Dispositions of Leadership: The Effects on Student Learning and School Culture stands alone as an approach for developing leaders who are adaptive and can thrive in unpredictable settings. Educational leadership is a domain of its own, apart from business and industry, combining an effective learning environment for students and adults. Dispositions are acquired in the interactions between skillful thinking and circumstances that defy simplistic solutions. The five dispositions, as illustrated in the book, provide educational leaders with maps of the territory and examples of habits for intelligent responses to complex problems. Educational leaders must develop adaptive competence, the capability of applying prior leaning to a novel setting, while assessing the impact of potential solutions. This book challenges the utility of traditional command-and-control models that are no longer capable of supporting school leaders. Grounded in extensive research and review of leadership literature. Dispositions of Leadership: The Effects on Student Learning and School Culture describes how an effective educational leader in the Information Age applies dispositional thinking in order to be adaptive, self-aware and responsive to others.
Dedication List of Figures List of Tables Foreword Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Complexity of the Contemporary Educational System Why Are New Understandings of Educational Leadership Needed? Learning Environments and the Need for Adaptive Competence Habits of Mind or Dispositions Educational Leadership in the Information Age Overview of the Book Questions to Engage your Thinking and Discussion with Colleagues References Chapter One: What Effect Does Educational Leadership Have on Student Learning? The Century-Long Evolution of Educational Leadership Twenty-five Important Works in Five Tables Efficiency, Bureaucracy, and the Heroic Leader - 1911-1967 Transformational Leadership and the Learning Organization - 1978-1990 Adaptive Leadership a Response for Addressing Complexity - 1993-2003 The Agile Organization and Adaptive Leadership - 2005-2009 A Home of Our Own Emerges: Leading Linked with Student Learning - 2011- 2013 Summary of the Five Tables and 25 Important Books for Leadership and Learning A New Era of Leadership with Student Learning as the Pervasive Focus Leadership Dimensions and Core Leadership Practices: Broader-Grained Work The Three Capabilities and Four Pathways: Finer-Grained Leadership Work Summary Questions to Engage Your Thinking and Discussion with Colleagues References Chapter Two: How Does an Agile Organization Support Contemporary School Leadership? The Formal Organization: An Overview Formal Organization: Routine Analytical and Routine Cognitive Problem Solving Agile Organizations: Adapting the Formal Organization to Meet 21st Century Needs Agile Organizations: Non-Routine Analytical and Interactive Problem Solving Asserting Focus Amidst Complexity: A Challenge in the Information Age Agility: Identifying the Type of Problem or Challenge Technical Problems, Adaptive Challenges, and Polarity Management Network-centric Collaborative Groups, Agility, and Decision-making High-Performing Principal Teams and School-based Leadership Teams Summary Questions to Engage your Thinking and Discussion with Colleagues References Chapter Three: What Are the Dispositions of Contemporary Educational Leadership? What are Dispositions? Why Dispositions? Dispositions for Educational Leadership What Roles Do Dispositions Serve in Leadership? How are Dispositions Acquired? Why Consider Utilizing Thinking Dispositions with Educators? Dispositions Build the School Culture The Five Dispositions of Leadership Dispositions, Capabilities, and Practices: Ways of Thinking, Being, Doing The Balcony and the Dance Floor Summary Questions to Engage your Thinking and Discussion with Colleagues: References Chapter Four: Disposition: Thinking and Acting Interdependently Capability One: Establishing and Maintaining an Environment of Trust that Includes Predictable Values and Predictable Skills Capability Two: Identifying, Articulating, and Aligning with a Shared Vision that Addresses a Pervasive Focus on Student and Adult Learning Capability Three: Promote a Group of Diverse Individuals to Access and Utilize Resources and Expertise Across a Broader Community Capability Four: Setting Aside Your Own Preferences for the Benefit of All Capability Five: Having the Capacity to Look at Things from Others' Point of View Capability Six: Anticipating Ways to Support Others in the Collaborative Process Summary Middle School Vignette Questions to Engage your Thinking and Discussion with Colleagues References Chapter Five: Communicating to Influence Capability One: Developing the Capabilities within Others to Interact Successfully Discussion Dialogue Capability Two: Developing Personal Presence Capability Three: Knowing When and Why to Integrate and Knowing When to Insert Oneself Capability Four: Use Interpersonal Skills to Cultivate Working Relationships and to Motivate and Mobilize Others (Individuals and Groups) Summary Middle-school Vignette Questions to Engage your Thinking and Discussion with Colleagues References Chapter Six: Gathering and Applying Information for Change Capability One: Systematically and Intentionally Gathering and Organizing Needed Data Academic Content and Measures of Schooling Student Engagement in the Behavior, Emotional, And Cognitive Dimensions Information Collected for Evaluating Implementation Topics Capability Two: Using data to inform actions Capability Three: Developing and Nurturing an Environment of Inquiry and Innovation Grounded in Reflection and Continuous Improvement Summary Middle School Vignette Questions to Engage Your Thinking and Discussion with Colleagues References Chapter Seven: Seeking Support for Feedback and Learning Capability One: Developing Self-Knowledge, Self-Awareness and Self-Efficacy While Maintaining a Sense of Humility Capability Two: Frequently Seeking Feedback Focused on Learning and Professional Growth Capability Three: Engaging in a Collegial Networked Leadership Community of High-Performing Teams of Principals Problems of Practice Versus Practice-Based Evidence Effective Networked Leadership Communities Relationship Between Support, Resiliency, Feedback and Excellence Professional Goal Setting Capability Four: Creating Feedback Spirals for Continuous Individual and Organizational Self-Learning Receiving Feedback Giving Feedback Summary Middle School Vignette Questions to Engage Your Thinking and Discussion with Colleagues Chapter Eight: Pursuing Adaptive Competence What is Adaptive Competence? Pursuing Adaptive Competence in Ambiguous Environments Capability One: Using Self-Managing, Self-Monitoring, and Self-Modifying Skills to Inform Behaviors and Actions Capability Two: Engaging Flexibly in Thinking and Behaviors Capability Three: Solving Complex Problems and Addressing Adaptive Challenges Summary Middle School Vignette: Three Middle School Principals Questions to Engage Your Thinking and Discussion with Colleagues: References Chapter Nine: Discovering Leadership Potential in an Agile Organization Five Dispositions of Leadership: 1.Thinking and Acting Interdependently: Promoting a positive, collaborative learning culture through distributed leadership. 2.Communicating to Influence: Developing the interpersonal skills to influence, mobilize and motivate individuals and groups. 3.Gathering and Appling Information for Change: Utilizing data-based evidence to make decisions and provide formative feedback for setting direction and planning change. 4.Seeking Support and Feedback for Learning: Fostering personal/professional growth and resiliency. 5.Pursuing Adaptive Competence (Keystone Disposition): Incorporating into practice metacognition and cognitive flexibility to effectively plan, reflect, diagnose, and solve complex problems. Feedback: A Networked Leadership Community Vignette Questions for Reflection
