0.4 The art of successful school-based management

The Art of Successful School-Based Management

In this monograph the author offers the reader a new perspective on an important, dynamic, and sometimes dauntingissue: managing successful school-based leadership. Organized around the seven elements of art criticism, the author uses anarts-based approach to weave together notions of research-based leadership skills for successful school-based management withstandards of professional competence as represented by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standardsfor School Leaders. More particularly, in each section of this monograph the author presents a brief introduction of theleadership construct as represented in the art metaphor more fully described below. Then, the author suggests some possibleapplications of the theoretical element to the real-world realities of school leadership. Using a common-sense discussion on leadershipcoupled with theory and research within an arts-based perspective, the author encourages the reader to engage in the seeminglypersistent problems and old trials of school management from a new perspective resulting in some refreshing possibilities forsupporting student achievement in schools. It is also the goal of this arts-based approach that the reader might avoid the tendencyto reduce school-based management to formula and instead recognize the complexity of leading and managing students and teachers withinthe constantly evolving culture of today’s schools. As a result of this qualitative inquiry into the nature of leadership for today’s schools, the author invites a new vision for old assumptions inschools, for teacher leadership, and for student learning. The eventual product of such an investigation might be a new vision forschool leadership that is“more diversified and equitable”and one that“can expand our conception of human cognition and help us develop new forms of pedagogical practice”(Eisner, 1998, p. 245).

Leadership in the school building is at the heart of school leadership. It is in the school building, thehalls, and classrooms that principals most directly impact teacher behavior. The question that arises from a study leadership in theschool building is not about if principals can affect teaching behavior but rather in what manner and to what extent principalsmight affect teaching behavior, school environment, and ultimately student learning (Stronge, 2002). And there is growing consensus inthe literature, most recently reported in the“School Leadership Study”out of Stanford University (Davis, et al. 2005) that successful school leaders can influence student achievement in atleast two important ways: (1) By selecting, supporting, and developing effective teachers; (2) By managing, implementing, andadjusting effective organizational environments. Other authors in this book will devote more time to the first element of effectiveleadership. In this monograph the author will focus on how school-based leaders can effectively manage the competing, andsometimes conflicting, demands of leading in today’s schools so as to provide an organizational environment that encourages growth anddevelopment on the part of students, teachers, and administrators. The responsibility of managing a successful learning environment isone shared by all stakeholders. If doing it alone is the plan for the school principal, then research suggests that the leader isless likely to maintain and support learning environments and is more likely to“burn out”under the broadening responsibilities of today’s accountability environment (Hargreaves, 2006). In light of this harsh reality, in sections of this monograph the author willoffer school leaders ideas and possibilities for sharing the awesome responsibility of managing effective schools.