Daniel L. Duke

The Aesthetics of Leadership

The author conducts a brief analysis of contemporary approaches to understanding leadership. New approaches to the study of leadership are joined with a theory of aesthetics in developing an aesthetic-based leadership model. Four aesthetic properties of leadership are proposed along with ways these properties become manifest.

Key Decisions of a First-year 'Turnaround' Principal

This article examines the decisions made by one principal in her first year as a school turnaround specialist in a low-performing urban elementary school. Researchers focused on decisions related to the principal’s three high-priority concerns: (1) elimination of an ineffective instructional program; (2) creation of a culture of teacher accountability; and (3) development of an effective reading program. Forty-nine decisions were identified and organized into five categories—performance, policy, program, process, and personnel decisions. The study concludes with a discussion of what principals need to know in order to make the kinds of decisions required of a ‘turnaround’ principal.

Evaluating the Performance of Principals: A Descriptive Study.

Building principals and district administrators were surveyed regarding procedures used to evaluate the performance of principals. Results suggest specific areas in which commonly used procedures could be improved. Differences of opinion between principals and their supervisors are discussed and implications are explored.

Tinkering and Turnarounds: Understanding the Contemporary Campaign to Improve Low-Performing Schools.

An unprecedented amount of attention in recent years has been focused on turning around low-performing schools. Drawing on insights from Tyack and Cubans (1995) Tinkering Toward Utopia, the article analyzes the forces behind the school turnaround phenomenon and how they have evolved since passage of the No Child Left Behind Act. The article concludes by considering whether turnaround efforts represent the kind of reforms that Tyack and Cuban characterized as tinkering.

Leadership Functions and Instructional Effectiveness

This article describes what in structional leaders should be doing in light of recent re search on teacher and school effee tiveness.

Tackling the Toughest Turnaround — Low-Performing High Schools

The stories of two Texas high schools that improved student achievement reveal what worked for them and could work for others.

Developing Teacher Evaluation Systems That Promote Professional Growth

The two primary purposes for teacher evaluation are accountability and professional growth. Stiggins and Duke (1988) have shown that despite rhetoric to the contrary, conventional teacher evaluation systems tend to focus on accountability to the virtual exclusion of professional growth. It is of interest that this obsession with accountability has not necessarily led to quality evaluations or improved instruction. My purpose in this article is not, however, to assess the weaknesses of contemporary accountability-based teacher evaluation. I intend instead to discuss ways to develop evaluation systems that promote the ongoing professional growth of teachers. My observations and recommendations are based on a review of studies of adult development and teacher evaluation, my efforts with Richard Stiggins to identify the conditions necessary for teacher growth, and a decades work with dozens of school districts and other agencies to design and implement growth-oriented evaluation systems. The article opens with an analysis of individual characteristics associated with professional growth. It goes on to look at organizational characteristics that facilitate growth. In the next section, I draw on these two bodies of knowledge to suggest how growth-oriented teacher evaluation systems can be designed. Examples of three different types of growth-oriented teacher evaluation systems follow. The article concludes with a discussion of some typical problems that are encountered in the process of developing teacher evaluation systems. Before proceeding, I need to clarify what is meant by professional growth and development. I do not use these terms to describe the achievement of basic competencies or the simple acquisition of factual knowledge. Professional growth and development are reserved for teachers who already are competent, meaning they have demonstrated proficiency in the basic performance standards of teaching. These standards often serve as criteria for accountability-based evaluation.Growt h and development connote learning that leads beyond minimum or basic competence to new levels of understanding and mastery, a fresh sense of professional purpose and capabilities, or a more sophisticated awareness of the context in which one

Perception, Prescription, and the Future of School Leadership

The dilemma is familiar to anyone engaged in the preparation of professionals. Should preparation programs focus on current or anticipated expectations? In many ways, the safer course involves concentrating on what practitioners currently are expected to do. Trying to anticipate future needs invariably entails untested assumptions, inferences, and the risk of error. Continuing to base preparation programs on current expectations when those expectations have been found inadequate, of course, is not without risk either. Those in educational administration often deal with the dilemma by hedging their bets and trying to prepare school leaders for today and tomorrow, a strategy that sounds far easier than it actually is.

Who Misbehaves?--A High School Studies Its Discipline Problems.

An example of locally conducted applied research, this study compares an entire population (78) of high school discipline problem students with a control group of students who were not involved in acts of misconduct. Significant differences were found to exist in intelligence, scholastic achievement, scholastic abilities, vocational aptitude, and personality characteristics in elementary school.

Crossing the Line: Examination of Student Demographic Changes Concomitant with Declining Academic Performance in Elementary Schools.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between school decline and changes in school demographics. Using a population of 981 (N = 981) elementary schools, the authors identified samples of declining schools: Relational Decline (n = 510), Absolute Decline (n = 217), and Crossing the Line (n = 165). Latent growth models assessed longitudinal relationships between 4 demographic factors and school performance. Of the 4 tested predictors, only changes in the percentages of disadvantaged students maintained significant structural relationships with declining academic performance. Associations between school size on school performance varied depending on sample. Findings suggested that changes in school demographics challenge educators, but that internal school processes account for school decline. Future research might search for a school decline threshold, as well as common processes responsible for the phenomenon. Educators might design procedures so that no one school must face continuous or extensive increases in at-risk student populations.