Innovation And Educational Leadership Challenge: A Developmental Approach

Abstract

Background of the Problem Educators have been struggling for over twenty years to find the combination of approaches that will be most effective in leading schools, through periods of turbulence and change. Marzano (2003) discovered that in effective schools standardized test pass rates measure at 72.4% versus only 27.6% in schools found to be ineffective. Given such high stakes as these, and given its high impact, trustworthy leadership is a critical element of success in any organization (Avolio and Luthens, 2006) the importance of effective educational leadership has never been greater than at present. School failure is incredibly costly in economic, social, and human terms. Gladwell (2006) found that psychologists and other experts trained in specific aspects of human behavior were able to do what he refers to as ‘thin slicing’ a social, teaching or leadership situation. Thin slicing refers to being able to look at a short segment (a few minutes or less) of, say, a teaching situation, and determine with over 90% accuracy whether the instructor was a success or failure in his or her regular classroom setting. Finding the factors, which lie behind snap-insights like these and using this knowledge to enhance training has tremendous possibilities for the field of education. These insights are needed given the tremendous impact of leadership and its impact on school effectiveness.