher and reach the high expectations for student learning, a team of leaders must be in place. Developing an organization is not about delegating the work, but also about creating a team that is collaborative and able to work together through effective communication. While principals may struggle with the federal, state, and local accountability system, it is the success of the campus leadership team that establishes a focused mission for the day-to-day work impacting the teaching and learning for student success. For this reason, principals should look at distributed leadership and the focus of how to lead and inspire those who cross their path. In reviewing Bolden's (2011) synthesis of research on distributed leadership and how it can impact the leadership practice for educational leaders, I found it to be about the communication that takes place between the leaders and followers who are doing the work. The research sets a foundation for a distributed perspective for leading a school organization to success.
Program: Ed.D in Educational Leadership
Faculty mentor: Dawson Orr