Individual Reflection Log: Transformational Leadership

In July of 2010, a 6 year study commissioned by the Wallace Foundation revealed that student achievement could be linked to "collective leadership," shared by administrators, teachers, para-professionals, and parents. Researchers from the University of Minnesota's Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement and the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education identified shared decision-making as a key component to successful educational administration. (Samuels, 2010) Shared decision making is one of the key components of "Transformational Leadership." In this post, I'll answer a few of the prompts regarding this leadership style, and offer my thoughts on the effectiveness of this style in an educational setting.

How do you define transformational leadership based on your reading?

Straker (2010) begins by presuming that wonderful things can be accomplished by inspiring, visionary leadership that inspires others to follow. Transformational Leadership, according to Straker has four components:Vision Development,Vision Selling, Mapping the Way Forward and Visibly Leading the Way. This is similar to Cox (2007) who identifies charismatic influence based on trust, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation to harvest ideas from followers, and individual attention to followers needs as being key to transformational leadership.For an organization that is in need of change, this form of leadership can be successful. Straker points out that an enthusiastic leader can "wear out their followers", and if people do not see a need for change, the leader can become frustrated. In the the right setting, I see this form of leadership as being a successful model, but not in every situation. Balance seems to be missing, and if you agree with Deming, passionate exhortations and slogans can lead to a break down in relationships. (Leadership Institute Inc., 2005)

How can transformational leadership impact the way an administrator leads a school?

There are times when an educational administrator needs to provide transformational leadership. In today's world of education, if your school does not meet Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act, change must happen. However, in the Wallace Foundation Study, if trust is not established, the transformational model is less likely to be effective (p. 43). Their data also confirmed a study by Marks and Printy (2003) which said that there should be a balance between transformational and instructional forms of leadership (p. 52).

How can transformational leadership impact the school administrator as he/she leads integrating technology with instruction?
I believe the successful integration of technology involves pedagogical shifts in teaching and student learning. These shifts, toward a more student-centered, hands on approach requires change. Given this, utilizing transformational leadership strategies may be a useful strategy, especially if combined/shared decision making practices.