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Professor Neil Dempster – School of Education & Professional Studies , Griffith University

Secondary Principals as Literacy Leaders (SPALL): Literacy Leadership through Assessment Module 1. Leading Learning: What’s in the Research?. Professor Neil Dempster – School of Education & Professional Studies , Griffith University. SESSION 1 . Purposes:

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Professor Neil Dempster – School of Education & Professional Studies , Griffith University

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  1. Secondary Principals as Literacy Leaders (SPALL): Literacy Leadership through Assessment Module 1 Leading Learning: What’s in the Research? Professor Neil Dempster – School of Education & Professional Studies, Griffith University

  2. SESSION 1 Purposes: • Synthesising general research findings about leadership links with improved student learning outcomes • Summarising research related to principals’ leadership of literacy in the secondary school setting School of Education and Professional Studies

  3. THE BIG PICTURE • THE BIG LEADERSHIP SHIFTS From individual with sole to Collective with shared responsibility responsibility From Leadership as to Leadership as activity position School of Education and Professional Studies

  4. DEFINITION Leading Learning School leaders, understanding and harnessing the contexts in which they operate, mobilise and work with others to articulate and achieve shared intentions that enhance learning and the lives of learners. MacBeath & Dempster (2009) following Leithwood & Riehl (2003) School of Education and Professional Studies

  5. Three Leadership Fundamentals • Purpose (what for?) • Context (where?) • Human Agency (who with?) School of Education and Professional Studies

  6. SEVEN STRONG CLAIMS ABOUT SCHOOL LEADERSHIP (National College for School Leadership 2006) • After classroom teaching, leadership is the second most significant in-school influence on students’ learning • It accounts for 5-7% of the difference in student learning • There has been no case of improvement in students’ achievement trajectory in the absence of talented leadership (Leithwood et al, 2006) School of Education and Professional Studies

  7. SEVEN STRONG CLAIMS ABOUT SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 2. There is a verifiable repertoire of basic school leadership practices • Building vision and directions • Understanding and developing people • Designing the organisation (bringing function and structure together) • Managing the teaching and learning program (bringing purpose and practice together) Leithwood & Riehl (2005) Bass & Avolio (1994) Harris & Chapman (2002) School of Education and Professional Studies

  8. SEVEN STRONG CLAIMS ABOUT SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 3. The effective application of leadership practices is context sensitive but the context is not everything – it should not be allowed to render a leader powerless to make changes Slatter, Lovett & Barlow (2006) Mintrop & Papazian (2003) Day (2005) MacBeath et al (2007) School of Education and Professional Studies

  9. SEVEN STRONG CLAIMS ABOUT SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 4. Leaders improve teaching and learning indirectly through influence on staff motivation, commitment and working conditions • they influence teachers’ pedagogical capacity least (unless they are active in professional development) • they have strong influence on working conditions • they have moderate influence on motivation or commitment Robinson (2006, 2009) Leithwood & Janter (2006) School of Education and Professional Studies

  10. SEVEN STRONG CLAIMS ABOUT SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 5. Greatest influence is felt when leadership is widely distributed • shared leadership accounted for 27% of the variation in student achievement across schools in the Mascall and Leithwood studies • this is much higher than the 5-7% reported consistently for the effects of individual leaders. Mascall & Leithwood (2007) School of Education and Professional Studies

  11. SEVEN STRONG CLAIMS ABOUT SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 6. Some patterns of leadership distribution are more effective than others • there is consistent evidence about the ineffectiveness of laissaz-faire leadership (Bass, 1985) • there is no loss of a leader’s power and influence when the power and influence of others increases (Malen, 1995) • there is emerging evidence about the need for coordinated patterns of leadership practice (Ensley, Hmieleski & Pearch, 2006; Spillane, 2007; Harris, 2008; McKinsey and Company, 2010)) School of Education and Professional Studies

  12. SEVEN STRONG CLAIMS ABOUT SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 7. Personal traits explain differences in leadership effectiveness The most successful School Leaders are: • open-minded • ready to learn from others • flexible in their thinking within a set of core values • persistent in the pursuit of the school’s purpose • resilient • optimistic Leithwood & Jantzi (2006) Jacobson et al (2005) Robinson et al (2009) School of Education and Professional Studies

  13. A Summary of the National College for School Leadership Research Review (UK; 2006) Leaders affect learning by: • building vision and setting directions • understanding and developing teachers • designing effective organisational structures • coordinating the teaching and learning program • attending to the conditions for learning • sharing leadership broadly and deeply School of Education and Professional Studies

  14. OECD (2008) ‘Improving School Leadership’ Leaders who enhance student learning do so by: • supporting and developing teacher quality • defining goals and measuring progress • managing resources strategically • collaborating with external partners School of Education and Professional Studies

  15. Australian Council for Educational Research Review (2009) Leaders ensure high quality learning by: • building a school culture of high expectations • setting targets for improvement • employing teachers who have deep knowledge and understanding of key content areas • enhancing staff and leadership capacity • monitoring teacher practice, student learning and performance continuously • allocating physical and human resources to improve learning School of Education and Professional Studies

  16. NZ Government Best Evidence Synthesis from Leadership Research (Robinson et al 2007, 2009) Leaders affect learning by: • promoting and participating in teacher professional development • planning, coordinating, monitoring and evaluating teaching, learning and the curriculum • establishing goals and expectations • resourcing strategically • ensuring an orderly and supportive environment School of Education and Professional Studies

  17. The Cambridge Leadership for Learning (LfL) Project (MacBeath et al 2009) Leadership is connected to learning by: • maintaining a focus on learning • creating conditions favourable to learning • conducting disciplined dialogue about learning • sharing leadership • sharing accountability School of Education and Professional Studies

  18. Secondary School Research Review Sources Barnes, C. A., Camburn, E., Sanders, B. R., & Sebastian, J. (2010) Bishop, A. R., Berryman, M. A., Wearmouth, J. B., & Peter, M. (2012).   Brundrett, M. (2006). Burns, M. K. (2008). Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. (2009) Cravens, X., Goldring, E., Porter, A., Polikoff, M., Murphy, J., & Elliott, S. (under review).   Crum, K. S., & Sherman, W. H. (2008) Day, C. (2005) Day, C. (2005a) Day, C., Sammons, P., Hopkins, D., Harris, A., Leithwood, K., Gu, Q., et al. (2009) Day, C., Day, C., Sammons, P., Hopkins, D., Harris, A., Leithwood, K., Gu, Q., et al. (2009a) Dinham, S. (2005) Fancera, S. F., & Bliss, J. R. (2011 ) Fink, D., & Brayman, C. (2006)   Fletcher, J., Greenwood, J., Grimley, M., & Parkhill, F. (2011) Foster, R. (2004) Gentilucci, J. L., & Muto, C. C. (2007) Goldring, E., Porter, A. C., Murphy, J., Elliott, S. N., & Cravens, X. (2009)   Goldring, E., Cravens, X., Murphy, J., Porter, A., Elliott, S., & Carson, B. (2009)   Greenwood, J., Fletcher, J., Parkhill, F., Grimley, M., & Bridges, S. (2009)   Gu, Q., Sammons, P., & Mehta, P. (2008)   Gurr, D., Drysdale, L., & Mulford, B. (2006) Gurr, D., Drysdale, L., & Mulford, B. (2005) Gurr, D., Drysdale, L., Swann, R., Doherty, J., Ford, P., & Goode, H. (2005) School of Education and Professional Studies

  19. Secondary School Research Review Sources (cont’d) Hallinger, P. (2005) Hargreaves, A., & Goodson, I. (2006) Leech, D. F., & Fulton, C. R. (2008) Leithwood, K., Day, C., Sammons, P., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2006)   Levin, B. (2010)   Louis, K. S., Wahlstrom, K. L., Michlin, M., Gordon, M., Thomas, E., Leithwood, K., et al. (2010) May, S. (2007)   May, H., & Smyth, J. (2007)   May, H., & Wright, N. (2007) McGhee, M. W., & Chulsub, L. (2007)   Moller, J., & Eggen, A. B. (2005)   Murphy, J. (2004)   Murphy, J., Elliott, S. N., Goldring, E., & Porter, A. C. (2007)   Murphy, J., Elliott, S. N., Goldring, E., & Porter, A. C. (2010) Murphy, J., Goldring, E. B., Cravens, X. C., Elliott, S., & Porter, A. C. (2011)   O'Donnell, R. J., & White, G. P. (2005)   Opdenakker, M. C., & Van Damme, J. (2007)   Patterson, J. A., Eubank, H., Rathbun, S. E., & Noble, S. (2010)   Peariso, J. F. (2011)   School of Education and Professional Studies

  20. Secondary School Research Review Sources (cont’d) Polikoff, M., May, H., Porter, A., Elliott, S., Goldring, E., & Murphy, J. (2009) Porter, A. C., Murphy, J., Goldring, E., Elliott, S. N., Polikoff, M. S., & May, H. (2008)  Porter, A. C., Polikoff, M. S., Goldring, E., Murphy, J., Elliott, S. N., & May, H. (2010)  Porter, A. C., Polikoff, M. S., Goldring, E. B., Murphy, J., Elliott, S. N., & May, H. (2010) PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2007)  PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2007a)  Quint, J. C., Akey, T. M., Rappaport, S., & Willner, C. J. (2007)  Robinson, V. M., Lloyd, C. A., & Rowe, K. J. (2008)   Sammons, P., Hopkins, D., Harris, A., Leithwood, K., Gu, Q., et al. (2007)  Sammons, P., Mujtaba, T., Earl, L., & Gu, Q. (2007)   Schaffer, E., Reynolds, D., & Stringfield, S. (2012)  Smyth, J. (2007)  Smyth, J., & Whitehead, D. (2007)  Wahlstrom, K. L., & Louis, K. S. (2008)  Whitehead, D. (2007) Wright, N. (2007) School of Education and Professional Studies

  21. General Findings from the Research Review Research on principals’ literacy leadership to date focuses predominantly on elementary or primary school principals. Murphy warns: • drawing conclusions for secondary school leaders based on studies of instructional leadership in elementary schools alone is naive Murphy, 2004, p. 66 School of Education and Professional Studies

  22. General Findings (cont’d) • Schools especially effective in literacy achievement enjoy vigorous instructional leadership usually by the principal (Murphy, 2004; Peariso, 2011) • Principals’ and other school leaders’ behaviours are intertwined in secondary schools in producing outstanding student outcomes (Dinham, 2005; MacBeath et al, 2009) • Shared Leadership in secondary schools needs deliberate combinations of principal, positional leaders and teachers to be effective (Fullan, 1992; Ainscow, Hopkins, Southworth & West, 1994; MacBeath, 1998; Hargreaves, 2000; Leithwood & Riehl, 2003; Fullan, 2006; MacBeath, 2009; Levin, 2011) School of Education and Professional Studies

  23. Secondary School Literacy Initiative (SSLI) Study The SSLI in New Zealand found that the implementation of literacy initiatives across the curriculum is complex in secondary schools May & Wright (2007) May (2007) Wright(2007). • the constant commitment of senior management and key personnel is necessary • teacher buy-in needs encouragement • resistance occurs • implications for departments/disciplines need clarity • sustainability beyond project support varies School of Education and Professional Studies

  24. General Findings (cont’d) The research review conducted for the SPALL Project has shown that there is limited, though growing knowledge about leadership behaviours in the secondary school context which make strong connections with literacy learning and achievement. How principals’ make an impact on student literacy through instructional leadership in secondary schools is in need of further research. The SPALL Project provides a timely opportunity for a study of this kind of leadership action by principals and others sharing leadership roles in secondary schools School of Education and Professional Studies

  25. SO, To Summarise… School of Education and Professional Studies

  26. PURPOSE School Leadership is for learning first and foremost. Leaders need: • deep knowledge of young people’s learning* • evidence on which to base action • practical strategies for teachers’ professional development *Particular knowledge in at least one key curriculum area (Robinson, 2009) – and knowledge of cultural and social influences on learning (Buckskin et al, 2008, Bishop and Berryman, 2011) School of Education and Professional Studies

  27. CONTEXT • Knowledge of the school’s context is essential to the educational leader: • the context has to be understood (globally, nationally and locally); • beneficial connections have to be made; and • helpful networks must be harnessed in the school’s interests. School of Education and Professional Studies

  28. HUMAN AGENCY (it’s what gets things done) • This is the bedrock on which current thinking on leadership is based: • Distributed leadership is essential in schools – broad and deep, inside and outside(Price Waterhouse Coopers, 2006; OECD, 2008) • Types range on a continuum from dispersed to shared (MacBeath, Oduro & Waterhouse, 2004) • Sharing leadership should occur across roles and functions (Leithwood & Riehl, 2003, Spillane 2006, Harris, 2007) • Spread it to include students, family and community members(Crowther, 2004; Dempster & Lizzio, 2006-10; OECD, 2008; Johnson and Jervis-Tracey, 2011) School of Education and Professional Studies

  29. Synthesising the Research Findings Those leading schools best affect student learning outcomes when: 1. They have an agreed and shared moral purpose; 2. There is ‘disciplined dialogue’ about learning in the school; 3. They plan and monitor learning and take account using a strong achievement evidence base; 4. They are active professional learners with their teachers; 5. They attend to enhancing the conditions for learning; 6. They coordinate, manage and monitor the curriculum and teaching; 7. They use shared leadership as the norm; and 8. They understand and connect with parent and wider community support for learning. School of Education and Professional Studies

  30. SESSION 2 Purpose: • To reflect on the strength of each of the dimensions of the Leadership for Literacy Learning Blue Print in participating schools School of Education and Professional Studies

  31. Questions for Self-reflection • How strongly would I rate the implementation of each of the Blue Print domains in our school and what evidence do I have to support my rating? • To which of the domains do I believe we should now turn our attention? • How might we best use this instrument back at school? School of Education and Professional Studies

  32. SESSION 3 Purpose: • To practise the use of ‘Disciplined Dialogue’ in professional conversations drawing on quantitative and qualitative evidence gathered about selected Blue Print domains School of Education and Professional Studies

  33. Structure of the Session Three parts: • What is ‘disciplined dialogue’? • How is ‘disciplined dialogue’ conducted? • What is the role of principals and other school leaders in hosting professional conversations? School of Education and Professional Studies

  34. What are professional conversations? In medicine, psychology, social work and education: • they are measured discussions related to particular cases with a view to addressing needs, managing issues, improving circumstances or facilitating change based on sound evidence. School of Education and Professional Studies

  35. Why is a strong evidence base important to the professions? • It provides the basis upon which professional judgment is applied • It underpins professional knowledge and learning • It acts as an aid to professional accountability School of Education and Professional Studies

  36. Professional Accountability: Essential tenets derived from Erault (1992) • A moral commitment to serve the interests of clients, patients or students • A professional obligation to extend one’s repertoire, to reflect on evidence and experience and to develop one’s expertise • A professional obligation to self-monitor and to review the effectiveness of one’s practice in the interests of clients, patients or students. School of Education and Professional Studies

  37. Evidence should be used in: • constructive problem talk (Robinson & Timperley, 2007) • professional learning conversations (Earl & Timperley, 2009; Danielson, 2009) • disciplined dialogue (MacBeath & Dempster, 2009) Call it what you will… School of Education and Professional Studies

  38. What is Disciplined Dialogue? By this we mean: all-embracing professional conversations that are positively focused on the moral purpose of education. Disciplined Dialogue is not based on stereotype, hearsay or prejudice, but on reason and values, stimulated by helpful qualitative and quantitative data. From Swaffield and Dempster(2009) School of Education and Professional Studies

  39. Dialogue should be ‘disciplined’ in at least two ways: • by a focus on data or evidence as the source for understanding student learning and achievement 2. by a professional (and personal) commitment to improve teaching and learning and the conditions which support them School of Education and Professional Studies

  40. DISCIPLINED DIALOGUE A professional discussion which: • reinforces ‘moral purpose’ as the motivation for action • focuses on learning, achievement and key contributing factors • scaffolds analysis on qualitative and quantitative data • seeks improvement strategies as the outcome The question now is: How is ‘Disciplined Dialogue’ conducted? School of Education and Professional Studies

  41. Practice Example 1. The Ecological Footprint of Household Pets (EASY) The following numbers illustrate the Ecological Footprint for five pets: School of Education and Professional Studies

  42. Disciplined Dialogue Questions • What do we see in these data? • Why are we seeing what we are? • What, if anything, should we be doing about it? School of Education and Professional Studies

  43. What do we see in these data? When we address this question we should exhaust the data for as much descriptive detail as possible without jumping to explanations or conclusions. It takes discipline to do so. School of Education and Professional Studies

  44. Why are we seeing what we are? • This question enables those who understand the context to bring their professional (and personal) judgment into play. • Multiple reasons are possible from the perspectives of those engaging in the discussion. • Some explanations are likely to be more influential and credible than others. Try two perspectives – (i) Ecological Warriors (ii) Pet Shop Owners School of Education and Professional Studies

  45. What, if anything, should we be doing about this? This question links discussion to moral purpose. It acts as the motivation for decisions about what to do or not to do. Priorities for action will be raised and discussed. Professional judgment again is essential. School of Education and Professional Studies

  46. Practice Example 2. (HARDER) Secondary teachers’ views on the literacy demands of subject teaching The frequency data provided were gathered in a government secondary school from teachers across years 8 to 12 (N=100). No subject specific breakdown are shown, only aggregated data are presented. Cashen and Dempster (2012) School of Education and Professional Studies

  47. Practice Example 3. (HARDER AGAIN) • This example shows the reading level of each student in three Year Nine classes plotted against the number of weeks they have been at the school. • The test was administered in the 40th school week. • Transience is clearly a significant problem in the school. (from Timperley & Wisman, 2003) School of Education and Professional Studies

  48. Year Nine Reading Teacher A: 14 up to 20 weeks (14/25) Teacher B: 18 up to 20 weeks (18/31) Teacher C: 13 up to 20 weeks (13/25) School of Education and Professional Studies

  49. Practice Example 4. (EASY) A narrative from a colleague teaching physically disabled young people in the Czechoslovakia of Iron Curtain days. I have been teaching physically disabled students for thirty years and I find that the smallest gain in skill by these children is highly motivating for the teachers and really satisfying for the children. In my school, we create a patient environment and we focus on small achievements. We accept that children and young people will need repeated attempts. They will experience repeated failure accompanied by rising frustration. So will the teachers. We practice showing patience and giving support and encouragement to persist and at all times with good humour. Laughter accompanies what we do and no-one thinks of giving up. We think the smallest of gains is a great cause for celebration. For example when we are teaching those severely physically disabled to feed themselves, we applaud them ‘loud and long’ for getting a hand even close to the object spoon. Lifting it off the table warrants ‘high fives’ all round and getting it to the mouth, even empty, we see as a Gold Medal result worth three cheers for everybody!!

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