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My Philosophy of Educational Leadership

-Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership


and Postsecondary Education
University of Northern Iowa
-In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the
Master of Arts in Education
-by
Kelli Meeker
American School of Bombay
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
(May 3, 2015)
-Dr. Timothy Gilson

The responsibility of educational leaders is to raise the level of education for students in
the school community. It is important that a leader recognizes their values and beliefs and how
these values and beliefs guide their actions and provide intention for their work. As I think about
the leader I hope to develop into, I realize that my goals, regardless of my role, will be to
increase teacher and staff capacity, to raise the level of education for all students and build a
strong school based community. The avenues with which I will hope to achieve these goals are
through creating a collaborative culture, effective decision-making, advocacy and acting with
integrity.
I believe that a collaborative culture is the foundation on which successful educational
institutions are built. In his book Lead, Follow, or Get Out of The Way: How to Be a More
Effective Leader in Todays Schools Robert D. Ramsey (2006) states, More than anything else,
the culture defines the success or failure of the organization (p. 37). Classroom teachers hold
most of the responsibility for student learning, but how can teachers do their best in isolation and
without critical discussions to improve practice? Domain I of Teacher Leader Model Standards
(Teacher Leaders, 2011) is Foster a Collaborative Culture to Support Educator Development
and Student Learning. A leaders responsibility is to foster trust and respect among the staff, for
themselves, but also between colleagues. When staff trust the leader and feel respected, a
reciprocal relationship can develop and teachers are more willing to give their best (Ramsey,
2006) . A leader may need to be a facilitator, an organizer, a researcher, a coach or fill any
number of roles to build collaboration with staff. A good leader is able to use multiple strategies
to foster a sense of collegiality and cooperation. In the past I have been relied upon to facilitate
and organize meetings and professional development, this is an aspect of leadership that I feel
comfortable fulfilling. I look forward to building my ability to coach teachers and staff though a

Cognitive Coaching training that I will participate in as I move into the role of a Technology
Coach at my school, a skill such as this will strengthen my ability to foster a collaborative culture
amongst the staff I work with. As I continue down the path of teacher leader I will continue to
look for opportunities to strengthen my ability to foster a collaborative community. In my
opinion, depending on the staff, this can be the most difficult aspect of leadership. However,
integrity and grit will serve a leader well in these areas. Teachers are individual and dynamic,
their needs and wants change over time, but a foundation of trust and respect will help to create a
collaborative culture.
An effective leader advocates for all groups involved in students education: teachers,
students, and parents. Teacher Leader Standards Domain VII (Teacher Leaders, 2011) places
responsibility for advocating for teachers as professionals and for student learning on teacher
leaders. Teacher advocacy builds on the trust and respect developed though establishing a
collaborative culture, it also increases teacher capacity. Shared understanding around educational
practices is necessary for increasing student learning, an important responsibility for a leader is
to advocate for teachers access to information to shape their pedagogical beliefs and develop
teaching practices. Advocacy for teachers does not end with access. For teachers to have the
ability to engage in professional growth, they need time and support outside of the classroom. A
leader can also advocate for policies and practices that will honor teacher time and increase
resources for the classroom. A leader can be flexible in their approach to implementing
professional development and advocate for funds and time for teachers.
Advocacy for teachers is in service of increasing teacher capacity to support students
learning. A Leader also has a responsibility to advocate for students and families. Teacher
Leader Standards Domains IV Facilitating Improvements in Instruction and Student Learning

and VI Improving Outreach and Collaboration with Families and Community (Teacher Leaders,
2011) reflect these responsibilities. In my opinion, advocacy for students is one of the most
important aspects of leadership. A leader has a responsibility to ensure students are receiving the
best possible education, this includes teachers using best practices based on current educational
research and effective methods of assessing and monitoring student learning. Ultimately a
leaders decisions should be grounded in what is best for students (Ramsey, 2006), this includes
advocating for their learning. In addition, a leader has the responsibility to advocate for the
parent community. A leader can promote the understanding of the school community and
support the community in understanding the educational organizations values, beliefs, and
actions. In my past role as a Language and Literacy Coach I served as the liaison for the schools
English Language Learner committee. The committee focused both on the needs of the
community and how families can support students education. Through critical dialogue and
inquiry this committee was an avenue for advocating for the teachers use of best practices,
advocating for the needs of the community and advocating for students learning needs. As
important as a leaders responsibility to advocate for these groups is their ability to build
connections and understanding across the groups.
While a leader advocates and balances the needs of all the members of the educational
community, they also need to be able to make the decisions that will lead to increased student
learning and move the educational organization forward. Inevitably stakeholders will disagree
with some of these decisions, a good leader knows when to engage stakeholders in decisionmaking, reflects on decisions and takes responsibility for decisions. Ramsey outlines questions
to help leaders determine responsibility for decision-making (Ramsey, 2006, p. 2). Asking
leaders to consider who is closest to the decision, who has the greatest expertise and who has the

resources to follow through with the decision will enable leaders to make effective decisions
while still maintaining the trust and respect that establish a collaborative culture. Teachers want
to have agency over their work, when a leader involves teachers in decisions that have a high
impact for their work they are demonstrating that they trust and respect teachers professional
input, of course this is only appropriate if teacher input can truly be part of the decision. I see
this in the work my school is doing around literacy assessments. We are currently examining the
effectiveness of present literacy assessments. This decision has a high impact for teachers in
terms of data documentation, effectiveness of data, and instructional time used to administer
assessments. Teachers and literacy experts should be involved in these decisions. A good leader
trusts the professionals to make the decisions that are best for kids.
With effective decision-making comes the risk of making mistakes. Setbacks are
inevitable; Ramsey (2006) writes, Leaders have more hits than other people because they have
more at bats (p.102). To be a leader you have to take risks and with risks come mistakes, but
also learning and growth. Leaders have a great opportunity to model for teachers the value of
taking risks, making mistakes, assuming responsibility, reflecting and moving on. A leader
ultimately has the responsibility to facilitate improvements in instruction and student learning
(Teacher Leader, 2011) and to do this they must make decisions.
A leader has many roles and responsibilities to take on as they move educational
organizations forward, increase student learning and build teacher capacity. Establishing a
collaborative culture, advocating for all stakeholders and making effective decisions are, in my
opinion, important aspects of leadership that create the foundation for increasing student
learning, however to be a leader who can successfully take on these missions, one must act with
integrity. Integrity was a theme I found throughout Ramseys (2006) book, from making

decisions, handling setbacks and getting the most out of people to enacting change, planning for
the future and communication. Integrity is the foundation on which the other skills are
implemented. Acting with integrity helps to foster a collaborative culture. Staff is more likely to
trust and respect the hard decisions of a leader who has integrity. Stakeholders will feel
respected and comfortable with a leader who acts with integrity. It is a lack of integrity that can
create a negative culture and destroy community relationships. Ramsey (2006) proposes that a
leader must look and act like a leader. Teachers and community members look towards leaders
who are professional and have integrity to lead schools toward greatness. In his book, Good To
Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leapand Others Dont, Jim Collins (2001) writes
great leaders have both personal humility and professional will (p.39). It is the ability to share
and celebrate success with others and the drive to do better that can move organizations forward.
In my opinion a great school leader, at any level of leadership, has both of these qualities. They
work hard to do what is the very best for the students, teachers and communities and they
demonstrate the value of collaboration through humility. As I look towards my future leadership
role, however it may evolve, I hope to keep this truth at the center of my work. If I am a leader
who is professional, with integrity and will, then I believe I will be better equipped to foster a
collaborative community, successfully advocate for all stakeholders and make effective decisions
- aspects that I believe will serve to create learning environments that support all students.

References

Collins, J. (2001) Good To Great:Why Some Companies Make the Leapand Others
Dont. New York, New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Ramsey, R.D. (2006). Lead, Follow, or Get Out of The Way: How to Be a More Effective
Leader in Todays Schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium. (2011). Teacher Leader Model Standards.


Retrieved from:
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