Michael A. Copland

Leadership of Inquiry: Building and Sustaining Capacity for School Improvement

This article reports on findings from a longitudinal study of leadership in the context of a region-wide school renewal effort entitled the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC). BASRCs theory of action is multifaceted, incorporating a focus on distributed leadership, continual inquiry into practice, and collective decision-making at the school. Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data sources suggests the use of an inquiry process is centrally important to building capacity for school improvement, and a vehicle for developing and distributing leadership. Within a sample of 16 schools where reform processes are most mature, the principals role shifts to focus more narrowly on key personnel issues, framing questions and supporting inquiry processes. Findings provide evidence of the efficacy of policy strategies rooted in new understandings of school leadership.

Supporting new school leaders: findings from a university‐based leadership coaching program for new administrators

Administrators need intense support in their early years in their jobs to master the demands of the position and to emerge as effective leaders for their schools. This article reports on a leadership coaching program offered by a university to support graduates as they transition to new school leadership roles. First year research results of the Program for New Principals indicate that all of the program participants felt that the coaching program was a positive addition to the induction experience for new administrators. New principals viewed coaching positively and emphasized that it is both a valuable and unique form of professional development. Both coaches and new principals cited personalized support as one of the coaching models most significant assets. The results should inform the development of a model of leadership coaching for new administrators.

Adaptive People and Adaptive Systems: Issues of Learning and Design

The United States is not the only nation facing these issues. As Darling-Hammond explains, “Nations around the world are reforming their school systems to meet these new demands;” they are “revising curriculum, instruction, and assessment to support the more complex knowledge and skills needed in the twenty-first century – skills needed for framing problems, seeking and organizing information and resources, and working strategically with others to manage and address dilemmas and create new products.”

Principal Licensing and Leadership for Learning: The Need for Coherent Policy.

Does principal licensing encompass the knowledge and skills principals need to promote student learning? If not, what kind of policy framework would help decision makers rethink licensing and the school leadership it supports? To answer these questions, this article examines licensing regulations in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. It classifies this content as individual-, organizational-, or learning-focused and finds that these requirements are unbalanced across states and misaligned with todays ambitions for school leaders. The article then situates principal licensing within a broader policy framework for school leadership development that distinguishes entry-level skills and expertise; differentiates practice and leadership; challenges the myth of the super principal; and makes coherent linkages among the standards, goals, and policy targets that define the purpose of licensing and the practice it enables.

Creating Success for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Their Teachers: Implementing District-Based Support Teams.

This case study is intended for use in an educational leadership class to facilitate conversation on providing effective instructional practices to students on the autism spectrum. In particular, this case study demonstrates how a school district incorporated a research-based model into their system to provide support to teachers of students with autism spectrum disorders. The case provides opportunity to discuss challenges faced by leadership in special education and to analyze the interactions between and within various organizations through various theoretical lenses (i.e., knowledge-based theory, open systems theory).

On Personalizing Learning and Reculturing Teaching in Large High School Conversions to Small Schools

Despite repeated evidence of successful change efforts in K-8 schools over the nearly three decades since the dawn of the standards era, the literature on school reform and change is fairly clear – high schools remain a kind of “holy grail” for education reformers. Graduation statistics suggest that American high schools fail to grant diplomas to a high percentage of students entering school as ninth or tenth graders. In many locales, 30–40% or more do not graduate on time; too often, these students drop out early in the experience. Other schools, particularly those located in urban centers, realize even lower student success rates.