Abstract
Much empirical research has been undertaken looking at socio-economic status (SES) and the impact on student academic achievement (Scales et al. 2006; Khoo & Chiu, 2005; Adams & Singh, 1998; Sirin, 2005; Olson, 2003). The literature invariably suggests that students, generally, from low SES backgrounds have a lower academic attainment level to that of their middle and high SES peers. However, there are various subsidiary aspects of the SES indicator, which needs further exploration to the extent of their influence on individual student academic achievement, such as peer SES, neighbourhood level SES and the location of the school. This paper will look at a primary school from a contextual perspective related to SES and student academic attainment. It will also attempt to provide leadership models, which could help to alleviate the lack of social and intellectual capital of its students and families.
A caveat here is that much of the literature used in review for this paper stems from the United States and the United Kingdom. However, many leadership theorems expressed here have been applied and adapted for Australian schools, for example, Sergiovanni in Victoria.
For the purpose of this paper I will use the definition of socio-economic status as ‘describing an individual’s or a family’s ranking on a hierarchy according to access to or control over some combination of valued commodities such as wealth, power, and social status’ (Sirin, 2005).
School context
Crescendo Primary School* is situated in a northern metropolitan suburb of the City of Hume. The suburb of Crescendo* was established as a Housing Commission Estate in the early 1960’s. Crescendo Primary School opened in 1963.
The school's prep to year 6 enrolment is 235 and there are 100 children attending the on-site kindergarten. Eleven different ethnic groups are represented at the school, the largest being Turkish. Some of the other ethnic groups, which are served by Crescendo PS, include Iraqi, Somalian, Phillipino and Polynesian students.
The SES of Crescendo PS is measured, as is all other Victorian public government schools, through the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) indicator. EMA is provided to assist eligible families with the costs associated with the education of their children. To be eligible for receipt of the EMA you must:
Currently, Crescendo Primary School has approximately 80% of families whom are eligible for EMA. Meaning, Crescendo PS serves a high proportion of families who have a low SES. Additionally, a large majority of the families whose children attend Crescendo PS reside within the suburb of Crescendo, signifying that at a community level, a large majority of inhabitants have a low SES as well.
As well as having a significant amount of low SES families; Crescendo PS also has a large quantity of students who have English as a Second Language (ESL). The ESL indicator is taken from the main language spoken at home by parents/families. The amount of students who have ESL at Crescendo PS is approximately 80%, and the languages most represented as the mother tongue of students is that of Arabic and Turkish.
With the high proportion of EMA recipients and the high predominance of ESL students, Crescendo PS is placed within Like School Group (LSG) 9. This ‘like school’ grouping places schools of similar LSG make up in the same category to compare and contrast educational outcomes amongst other things.
Crescendo PS has very little parental involvement in its educational programs and families that consist of parents and some older offspring with low educational attainment levels themselves. There is also low attendance by families at teacher information evenings, with roughly 30% of parents showing up to talk about their child’s social and educational progress over the course of the year.
In addition, Crescendo PS has major school attendance concerns, ranking highly among the schools in the northern metropolitan region when comparing (on average) days absent from school per student per year. In 2005, this number was approximately 20 days for preps and 21 days for grade 6. This is an average of nearly one day a fortnight.
Teachers at Crescendo PS on average do not stay very long. Each year Crescendo has approximately 30-40 percent teacher turnover. The graduate to experienced teacher ratio is also disproportionate. The school employs many novice teachers, with an average amount of teaching years for the school being approximately 4 to 6.
Many students who attend Crescendo PS also come from single parent or step/blended families; with many of the students predominantly living with their mother.
A large majority of Crescendo’s students go on to Secondary education at colleges, which are within a five kilometre radius. These colleges are more often than not made up of students and families with similar low SES and high ESL, the same as a majority of their primary feeder schools; Crescendo being one of them.
How do these issues affect students and staff at Crescendo PS?
I will discuss the impact of low family SES, peer SES, neighbourhood SES, high ESL and inexperienced staff on student academic achievement at Crescendo PS, and why it is important for the school to identify and work towards rectifying these important matters, through applying leadership models for change.
Invariably, the aforementioned issues have some overlap, in that they do influence each other. For example, low socio-economic family status and not speaking the language of the dominant culture is linked to not having the required resources or social capital to assist students with their learning, as prescribed by the intended or enacted school curriculum, therefore impacting negatively on student academic attainment.
Sirin (2005) contends that ‘socio-economic status is not only directly linked to academic achievement but also indirectly linked to it through multiple interacting systems, including students’ racial and ethnic background, grade level, and school/neighbourhood location’.
High proportion of families with low SES
Disadvantaged families whose children attend Crescendo PS do have high aspirations for their children, however these families often do not know how schools operate and their educational expectations. This more often than not creates the parents to withdraw from the school, causing little or no parental involvement in academic programs.
Sirin (2005) found that family SES ‘indirectly provides social capital, that is, supportive relationships among structural forces and individuals (i.e., parent-school collaborations) that promote the sharing of societal norms and values, which are necessary for success in school.’
When reading literature on effective programs that have influenced positive change in disadvantaged schools, we read that the most notable changes are those made by programs which centre on ‘whole school change and improved school community relations rather than fixing up the individual deficit students’. (White et al, 2004)
Crescendo serves quite a large proportion of students per grade with minor to quite severe learning difficulties, created largely due to the environment of their upbringing and their exposure to less than favourable community conditions. Therefore, it makes sense to not target the student, but rather build in structures, which will support different pedagogical approaches and curriculum design that uses the notion of ‘a community raises a child’ and forge links with community groups and strengthen networks.
In turn this will strengthen and clarify values and beliefs at a communal level of what good/effective education looks like for students of Crescendo, and home and school ‘speak’ will therefore be cohesive in its value for, of how and what educational programs are run by the school.
As cited in Scales et al (2006), ‘lower income children have less stable families, greater exposure to environmental toxins and violence, and more limited extra-familial social support networks, …are cognitively stimulated less than higher income children, from reading less and being read to less’.
Thus, working at only a student level is like applying a band-aid to a shark bite wound. The effects of application such as this will be minimal and therefore the wound will not heal properly. Hence, to exact long term change we must not be reactive with ‘band-aid’ solutions to solve complex issues, but rather examine our programs with a holistic mindset and assess what is the most applicable application for longevity of success for all groups – community, student and staff.
Neighbourhood SES
Crescendo PS exists within a poor neighbourhood with many families experiencing poverty. What this then creates is the diminishing connectedness between family, the individual and the community, perpetually breaking down social networks and the access to much needed resources.
Chiu et al. (2005) explains that ‘richer students generally live in richer neighbourhoods and attend schools with superior physical, teacher, and student resources . . . The students attending such schools typically benefit from higher teacher-to-student ratios and better-qualified teachers’.
Family economic status might be one indicator of student success or failure at school, but social class status also plays a pivotal role in deciding future success. With a higher social standing there comes much access to valuable resources including people and the understanding of how the system of schooling works and how to benefit from it exponentially.
White (2004) confers that ‘social class is as much a significant force for structuring young people’s life chances as it has been in the past, …polarisation of wealth in Australia are clearly evident in the patterns of outcomes from schooling’.
It is quite alarming the disparity between rich and poor schools (identified by location) in the level of academic progress made by students over a certain period of time. Research identified in a paper by Scales, 2006, that ‘students in the poorest 20% of schools took until grade 10 to reach the same average reading level as that of the most affluent 20% at grade 5’.
Evans, 1994, when looking at the reasons for educational disadvantage, cites a ‘breakdown of relationships between the family and the community, which generally help to fashion the child’s own attitudes, values and knowledge base’.
Meaning, that when the attitudes, values and knowledge base is forged by the individual student who is disconnected from the community, when considering the school is a part of the community, the chasm between school norms and values and individual ones will create a dichotomy within a hierarchical system. This inevitably will lead to behavioural issues and thus the strain on time, resource, and increased social and academic achievement.
Prior (2005) asserts that ‘young people from less advantaged backgrounds, who live in disadvantaged Australian communities and attend poorly resourced schools, are extremely vulnerable to persistent, long-term disadvantage in all aspects of their lives’.
Crescendo PS needs to make every effort to open lines of communication between parents, students, teachers, school leaders, businesses and government organisations to ensure that the academic and social aspirations we have for our children are dealt with in a culturally sensitive way and one where everyone plays a role in its triumph.
Peer SES
Without taking into account the individual student’s own family SES as a significant indicator of academic achievement, I felt it necessary to mention the impact of peer group SES on individual student academic achievement, as research showed this could be a more telling factor in student achievement at school than low family SES alone.
Caldas et al (1997) acknowledged that:
‘In studying influences on academic achievement of African-American and White students in the United States, found that the order of importance of factors affecting achievement by members of both groups was the same: “facilities and curriculum least, teacher quality next, and backgrounds of fellow students most’.
Therefore, when students go to school with ‘privileged peers, they benefit from their schoolmates parental capital, material resources, and higher academic expectations’. (Chiu et al 2005)One way the disadvantage has been dealt with in the United Kingdom is through the forming of a ‘Federation of Schools’, whereby the high achieving more affluent school/s in the neighbouring community or region will take ‘under its wing’ a failing school. Integrating programs, staff, students and sharing resources to improve pedagogical approaches, student and teacher connectedness to not only the school, but the community as well.
It is paramount for the school therefore, to identify groups or cohorts of students who seem to have the same characteristics in terms of the level of SES and structure appropriate learning spaces and groupings to alleviate some of the classroom assimilation of disproportionate levels of low SES students.
When collecting and analysing both quantitative and qualitative data on the SES of a student and their peer group, it would then be imperative to place the most experienced teachers in the classroom with the most disadvantaged students and to strategically and systematically place students in these classrooms based on the data and not assumptions or punitive measures.
Currently this is very difficult to achieve as the number of disadvantaged students greatly out number the amount of experienced teachers employed to facilitate these classrooms.
High proportion of ESL parents and students
Many of Crescendo’s students speak English as a second language, and similarly so do their parents. Couple with this the low SES and ethnic minority status of 80% of the school community. When combining these factors Evans (1994) concludes that it ‘may increase the chances of (student) failure four-fold, and four factors suggest a ten fold increase’.
What occurs at the school level is that there is a misalignment between parent values and beliefs compared to that of the school. This is largely due to the lack of communication between these two groups, or the lack of understanding when communicating. Crescendo needs to create different avenues of consultation and not just collect quantitative data through questionnaires, such as the Parent Opinion Survey or the Student Attitudes to School Survey. There needs to be qualitative data collected, through worthy dialogue by school groups on issues that are valued by all; the students and what helps them to succeed.
Evans (1994) contends that:
‘Those whose parents do not speak the school’s language of instruction at home will have other challenges to respond to which will exacerbate if the parents themselves are poorly educated and have little personal understanding of the demands on their child and the ways in which schools function’.
We need to be clear about our methods of engaging parents of ESL status as we know in general their English proficiency can be poor, but we also know that their overall educational achievement or attainment levels are reduced too, sometimes in both languages. This needs careful consideration in how we then communicate with the parent group as a whole, making sure we present information in multi-modal ways and that we follow up on perceptions of that information.
Inexperienced staff
In terms of the quality and experience of staff at Crescendo PS, there is a major gap between the number of experienced and beginning teachers. The total teaching staff numbered 11 teachers, with 2 being experienced and 9 being graduates (up to four years teaching service).
This has resulted in a steep learning curve for the new teachers, as not only do they have to contend with teaching the curriculum, but also different teaching methods to support ESL learners, new or better behaviour management methods to tackle issues which invariably arise due to situations at home and the community (and at school due to the high proportion of like SES of peers) and ensuring students are progressing academically and socially.
What continually seems to happen is that graduate teachers are obviously much cheaper to employ compared to their more experienced colleagues, leaving much needed monetary resources available for spending elsewhere. However, the graduate teachers often have to be retrained at a school level to ‘get up to speed’ so to speak, and therefore monetary savings on an employment basis is of no consequence.
Research also shows that experienced or the more qualified teacher does not readily seek employment at schools situated in disadvantaged neighbourhoods with students and families with a low SES. They often migrate to the more affluent schools with an abundance of resources and good working conditions.
This is of major concern to the school because good teachers are more effective and get results regardless of the make of the student body. Olson (2003) found that ‘the best teachers, compared with their least effective colleagues, can get an additional year’s worth of learning out of their students’. She goes on to declare that ‘having an effective teacher for four or five years in a row could essentially close the gap between students from low-income and high-income households’.
Consequently Crescendo should hire experienced, effective teachers who want to be at the school for an extended period of time and who have a clear understanding of the values, beliefs and goals of the staff, parents and students and align themselves to these.
Risk Factors
When looking at the aforesaid issues in relation to their adverse affect on student achievement and wellbeing, we can identify them as being ‘risk factors’ (Cahill, et al, 2006). These risk factors are located at the community, family, individual and school level.
The prevalence of poverty (low SES) as a key risk factor at the community and family level has a lot to do with the lack of self-management of the individual and a crucial contributing factor to low achievement at school. Cahill (2006) explains that, ‘children living in poverty are more likely to be exposed to illness, family stress, inadequate social support and parental depression’.
Considering that Crescendo has a low SES at the community and family level the school becomes the central site, which compounds these issues and creates an increased pervasiveness of the key risk factors such as, ‘poor attachment to school (and the community), bullying, alienation, poor social skills and school failure’ (Cahill, et al, 2006)
Our paradigm of what school should be like has to be shifted to what the school needs to be like. We need to be trained in recognising the ‘risk factors’ and construct a curriculum, which is aligned in dealing with this in mind.
Leadership response to academic underachievement at Crescendo PS
What has happened at Crescendo in the past is that the leader and therefore the leadership group have acted in an authoritarian, top-down hierarchical style of leadership. This model was based on the assumption that the teachers did not know or did not understand the methods needed to be employed for effective school change.
Leadership was based on the supposition of what the learners at the school could and couldn’t do. These assumptions were largely centred on what people saw and felt, rather than on data collected and analysed for improvement at a pedagogical, community and student level.
Programs initiated to enact school change were not grounded in sound judgement or based on data analysis of what was actually needed. There was little conference afforded to members of staff, the community, students or teacher assistants as to whether the programs selected were applicable or in fact appropriate to move the school forward in terms of student achievement, school values, beliefs and norms.
Time as a resource, was not valued by leadership through the implicit messages they sent to staff. Timetable structure, meeting schedules and meeting agendas were not based on what pedagogical practices or organisational structures will affect the needed change for improved student academic achievement, but rather in the handling and completion of ‘administrivia’, such as booking buses, organising camps, auditing learning resources and reactive welfare responses. Teachers often felt isolated then to deal with teaching and learning issues individually at a time other than team meetings.
Leadership was merely a title, as the majority of the actions of the leadership group were based on management or more specifically micromanagement. What this habitually created was the stifling of innovation and teacher creativity. The sense it created was one where teacher input, pedagogical reflection and critique was not valued, because at the end of the day leadership will base educational decisions for change on what has always been done and what worked then. What has not been taken into consideration is the nature of societal change in the last decade, particularly at the family level; increase in family break-up, less need for menial labour and an increase in the need for people to create knowledge in teams.
A deficient understanding of technology as a tool, which could ultimately improve administration and teacher effectiveness has lead to innovative tools in the school being used in unimaginative ways. Leadership has not continued to develop in an understanding of how the tools could make a difference in student learning or teacher practice, but rather provided a model that, they could manage and control.
The aforementioned is a critical look at the practices of leadership as they pertain to Crescendo PS and the subsequent leadership models, standards or frameworks presented below. I will attempt to demonstrate how leadership at the school could change, not only the teaching, but also the way the school interacts with the students and community; having an effect on the cultural, social and intellectual capital in a positive manner.
Leadership models, frameworks and standards to affect change
To demonstrate some ways for Crescendo PS to respond from a leadership perspective, to the underachievement of its students, due to the constraints placed upon it internally and externally, I have drawn on the ‘five components of change leadership’ (Fullan, 2004), ‘8 forces for leaders of change’ (Fullan et al 2005) and ‘3 Strands of Strong Leadership’ (Saphier et al 2006).
There is overlap between these models of leadership change methodology; however, they are worth noting as the subtle variations might be what create the change in the given environment keeping in mind relative issues. I have also chosen to combine Fullan’s earlier work, 5 components of change leadership with his ensuing composition, the 8 forces for leaders of change, as there were considerable similarities between the author’s two pieces of writing.
Five components of change leadership/8 forces for leaders of change
1. Moral Purpose
Fullan (2005:54) describes this as the ‘overriding principle of having the knowledge about the why of change and the need to improve society through improving educational systems and thus the learning of all citizens’.
For Crescendo this would mean at a leadership level, acting with the intent of ensuring positive influence for all members of the school community, not just the teachers and students, but parents as well. This could be the linking of literacy and numeracy strategies or programs to the community authentically, resulting in benefit to students and the community with a greater subsistence of connectedness.
2. Understanding change
There are 6 ways of thinking about the process of change as described by Fullan (2004:4); ‘the goal is not to innovate the most; not enough just having the best ideas; appreciating earlier difficulties when innovating; redefining resistance as a potential positive force; reculturing and the understanding that change is complex.’
The leadership at Crescendo have to ensure that the change process is not about enacting a development of change through a checklist procedure within a hierarchical system, but rather the sharing of the complexity of change with all school community members through the articulation of where they want to be, as an organisation of and for learning.
There needs to be the analysis of data prior to trialling change initiatives, but there also needs to be the understanding that just as important is the learning while undertaking change, eg. What can we learn while we are going through the process of change? Being reflective as change happens is paramount for posing further questions that we might not have initially thought of.
This could involve holding forums that invite the voices of not only your advocates, but also adversarial points of view in the process of change. Make this process transparent and tacitly state the need and ways people could own it. Explain that at times there will be ambiguity, frustration and confusion during the change process, but to realise that these feelings are normal.
Also, there needs to be the clarification of the type of challenge the organisation is facing during the change; whether the challenges are ‘adaptive’ or ‘technical’ according to Heifetz & Linsky’s (2002) model; explicitly clarifying that ‘technical’ problems are solved with current knowledge and methods, whereas the ‘adaptive’ problems require new ways of working, thinking, applying and collaborating.
Fullan (2005:55) states that ‘the change process is about establishing the condition for continuos improvement in order to persist and overcome inevitable barriers to reform’.
It is important for Crescendo to realise that with any change worth putting in place the process will result in incremental improvement over several years. Also, with change there will be times of stagnation, with an area of little variation in improvement. Crescendo staff and leadership need not abandon initiatives, but rather evaluate why the stagnation has happened and perhaps change crucial aspects to move forward once again.
3. Building relationships
What has happened at Crescendo is the obliteration of relationships. Through the hierarchical nature of leadership and the top-down reform process, relationships have not been valued as a means of reculturing the school and creating an environment cultivated for sustainability.
Instead, competition and what was referred to as the ‘favourite teacher of the month’ resonated. This resulted in individuality and uncertainty of where one stood in the organisation from week to week and not knowing which ideas took precedence over one another and on what basis; favouritism, merit or validity?
Fullan (2004:4) adds that ‘leaders must be consummate relationship builders with diverse people and groups, especially with people different from themselves’. In building relationships at Crescendo PS, leadership should not base good relationships on the level of accord to ‘chain of command’ leadership initiatives and cohesion, but rather on value and respect.
This is evident when leaders in schools with ‘non-English speaking parents greet them in their native tongue and provide regular communication in a tone that made them feel valued …and respected’ (Johnson et al. 2005).
This type of behaviour builds bridges for much needed collaboration and connectedness, which are two key indicators to the success of change.
Beatty (2005) forms the opinion that ‘hierarchical stratifications and silos of specialisations are anathema to the creation of dynamic learning communities’. Crescendo’s leaders have to break down the walls to these silos if they are to affect change at a whole school level. What tends to happen at Crescendo is spot fire innovation; innovation by a few individuals across the school in their own domain of control. This is a direct result of the fractional character of teams and the reactive nature of programs for change.
After all the ‘team is the window on the soul of the school’ (Saphier et al 2006). When teams don’t work, we know the school is not progressing because we never know in which direction individuals are heading. However, when teams are functioning well at a whole school level, we are all clear about the role we play and the importance of collaboration in the change process.
4. Creating and sharing knowledge
Without relationship building and fostering a community of learning, knowledge creation and sharing will not be possible. Crescendo will need to build the relationships among staff, parents, students and leadership and show that these relationships are valued. This will need to happen before people will exert energy and time, to exact change through creating knowledge and sharing their findings.
Johnson et al (2005:47) likens the leaders role as the one who ‘will do whatever is necessary to provide teachers with the training, materials, guidance, support, or other resources they need to educate their students to attain high academic standards. Teachers must feel that their individual and collective success is of critical importance to their leaders’.
Leadership at Crescendo need to articulate and show their appreciation for the effort, time and dedication of not only teachers, but parents and students, as well. The leadership group needs to do this on a regular basis in a systematic manner to increase synergy.
5. Making coherence
Crescendo has got to the point it is now, due to the fact that leadership has held the path of change to themselves, perhaps harbouring fears that the ideas formulated at a leadership level might be challenged and the progress of change slowed down. I contend that if the path of change is not shared and there isn’t dialogue at all levels, change will not be enacted as intended anyway and change will not be sustainable or effective.
Fullan (2005:5) sheds light on coherence making by viewing ‘effective leaders as those who tolerate enough ambiguity to keep the creative juices flowing, but along the way they seek coherence’. These leaders understand that if they express to members that they have an idea in mind for change and the path is mapped out already, the creativity of the organisation as a whole will not be at its peak and therefore lateral thinking on problematic issues will not occur. New ideas and ways of dong things will not be forthcoming.
6. Building capacity
Crescendo has prided itself on sound professional development practices for many years; however, the model is most often based on consultation from outside agents, delivered in a conference style. Not much discussion, critique or reflection of alignment to the values and beliefs of the school and its community are entered into.
Fullan (2005:55) views ‘capacity building as a collective phenomenon. Whole schools, districts and systems must increase their capacity as groups’. He goes on to state, ‘building group capacity is difficult because it involves working together in new ways’.
Crescendo therefore has to put in place organisational structures and protocols, which foster dialogue and safe environments which allow the challenging of ideas. There also needs to be a consensus that evidence based decision-making is at the forefront of change initiatives and that evidence collection is of an ongoing nature through collaborative practices.
Perhaps, employing consultation protocols established by such organisations as the Australian National Schools Network, which encourages open dialogue on issues which are not discussed and sometimes sensitive; through timed and role specific frameworks could help.
Assessment of learning needs to be balanced with assessment for and as; while groups are going through the course of change.
When going through such a protocol myself recently it created an environment, which was concentrated on the issue at hand and allowed all voices to have input, asking clarifying questions when meaning was lost. Not only did the participants get a better understanding of my issue but it also allowed me to articulate the issue and become more informed and insightful about the issue myself.
7. Developing cultures for learning
Johnson (2005:47) discloses that in ‘successful schools regular time was set aside for teachers to come together, examine student work, discuss pedagogical problems, and help each other identify solutions that would lead to better achievement’.
Crescendo teachers need to be given the flexibility, time as well as resources to guarantee that learning is a continuos process for themselves as well as their students. Leaders thus play a role in ensuring that teachers are given the opportunity to work on pedagogical issues collaboratively, over a period of time so that they do not make hasty judgements for improvement based on standardised testing measures alone.
Fullan (2005:57) acknowledges that ‘learning from others widens the pool of ideas and also enhances a greater ‘we-we’ identity beyond one school’. It is therefore imperative that leaders provide the ‘reengineering of organisational processes’ (Davies, 2002) to allow for deeper teacher learning to take place so that better understanding can be gained to make more informed decisions about the direction which yields the greatest student achievement in a sustained manner.
Saphier (2006) concludes that ‘schools with strong cultures produce more teaching expertise and better decision making by more teachers more of the time’.
A strong culture within the school means that the decisions made within the school are carried out as intended, and if problems arise there is an understanding that dialogue and constructive critique is welcomed and a must.
8. Developing cultures of evaluation
It is vital that the Crescendo leadership insist on constant evaluation of where they are in terms of where they want to be, and where they have come from. Celebrating success is important as a means to show the capability of collective endeavour, but there is a need to be mindful of programs, which are not making the educational gains as they once did.
Fullan (2005:56) argues that ‘a culture of evaluation must be coupled with a culture of learning for schools to sort out promising from not-so-promising ideas and especially to deepen the meaning of what is learned’. If Crescendo PS programs once worked and do not anymore, they need to go through a process of ‘abandonment’ before enlisting new programs in its place.
Having a bountiful amount of programs has not proven to be an effective way to foster successful and sustainable academic progression. Crescendo however has often fallen into the trap of undertaking programs due to external pressure, ‘once off’ professional development that won people over emotionally or programs which seemed to focus on the same aspects for change within similar contextual settings, but on further analysis only partly correlated.
What has then happened is a proliferation of programs to support change in one area creating the situation where staff are covering them superficially and change just never seems to occur. The programs are then abandoned due to their lack of impact on social and academic achievement, but no real analysis is undertaken as to why; wasting two of the most crucial resources in a disadvantaged school: time and money.
9. Focusing on leadership for change
Crescendo PS has only focussed on predominantly one style of leadership, authoritarian, and one focal leader, the principal. It is for that reason that the leadership group needs to foster an understanding of leadership theory and the pragmatics of leadership. In addition, identifying the appropriateness of letting others lead, to determine which leadership process is most appropriate at an individual, staff and community level to enact, support and sustain change.
A key process, which needs to be initiated at Crescendo, is the notion of distributed or lateral leadership. Fullan (2005:57) says that the ‘main mark of a school leader (principal) at the end of his or her tenure is not just that individual’s impact on student achievement, but rather how many leaders are left behind who can go even further’.
When undertaking change it is therefore as necessary to factor in succession of leadership, as it is to lead oneself. Building up the capacity of others to lead will allow the sustainability of change and capture the road of change when one leader leaves or is redirected.
However, when stating this it is important that teachers want to lead and they have the resources and support from leadership when they do so. This cannot be stressed enough. At times teachers have been encouraged to lead, only to be micro-managed and ‘railroaded’ when the process of leading or the nature of ideas for change have not been aligned with historical school methods enlisted for change.
When looking at change theory and methodologies it is important to understand the educational, political and cultural terrain you are trying to change, but to not discourage new ideas and thinking because of history. Otherwise ‘we are going to get what we have always got if we do what we have always done’.
So, as long as members understand the symbolic and cultural values of the school and its community, lateral thinking on change frameworks and working should be supported and explored.
Conclusion
When we look at the plethora of research undertaken in the areas of socio-economic status and leading for change, respectively, we know that poverty negatively impacts on student learning and we know that certain leadership styles just don’t seem to work in certain settings. However, we need to ask the question; what makes some schools succeed in disadvantaged areas and others fail?
1. I believe it is the way data is collected and analysed causing leaders and teachers to be data informed. When data informed and not just data driven we find that these schools make better decisions on what is needed to affect change and sustain it.
2. Nonetheless, being data informed is only one aspect. How and who constructed the questions for the data collection and who is enlisted to make decisions once the data has been analysed? Relationships and trust is therefore at the forefront of the next process. Schools that make the data translate into effective change have involved the entire school community (parents, students, teachers, businesses and leaders), in the process of change through open dialogue in safe spaces. This creates connectedness, shared values, norms and beliefs. Everyone knows the road they are travelling down and expectations are clearly defined!
3. Having the good relationships allows us as a group to face obstacles that seem almost insurmountable as individuals, so giving groups time and space to collaborate is the next thing, which stands out for me as what effective agents of change do in difficult settings. Sensible processes, which allow for quality collaboration and leaders that value the outcomes of that collaboration, is what continues the drive for excellence by the teachers.
4. Holistic process and system development is also paramount. Schools that have created the quality relationships have not just taken a disparate group of teachers and created methods which force them to collaborate. Rather they have looked at all their systems and processes including that of hiring staff. Their hiring is strategic and focuses on personnel, which fit with their already established values, beliefs and norms. This frees up money, which would have been spent on retraining new staff not accustomed to their way of teaching and learning.
If we are going to close the academic gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged students, we need to look at the student holistically. An analogy I have heard from a colleague and liked, is that of students from disadvantaged neighbourhoods coming to school with really heavy backpacks already, stuffed with issues that they have to deal with; tiredness, uncertainty, emotional instability and pain to name a few. What we then do is add to this backpack without dealing with the already heavy burdens that they are carrying. How we think (as educators or system) students are going to learn under these types of strains I will never know.
I find solace in Fullan’s (2004:3) notion of ‘hope, energy and enthusiasm’ which keep teachers and leaders committed to making the necessary sacrifices in trying to make public education what it should be: equitable for all.
*Pseudonym
Discuss presentationBibliography
Adams, C., (1998). ‘Direct and Indirect Effects of School Learning Variables on the Academic Achievement of African American 10th Grades’. In The Journal of Negro Education; Winter; 67, 1; pg. 48, ProQuest Education Journals.
Beatty, B., (2005). ‘Emotional Leadership’ in Davies, B., ed., (2005) The essentials of school leadership. London: Paul Chapman Publishing
Cahill, H., et al, (2006) ‘Creating School Environments That Promote Social Emotional Wellbeing’. In Keefe, M., et al. (2006). Schools and diversity. French Forest: Pearson Education.
Caldas, S, et al. (1997). ‘Effect of School Population Socioeconomic Status on Individual Academic Achievement’. In The Journal of Educational Research. May/Jun; 90, 5; pg. 269, ProQuest Education Journals.
Chiu, M., et al. (2005). ‘Effects of Resources, Inequality, and Privilege Bias on Achievement: Country, School and Student Level Analyses’. In American Educational Research Journal. Winter; 42, 4; pg.575, ProQuest Education Journals.
Davies, B., (2002). “Rethinking schools and school leadership for the twenty-first century: changes and challenges” The International Journal of Educational Management; 16, 4/5; ABI/INFORM Global, pg. 196.
Evans, P., (1994). “Tackling Educational Disadvantage” Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD Observer; Feb/Mar; 186; ABI/INFORM Global, pg. 20.
Fullan, M, (2004). “Leading in a Culture of Change: Personal Action Guide and Workbook” San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Fullan, M., et al. (2005) '8 Forces for Leaders of Change', Journal of Staff Development; Fall; 26, 4; pg. 54, ProQuest Education Journals.
Heifetz, R., et al. (2002) “Leadership on the Line” Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Johnson, J., et al. (2005) “Preparing Educational Leaders to Close Achievement Gaps” Theory into Practice; Winter; 44, 1; pg. 45, ProQuest Education Journals.
Olson, L., (2003) “The Great Divide” Education Week; Jan 9; 22, 17; pg.9, Academic Research Library.
Prior, M., (2005). “Setting the Scene: The Early Years” in Richardson, S., et al, (2005) “No Time to Lose, The Wellbeing of Australia’s Children, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
Saphier, J., et al. (2006) “3 Strands form Strong School Leadership” Journal of Staff Development; Spring; 27, 2; pg. 51, ProQuest Education Journals.
Scales, P. et al, (2006). ‘Reducing Academic Achievement Gaps: The Role of Community Service and Service Learning’. In The Journal of Experiential Education, 29, 1; pg.38, ProQuest Education Journals.
Sergiovanni, T, (1984). ‘Leadership and Excellence in School’. In Education Leadership, vol. 41, pp. 4-13.
Sirin, S, (2005). ‘Socioeconomic status and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review of Research’. In Review of Educational Research. Fall; 75, 3; ProQuest Education Journals.
White, K, et al. (2004). “Youth and Society: Exploring the Social Dynamics of Youth”. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mr Wayne Samuels is Head of House (Adamson) and Head of Learning Technologies (PYP) at Wesley College (St Kilda Road campus), in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.