Few empirical studies have been undertaken concerning successful leadership practices within challenging urban schools. Given that much of the school leadership literature relies on principals as the source of evidence for school improvement, this article explores, through multiperspective case study methodology, how one failing urban elementary school has become successful largely as a result of the transformative leadership of the principal. Our findings support more recent school-derived iterations of transformational leadership theory, in which principals stress support, care, trust, participation, facilitation, and the building of consensus. However, our data also draw attention to how this particular successful principal transcends the administrative immediacy of short-term innovation, by paying considerable attention to longer term, socially transformative, and morally grounded principles, rooted in democracy, equity, and social justice.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AvolioB. J., & BassB. M. (1988). Transformational leadership, charisma, and beyond. In HuntJ. G., BaligaB. R., DachlerH. P., & SchriesheimC. A. (Eds.), Emerging leadership vistas (pp. 29–49). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
2.
BassB. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations.New York: Free Press.
3.
BizarM., & BarrR. (Eds.). (2001). School leadership in times of urban reform.Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
BotteryM. (2001). Globalization and the UK competition state: No room for transformational leadership in education?School Leadership and Management, 21(2), 199–218.
6.
BrownK. M. (2004, February). Leadership for social justice and equity: Weaving a transformative framework and pedagogy. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(1), 77–108.
7.
BurnsJ. M. (1978). Leadership.New York: Harper and Row.
8.
CoplandM. (2003, Winter). Leadership of inquiry: Building and sustaining capacity for school improvement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 25(4), 375–395.
DayC., HarrisA., HadfieldM., TolleyH., & BeresfordJ. (2000). Leading schools in times of change.Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
11.
FullanM. (1993). Change forces: Probing the depths of educational reform.Bristol, PA: Taylor and Francis/Falmer.
12.
FurmanG. (Ed.). (2002). School as community: From promise to practice.Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
13.
GlaserB., & StraussA. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory.Chicago: Aldine.
14.
GronnP. (1996). From transactions to transformations: A new world order in the study of leadership?Educational Management and Administration, 24(1), 7–30.
15.
GurrD., DrysdaleL., Di NataleE., FordP., HardyR., & SwannR. (2003). Successful school leadership in Victoria: Three case studies. Leading and Managing, 9(1), 18–37.
16.
HallingerP. (2004, January). Reflections on the practice of instructional and transformational leadership. Paper presented at the annual International Congress for School Effectiveness and School Improvement, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
17.
HallingerP., & HeckR. (1996). Reassessing the principal's role in school effectiveness: A review of empirical work. Educational Administration Quarterly, 32(1), 5–44.
18.
HargreavesA. (1994). Changing teachers, changing times: Teachers’ work and culture in the post-modern age.New York: Teachers College Press.
19.
HarrisA., & ChapmanC. (2002, May). Democratic leadership for school improvement in challenging contexts. International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning, 6(9), 1–12.
20.
HopkinsD. (2001). Meeting the challenge: An improvement guide for schools facing challenging circumstances.London: DfES.
LeithwoodK. (1994). Leadership for school restructuring. Educational Administration Quarterly, 30(4), 498–518.
23.
LeithwoodK., DartB., JantziD., & SteinbachR. (1993). Building commitment to change and organizational learning (Phase 4 final report). Victoria, BC: British Columbia Ministry of Education.
24.
LeithwoodK., JantziD., & SteinbachR. (1999). Changing leadership for changing times.Levittown, PA: Open University Press.
25.
LeithwoodK., & LouisK. S. (1998). Organizational learning in schools.Exton, PA: Swets and Zeitlinger.
26.
LeithwoodK., & RiehlC. (2003, April). What we know about successful school leadership. Paper presented at the annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
27.
MadenM. (2001). Further lessons in success. In MadenM. (Ed.), Success against the odds—Five years on (pp. 307–339). London: Routledge.
28.
McMillanJ. H., & SchumacherS. (1997). Research in education (4th ed.). New York: Longman.
29.
MerriamS. B. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
30.
MilesM. B., & HubermanA. M. (1984). Qualitative data analysis: A sourcebook of new methods.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
31.
MuijsD., & HarrisA. (2003). Teacher leadership—Improvement through empowerment? An overview of the literature. Educational Management and Administration, 31(4), 437–448.
32.
MulfordW., SilinsH., & LeithwoodK. (2004). Educational leadership for organizational learning and improved student outcomes.Boston: Kluwer Academic.
33.
NorthouseP. G. (1997). Leadership: Theory and practice.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
34.
PortinB. S. (1999, October). Manifestations of critical leadership in tides of reform: Contradictions or opportunity. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the University Council for Educational Administration, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
35.
QuantzR. A., RogersJ., & DantleyM. (1991). Rethinking transformative leadership: Toward democratic reform of schools. Journal of Education, 173(3), 96–118.
36.
ReitzugU. C. (1994). A case study of empowering principal behavior. American Educational Research Journal, 31(2), 283–307.
37.
RetallickJ., CocklinB., & CoombeK. (Eds.). (1999). Learning communities in education: Issues, strategies and context.New York: Routledge.
38.
RiehlC. J. (2000, Spring). The principal's role in creating inclusive schools for diverse students: A review of normative, empirical, and critical literature on the practice of educational administration. Review of Educational Research, 70(1), 55–81.
39.
RinehartJ. S., ShortP. M., ShortR. J., & EckleyM. (1998, December). Teacher empowerment and principal leadership: Understanding the influence process. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(Suppl.), 34, 630–649.
40.
SengeP. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization.New York: Doubleday
41.
SergiovanniT. J. (1992). Moral leadership.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
42.
SergiovanniT. J. (1999). The lifeworld of leadership: Creating culture, community, and personal meaning in our schools.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
43.
ShieldsC. M. (2004, February). Dialogic leadership for social justice: Overcoming pathologies of silence. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(1), 109–132.
44.
StakeR. (2000). Case studies. In DenzinN. K., & LincolnY. S. (Eds.), The handbook of qualitative research (pp. 435–454). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
45.
StollL., & FinkD. (1996). Changing our schools.Bristol, PA: Open University Press.
46.
SuttonS. E. (1996). Weaving a tapestry of resistance: The places, power and poetry of a sustainable society.Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey.
47.
WheatleyM. (1999). Good-bye command and control. In HesselbeinF., & CohenP. M. (Eds.), Leader to leader (pp. 151–162). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
48.
YuklG. A. (1989). Leadership in organizations (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
