Abstract
Establishing structures to facilitate collaborative leadership is essential to the development of a high-performing professional learning community. To enable districts to function in such a manner, the first step is to identify the structures that inhibit it and to replace them with facilitating ones. In this chapter we draw from the research literature on collaborative leadership and organizational learning, our own research in schools, and the experiences of a superintendent and two university critical friends to document how this occurred in one school district. This work shows that while the implementation of collaborative structures that are facilitative of a collaborative approach to leadership and organizational learning throughout a school district is complex and full of risks, it can be achieved if deliberately championed by a leader committed to engaging others in the process.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Argyris, C. (1982). Reasoning, learning and action: Individual and organizational. New York: Basic Books.
Argyris, C. (1999). On organizational learning. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Bass, B., & Riggio, R. (2006). Transformational leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Barth, R. (1990). Improving schools from within. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Barth, R. (2001). Learning by heart. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Berends, M., Bodilly, S., & Kirby, S. (2002). Looking back over a decade of whole school reform: The experience of New American Schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 84(2), 168–175.
Bimber, B. (1994). The decentralizing mirage: Comparing decision-making arrangements in four high schools (MR-459-GGF-LE). Santa Monica, CA: RAND. Retrieved January 28, 2006 from http://www.rand.org/pubs/online/education/index.html.
Bodilly, S., Keltner, B., Purnell, S., Reichardt, R., & Schuyler, G. (1998). Lessons from New American Schools’ scale-up phase: Prospects for bringing designs to multiple schools. Santa Monica, CA: Rand. Retrieved January 28, 2006 from http://www.rand.org/pubs/ online/education/index.html.
Brown, J., Dibbon, D., & Sheppard, B. (2003, May). The school trustee in a learning environment. Annual Conference of CSSE, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Bryk, A. S., & Schneider, B. (2003). Trust in schools: A core resource for school reform. Educational Leadership, 60(6), 40–44.
Clem, J., & Battino, W. (2006). A systemic change experience in the Chugach School District. TechTrends, 50(2), 35.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioural sciences. New Jersey, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Datnow, A. (2005). The sustainability of comprehensive school reform models in changing district and state contexts. Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(1), 121–153.
Doyle, M., & Straus, M. (1982). How to make meetings work. New York: Berkley Publishing.
Duffy, F. (2003). I think therefore I am resistant to change. National Staff Development Council, 24(1), 30–36.
Dufour, R., & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement. Alexandria, CA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Dunlap, D., & Goldman, P. (1991, February). Rethinking power in schools. Educational Administration Quarterly, 27 (1), 5–29.
Firestone, W., Mangin, M., Martinez, C., & Polovsky, T. (2005). Leading coherent professional development: A comparison of three districts. Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(3), 413–448.
Freire, P. (2004). Pedagogy of the oppressed. In D. J. Flinders & S. J. Thornton (Eds.), The curriculum studies reader (pp. 125–133). New York: Routledge Falmer.
Fullan, M. (1993). Change forces. London: Falmer Press.
Fullan, M. (1995). The school as a learning organization: Distant dreams. Theory into Practice, 34(4), 230–235.
Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Fullan, M. (2005). Leadership and sustainability. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Galbraith, J., & Lawler, E. (1993). Organizing for the future. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
Gardner, J. (1990). On leadership. New York, NY: Free Press.
Green, R., & Etheridge, C. (2001). Collaboration to establish standards and accountability: Lessons learned about systemic change. Education, 121(4), 821.
Hall, G., & Hord, S. (2006). Implementing change: Patterns, principles, and potholes. Toronto: Pearson Education.
Hansen, J., & Roza, M. (2005). Decentralized decision making for schools: New promise for an old idea. Santa Monica, CA: Rand. Retrieved January 28, 2006 from http://www.rand.org/ pubs/online/education/index.html
Hargreaves, A., & Evans, R. (1997). Teachers and educational reform. In A. Hargreaves & R. Evans (Eds.), Beyond educational reform: Bringing teachers back in (pp. 1–18). Philadelphia: Open University Press
Harris, A. (2005). Leading or misleading? Distributed leadership and school improvement. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 37(3), 255–265.
Honig, M. (2003). Building policy from practice: District central office administrators’ roles and capacity for implementing collaborative education policy. Educational Administration Quarterly. 39(3), 292–338.
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2003). Credibility. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Lambert, L. (2005). What does leadership capacity really mean? Journal of Staff Development. 26(2), 39–40.
Leavitt, H. (2003). Why hierarchies thrive. Harvard Business Review, March, 96–102.
Leithwood, K., Leonard, L., & Sharratt, L. (2000). Conditions fostering organizational learning in schools. In K. Leithwood (Ed.), Understanding schools as intelligent systems (pp. 99–124). Stamford CT: JAI Press.
Leithwood, K., Louis, K., Anderson, S., & Wahlstrom, K. (2004). How leadership influences student learning. Retrieved Nov. 28, 2005 from http://www.wallacefoundation.org/WF/ KnowledgeCenter/KnowledgeTopics/EducationLeadership/HowLeadershipInfluencesStudent Learning.htm
Mintzberg, H. (1973). The nature of managerial work. New York: Harper and Row.
Murphy, J. (2007, June). Teacher leadership: Barriers and supports. Paper presented at Teacher Working Conditions that Matter: The Symposium. Toronto, ON, Canada.
O’Toole, J. (1996). Leading change. Toronto: Jossey-Bass.
Peterson, K. (1982). Making sense of principals’ work. The Australian Administrator, 2, 1–4.
Peterson, K., & Cosner, S. (2005). Teaching your principal. Journal of Staff Development, 26(2), 28–32.
Rusch, E. (2005). Institutional barriers to organizational learning in school systems: The power of silence. Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(1), 83–120.
Schein, E. (1993). On dialogue, culture, and organizational learning. Organizational Dynamics, 22(2), 40–51.
Schlechty, P. (1990). Schools for the 21st century. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Schlechty, P. (1997). Inventing better schools: An action plan for education reform. San Fransico, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline. New York: Doubleday.
Senge, P., Roberts, C., Ross, R., Smith, B., & Kleiner, A. (1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook. Toronto: Doubleday.
Sheppard, B., & Brown, J. (2006, October). A CEO’s five year journey: Translating theory into practice. Paper presented at Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Sheppard, B., & Brown, J. (2007, April). The CEO as an emergent leader in a school district hierarchy: Challenges and opportunities. Paper presented at American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
Sheppard, B. (1996). Exploring the transformational nature of instructional leadership. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 42(4), 325–344.
Sheppard, B. (2003). If to do in schools were as easy as to know what were good to do. Education Canada, 43(4), 16–19.
Silins, H., & Mulford, B. (2002). Schools as learning organisations: The case for system, teacher and student learning. Journal of Educational Administration, 40(5), 425–446.
Sparks, D. (2005). The final 2%. Journal of Staff Development, 26(2), 2–15.
Swinnerton, J. (2007). Brokers and boundary crossers in an urban school district: Understanding central-office coaches as instructional leaders. Journal of School Leadership, 17(2), 195–221.
Tschannen-Moran, M., & Hoy, W. K. (2000). A multidisciplinary analysis of the nature, meaning, and measurement of trust. Review of Educational Research, 70(4), 547–593.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Wynn, R., & Guiditus, C. (1984). Team management: Leadership by consensus. Toronto: Charles E. Merrill.
York-Barr, J., & Duke, K. (2004). What do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of Educational Research, 74(3), 255–316.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sheppard, B., Brown, J., Dibbon, D. (2009). Establishing Collaborative Structures. In: School District Leadership Matters. Studies In Educational Leadership, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9747-8_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9747-8_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9746-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9747-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)