A Pathway Forward to School Change: Leading Together and Achieving Goals

Abstract

This study describes and analyzes the actions taken by the principal and a middle school leadership team, which resulted in a change from a seven- to a six-period bell schedule. Change was facilitated through the interaction of three forces: (a) transformational leadership of the principal; (b) the development of a strong leadership team, and (c) training provided by a university partner. A micropolitical lens revealed that the team was able to negotiate potential political landmines, while the theoretical lenses of social and intellectual capital provide additional insights in why the team was able to take productive collective action.

The authors wish to thank the principal and leadership team of Wildflower Middle School for graciously allowing us to study their learning process and opening themselves to scrutiny. We would also like to thank our colleagues at the university center for planning and conducting the SLT seminars, which served as an important source of data for this paper. The three anonymous reviewers of the original manuscript also deserve our thanks. Their suggestions contributed importantly to our thinking and the quality of the final manuscript.

Notes

1. Pseudonyms are used throughout this article to protect the confidentiality of the school, principal, and leadership team members.

2. The term “shareholder” is used in place of the more commonly used “stakeholder” because of the less caustic connotations of the former, and because it is the preferred term of the UBRDO involved in project under study to reflect the mutual responsibilities of all parties in the reform process.