By: Dr. Armãndo R. Tolliver | SCHOLAR | July 28, 2012
A systemic
school vision is contextual and dependent upon relationships (Epstein,
2009). Ideal school leaders build
and maintain relationships by listening, supporting others, gaining trust and
showing understanding. Positive
relationships cultivate the culture within the learning organization. Leading from the center, the
administrator must believe in, value, and remain committed to the inclusion of
all members of the school community to cultivate the culture of learning
(Epstein, 2009; Glickman, Gordan, & Ross-Gordon, 2010). The school leader can facilitate this by listening to
others and recognizing their perspectives, empathizing and taking into account
the needs and feelings of others, communicating effectively, and gaining the
trust and support of colleagues.
The focus on student achievement for a learning community can only
happen if student achievement and learning are the central focus of all stakeholders
(Blasé & Blasé, 2003).
Identifying and empowering stakeholders in the extended community to
make decisions within the organization is the starting point to creating a
vision of inclusiveness to address the diverse learning needs of students and their
educational achievement.
School
leaders must create an environment where others have the opportunity to
contribute (Glickman et al., 2010). A concerted effort must be made to have representation that
reflects all factions of the school community along with those members of the
community that may have been previously excluded from participating in setting
the vision and direction (Miramontes, Nadeau, & Commins, 1997; Seltzer, 2001; Simons, 1987). Examples of these factions in the community include
involvement of parents, communities, businesses, advocacy groups, governmental
agencies, school staff, and students.
The goal for school leaders is to actively engage a diverse range of key
stakeholders in creating a bold, innovative, shared vision which reflects the
future needs and aspirations of the community and the future direction of the
learning organization. The vision
must also reflect the school district’s core values and the values of the wider
education system. Ensuring
integration and consistency with the school district’s core values creates
unity in shaping the individual school’s vision; this also showcases the
parallel between what the school district aims to accomplish and how the school
will support the overall effort.
This merges together the overall vision developed from common beliefs
and values, creating a holistic approach that is consistently focused on
student achievement goals.
Building
capacity within the representation of stakeholders is crucial in the process of
bringing together the resources of family members and the community to
facilitate a shared vision.
Cross-cultural interactions allow cooperation, collaboration, and the
development of emergent leadership, which are key to successful outcomes that
promote respect for divergent views, inclusionary practices, and shared
decision-making (Meyers, Meyers, & Gelzheiser, 2001). A school leader must model these values
to facilitate meaningful interactions for a welcoming environment. With the increased involvement of stakeholders,
a shared responsibility emerges leadership that empowers commitment and collaboration,
positively affecting student achievement (Epstein, 2009). Likewise, involvement of multiple
stakeholders provide a way to leverage and marshal sufficient resources to
implement and attain the vision for all students and subgroups of
students. Inside the classroom,
the school leader will be able to capitalize on the influence of diversity
created by cross-cultural interactions of multiple stakeholders as a strategy to
improve teaching and learning within the school.
Communication plays an active
role in achieving a shared vision (Farmer, Slater, & Wright, 1998). The school leader must first
communicate the school district’s vision and motivate others to work towards
achieving it. Stakeholders within
and outside the learning organization must be aware of the school district’s
vision and the likely impact it will impose on them (Lunenburg
& Ornstein, 2008). Stakeholders must
also understand the school’s current profile such as demographic makeup,
student performance on various measures, current programs, current stakeholder
involvement, and perceptions from other stakeholders (Lunenburg & Ornstein, 2008). Therefore, a school leader should meet with stakeholders to
present this information alongside achievement and other data types in ways
that is understandable to stakeholders.
This meeting provides the school leader an opportunity to allow
stakeholders to review the information and offer input, potentially stimulating
shared responsibility for education among teachers, parents, community members,
and the students themselves (Zepeda, 2007). By communicating
the school district’s vision, explaining how stakeholders can contribute to the
vision, highlighting the school’s profile, clarifying roles and drawing on
others expertise, the school leader will be able to help stakeholders
understand how creating a vision for the school and its community would enable
them to achieve their own goals that is consistent with the school district and
focuses on student achievement.
A
communication process that brings people together to consider in a friendly and
noncompetitive atmosphere many different perceptions, templates, habits of
thought and possible solutions, from which the most useful may then be chosen
is a condition that supports facilitating a shared vision of learning (Kline
& Saunders, 1998, p.32).
Glickman et al., (2010) suggested having at least three types of
meetings:
1.
Leadership team meeting to set the tone for the school
administrators along with teacher leaders and discuss the readiness of
stakeholder involvement.
2.
A full stakeholder meeting to acquaint the staff with the stages
the school will utilize to develop a vision and to lay the groundwork for their
involvement.
3.
Reconvene full stakeholder meeting to plan for the next steps in
facilitating the shared vision. The
focus of this meeting is to explore common understandings regarding beliefs,
vision, and mission of the school and to begin looking at the use of data in
preparation for the next steps in facilitating the shared vision.
These
three types of meetings are essential and address understanding the facts,
eliciting and considering various options for planning, seeking ideas and
suggestions from all stakeholders, and a process for developing a plan that is
representative of stakeholders so that a consensus can be reached.
One way to
draft vision and mission is to announce a special meeting for a small number of
those from various areas: parents, department heads, administration, students,
and all others that want to be involved.
Select a meeting place that is accessible and have available poster-size
paper, markers and tape. Before
the meeting send, a letter, to all members and include a sample of other
organization’s mission and vision statements. Ask the group to jot down ideas before they arrive. The school leader, acting as the
facilitator, can open the meeting and requests each person to write a statement
expressing what he or she believes is the principal goal of the
organization. The acting
facilitator should record the most frequently mentioned thoughts and
ideas. After listing the words,
expressions, phrases, and sentences the group should agree on what is most
important. Further development of
the school vision and mission should follow the same process and involve all
stakeholders. After mission and
vision statements are developed, an increased sense of unity and commitment is
created among the participants.
School
leaders must engage in planning to actively contribute to plans that are part
of the strategy for the wider education system. Planning is critical to an organization’s ability to present
itself clearly to the community, to initiate a track record of successful
program delivery, to secure needed resources, and to establish credibility (Zepeda, 2007). In addition, planning ensures that an organization will be
driven by its vision. Successful
planning sessions are accomplished by constructive dialogue and inquiry to
produce meaningful and substantive decisions (Leithwood, 2005). Thoughtful planning creates lasting
progress and a structure that can be built on. To be successful a school leader’s plan requires the support
and participation of the organization’s core group and other key stakeholders
(Leithwood, 2005). Therefore, a
planning session to identify priorities for which to seek support, obtaining a
wide consensus on those priorities, plus discovering and addressing barriers to
accomplishing the vision is the next step.
After the
stakeholders for the school have developed a clearer picture of how the vision
of the school district alongside a number of other dimensions, from school and
community relationships to school profiles and district goals, school leaders,
along with family members and other stakeholders in the community should come
together to discuss and create common understandings of the school’s role to
help boost student achievement. During
discussion a deeper understanding of individuals within and outside the
organization can be accomplished, which fosters relationships being built
(Meyers et al., 2001). For a
successful collaboration team there are key requirements: (a) all team members must
work together towards a common goal voluntarily, (b) is based on a sense that
all participants are valued, (c) embraces the unique perspectives of all team
members and shared resources, (d) is based on a strong sense of purpose or
mutual goals, (e) requires trust and a sense of shared responsibility and
accountability for outcomes (Glickman et al., 2010). In this stage, it is ideal for the school leader to again
address the goals and vision already mandated by the school district, determine
the needs and barriers, plus set and prioritize goals for the school based on
highest potential impact for student achievement.
Research
shows that if school leaders are going to be successful in creating a vision
that is developed with and among stakeholders, they must shift the paradigm to
a collegial model (Glickman et al., 2010; Gorton et al., 2009). Embedded within the collegial model is
a cooperative team-based organizational structure that is collaborative
throughout the entire process.
This entails the use of teamwork among all stakeholders, faculty
collegial committees in the school, and a shared decision-making structure
(Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1994). Shared responsibility and decision making is the vehicle by
which school leaders can actively involve outside stakeholders as decision-makers
in a learning environment (Glickman et al., 2010). The shift to shared decision-making, shared responsibility,
and authority also creates new opportunities for many educators (Lunenburg
& Ornstein, 2008).
Schools are obligated to reformulate the roles of authority of teachers
and administrators to facilitate shared decision-making and goal setting
(Printy & Marks, 2006).
The key to the road for collaboration involves getting together,
building trust and ownership, developing a strategic plan, identifying a shared
mission and vision, providing administrative support, and ensuring mutually
beneficial outcomes.
Professional collaboration involves more than joint meetings,
collaboration involves working together alongside others in addressing
intellectual endeavors (Glickman et al., 2010).
In
implementing a system of shared decision-making, it is best to keep all
stakeholders focused on the goals of student achievement. Glickman et al., (2010) suggested using
an operational model of shared governance by which the premise of individual
choice of involvement and focus on teaching and learning is involved. The goal of using this model is to
achieve the principles of shared governance by leading a purposeful,
collective, and thoughtful school – a school that is the center of inquiry.
(Glickman et al., 2010). As
stakeholders gain a comprehensive understanding of the prevailing social,
cultural, and economic external influences in conjunction with the internal
influences of allocation of resources, number of students served, and student
achievement data, stakeholders must be guided to learn the skills necessary to
engage in discussion and inquiry (Meyers et al., 2001;
Printy & Marks, 2006). Care
must be taken within stakeholder community groups by the educational leader to
keep the topic under discussion focused on serving diverse student needs to
obtain high standards of learning for student achievement (Printy & Marks,
2006). With each community's
specific opportunities and constraints in mind, the next step is consensual
decision-making and addressing the challenges with strength and purpose.
To exercise
leadership, an administrator will need to try to influence the various groups
that are associated with the school and the school district. In order to successfully complete the
overall task of creating vision the administrator must possess knowledge and
skills in utilizing and understanding dynamics concepts (Gorton et al.,
2009). An essential priority for
an administrator in working with groups, especially within the educational
setting, is the development of cohesiveness and trust (Gorton et al.,
2009). In all, for effective
leadership in creating a school vision in the twenty-first century, school
administrators must be attuned to the complexities of changing demographics as
well as the needs of those persons who have been traditionally excluded from
the core of educational reform (Gorton et al., 2009). Working throughout the community, school leaders can
constantly gather information, which helps them remain attuned to the changing
complexities of these communities.
In summary,
an ideal leader must identify what is important to the members of the
subordinate group, both as an individual and a group member. It is imperative for all stakeholders
to discuss their perspectives and debate alternative strategies
rationally. Therefore, school
leaders must network with others, win the support and respect of others,
encourage others to contribute ideas, and adopt a collaborative approach
(Epstein, 2009; Glickman et al., 2010; Meyers et al., 2001). One of the ways to implement this is
for leaders to have an approachable and amenable policy regarding stakeholder
input, and remaining alert to and considerate of the needs of others (Seltzer,
2001). In addition, school leaders
must also consistently use a systemic approach to the identification and
solution of problems; consider alternatives and consequences of the
organization and group in taking action on decisions. Expressing ideas succinctly and logically in writing helps
to provide communication to all stakeholders (Farmer et al., 1998). Facilitating the vision requires
creating ownership in the vision, considering the long-term benefits, seeking
continued feedback from stakeholders, and building confidence in stakeholders
by demonstrating how focus results in efficiency, effectiveness, and
productivity are in line with the school mission and vision (Epstein, 2009;
Gorton et al., 2009).
As school
leaders implement these steps, evaluating the impact of the vision and its
impact on student achievement by collecting and analyzing data from various
assessments and other measures to determine if the school is meeting its vision
and if the actions taken by the school leader and community were successful in
improving student achievement.
This must be completed to ensure that the school moves forward to
accomplish the overall goals set in the created vision, which shall
systemically increase student achievement for the learning community. The school leader’s role then shifts
from driving the process of creating the vision to helping others assimilate
key actions into the school culture.
Suggested Citation
Tolliver, A. R. (2012). Creating a vision that is developed with and among stakeholders, and
centered on student achievement for a learning community. [Education
Project Online]. Retrieved online at http://www.educationprojectonline.com/2014/08/creating-vision-that-is-developed-with.html
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