The big jobs of small-town principals
Rural school leaders have some of the most complex roles in education — and some of the highest attrition
by CAROLINE PRESTON  December 6, 2018
The big jobs of small-town principals
Rural school leaders have some of the most complex, multifaceted jobs in education. They also have some of the highest turnover. Half of all new principals quit their jobs within three years, according to a 2014 study. A national survey released in July found that principals in rural school districts are even less likely than their urban and suburban counterparts to stay at their school the following year and more likely to leave the profession altogether. The schools they preside over, meanwhile, often struggle with persistent poverty, low college-going rates and extreme racial disparities in student outcomes.
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more on principals in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=principal
Fri, Feb. 2, 2018, Principalship class, 22 people, Plymouth room 103
Instructor Jim Johnson EDAD principalship class
The many different roles of the principals:
Communication
Effective communication is one critical characteristics of effective and successful school principal. Research on effective schools and instructional leadership emphasizes the impact of principal leadership on creating safe and secure learning environment and positive nurturing school climate (Halawah, 2005, p. 334)
Halawah, I. (2005). The Relationship between Effective Communication of High School Principal and School Climate. Education, 126(2), 334-345.
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Selection of school principals in Hong Kong. The findings confirm a four-factor set of expectations sought from applicants; these are Generic Managerial Skills; Communication and Presentation Skills; Knowledge and Experience; and Religious Value Orientation.
Kwan, P. (2012). Assessing school principal candidates: perspectives of the hiring superintendents. International Journal Of Leadership In Education, 15(3), 331-349. doi:10.1080/13603124.2011.617838
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Yee, D. L. (2000). Images of school principals’ information and communications technology leadership. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 9(3), 287–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/14759390000200097
Catano, N., & Stronge, J. H. (2007). What do we expect of school principals? Congruence between principal evaluation and performance standards. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 10(4), 379–399. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603120701381782
Communication can consist of two large areas:
- broadcasting information: PR, promotions, notifications etc.
- two-way communication: collecting feedback, “office hours” type of communication, backchanneling, etc.
Further communication initiated by/from principals can have different audiences
- staff: teachers, maintenance etc.
Ă„rlestig, H. (2008). Communication between principals and teachers in successful schools. DIVA. Retrieved from http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-1927
Reyes, P., & Hoyle, D. (1992). Teachers’ Satisfaction With Principals’ Communication. The Journal of Educational Research, 85(3), 163–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1992.9944433
- parents: involvement, feeling of empowerment, support, volunteering
- students
- board members
- community
Epstein, J. L. (1995). School/family/community partnerships – ProQuest. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(9), 701.
Communication and Visualization
The ever-growing necessity to be able to communicate data to different audiences in digestible format.
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/07/15/large-scale-visualization/
So, how do we organize and exercise communication with these audiences and considering the different content to be communicated?
- How do you use to do it at your school, when you were students 20-30 years ago?
- How is it different now?
- How do you think it must be changed?
Communication tools:
physical
- paper-based memos, physical boards
Electronic
- phone, Intercom, email, electronic boards (listservs)
21st century electronic tools
- Electronic boards
- Internet telephony and desktopsharing
- Adobe Connect, Webex, Zoom, GoToMeeting, Teamviewer etc.
- Skype, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger
- Electronic calendars
- Doodle, MS Offce365, Google Calendar
- Social media / The Cloud
- Visuals: Flickr, YouTube, TeacherTube, MediaSpace
- Podasts
- Direct two-way communication
- Asynchronous
- Snapchat
- Facebook
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- Instagram
- Synchronous
- Chat
- Audio/video/desktopsharing
- Management tools
Tools:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2016/07/16/communication-tool-for-teachers-and-parents/
Top 10 Social Media Management Tools: beyond Hootsuite and TweetDeck
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2013/11/17/top-10-social-media-management-tools-beyond-hootsuite-and-tweetdeck/
Manage control of your passwords and logons (Password Managers)
- 1Password.
- Okta.
- Keeper.
- KeePass.
- Centrify Application Services.
- RoboForm.
- Zoho Vault.
- Passpack.
- LastPass
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class discussion Feb 2.
PeachJar : https://www.peachjar.com/
Seesaw: https://web.seesaw.me/
Schoology: https://www.schoology.com/
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Group Assignment
considering the information discussed in class, split in groups of 4 and develop your institution strategy for effective and modern communication across and out of your school.
>>>>>>>>>>> Word of the day: blockchain credentialing <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>>>>> K12 Trends 4 2018 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
From MyFunCity to government-structured approach to “digital citizenship,” this is recent trend, which is seriously considered by educators as a must in the curricula. While habitually connected with technology classes, it is a much larger issue, which requires faculty attention across disciplines; it encompass digital and technology literacy, netiquette and online behavior (cyberbulling most frequently addressed), as well qualities and skills to be a functional and mindful citizen of a global world.
here is some general literature on digital citizenship:
Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation
http://groups.lis.illinois.edu/guest_lectures/cii/digcitizen.pdf
Digital Citizenship: Addressing Appropriate Technology Behavior
Ribble, Mike S.; Bailey, Gerald D.; Ross, Tweed W.
Learning & Leading with Technology, v32 n1 p6-9, 11 Sep 2004
Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology
Volume 9, Issue 1, Fall 2005. Education and Citizenship in the Digital Age
Isman, A., & Canan Gungoren, O. (2014). Digital Citizenship. Turkish Online Journal Of Educational Technology – TOJET, 13(1), 73-77. http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1018088
PR, N. (2014, April 3). MyFunCity is a revolution in digital citizenship. PR Newswire US. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d201404031549PR.NEWS.USPR.BR98059%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Communication Studies:
Couldry, N., Stephansen, H., Fotopoulou, A., MacDonald, R., Clark, W., & Dickens, L. (2014). Digital citizenship? Narrative exchange and the changing terms of civic culture. Citizenship Studies, 18(6/7), 615-629. doi:10.1080/13621025.2013.865903
http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d98053478%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite (please ask for copy of the article)