Applying Leadership Theories

Applying Leadership Theories
Charlene N. Vance
Grand Canyon University: EDA-575
October 22, 2014

Applying Leadership Theories In today’s ever changing educational climate, there are a plethora of leadership styles and abilities that can be identified. During the tenure of being in education for over 10 years, there have been many leadership styles that have surfaced over the course of five different administrations in my career. A 1977 U.S. Senate Committee Report on Equal Educational Opportunity (US Congress, 1970) stated that “in many ways the school principal is the most important and influential individual in any school. The administration that will be evaluated (in which I currently work with) is very dominant and dampens the team aspect for the school. Pondering the statement provided, my curiosity piques as to how the current administration evaluates itself. The school setting for Spring Mountain Elementary School is located in a very urban area; a Title I identified school and in a more well-developed area of the city, Spring Mountain is a newly constructed community in a swift developing city. Within walking distance of the school, there houses stately homes, dual family homes with professionally educated individuals. The school was a public school option for the upper crust of middle-income families. The school was constructed in 2009, and since construction, has experienced two very different administrative leadership styles. The current administration was placed in the community because the district eliminated zoning criteria and the climate of the school drastically changed from its initial construction vision. The decision of bringing this new administrator into the community was for transformational leadership goals. The community had a very harsh reaction to the zoning and the change that occurred to the school climate and demographics. A lot of the “well-to-do” families withdrew their students and placed them into private or charter schools. Leithwood’s ideology is that “transformational leadership may well be a productive antidote to the stifling effects of excessive organizational constraint” (Leithwood, 2005, p. 185). This holds true to this school described because of the community’s need to have someone who they can relate to. Unfortunately, the new administration appeared to be what would be sufficient; however it turned out to be the complete opposite. A transitional leader should be able to be a role model, respected by his or her followers, have a strong sense of vision and conducts themselves with high standards. Although this was the initial intent for this school, it has not produced the expected outcome. Transformational leadership is not the only quality needed in order to have a successful leadership. In my opinion, an administrator must possess a variety of styles and should be able to mix-and-match each to what will work best for themselves and all other stakeholders. Purkey and Siegel (2003) attempted to blend leadership qualities, values, and principles when they developed the invitational leadership theory and model for inviting success from all interested stakeholders. In their book, Becoming an Invitational Leader, Purkey and Siegel (2003, p.1) explained, “This model shifts from emphasizing control and dominance to one that focuses on connectedness, cooperation, and communication.” This administration described capitalizes on being everything opposite of this style. There is unfortunately still a great deal of

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