Running head: JONES (LEADERSHIP PLATFORM) 1

Leadership Platform

EDAD 620: Summer 2019

Josh Jones

Dr. Centofranchi
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Introduction

Over the course of my time pursuing an administrative credential in the Masters of

Education program at Cal State Unified San Marcos, I have learned a lot about what it means to

be an effective leader. The more time I’ve spent in the program, the more I’ve thought about

what exactly it means to be an effective leader. The conclusion I’ve made as the program comes

to a close is an effective leader, at their very core, has an attitude of service and an obligation to

always keep the needs of those around them above their own. An effective leader is a person who

takes a secondary role to those they serve, doing their best to empower those around them to take

action towards transforming and improving their surroundings. In education, this specifically

means transforming and improving the education of the student and making sure students are

prepared for the real world when they graduate from high school. Beyond this core tenet, I

believe for an educational leader, there are five supporting attributes required to be effective

school administrators. They must be able to create and maintain a shared vision, they must model

and institute an attitude of continuous school improvement, they must be an effective

instructional leader, they must always keep the community they serve involved in school

decisions, and they must ensure that all students feel safe and welcome.

Creating a Shared Vision

Educational leaders aren’t the ones who create and implement a vision. To do that would

be to undermine everyone else who will be responsible for upholding that vision. Inevitably, a

vision that is not shared is a vision that will not last. It will lose energy and momentum, and

eventually it will fail. A vision is only truly successful when it is created and supported by a

shared strength, by the collective will of all stakeholders. In this manner, stakeholders take
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individual ownership of the vision, not relying solely on the leader to make sure that vision is

maintained. Through this approach, educational leaders serve as multipliers, as “leaders who use

their intelligence to amplify the smarts and capabilities of the people around them” (Wiseman,

Allen, & Foster, 2013, p. 3). Too often leaders are looked at as the ones having all the answers

when in fact there are those in the community who are experts in a variety of skills and subjects.

By leveraging these people at a school, giving them responsibility and empowering them, a

leader will be far more effective than trying to do everything on their own.

An Attitude of Continuous Schoolwide Improvement

No matter how successful a school is, there is always room for improvement. Effective

educational leaders ensure all stakeholders share this belief so that the school environment is

continuously in a cycle of improvement. To do otherwise would be to create an environment that

becomes stagnant, an environment that does not change as the real world changes, nor does it

change as the needs of its students change. Effective leaders especially need to make sure they

include and encourage parents to adopt this attitude of schoolwide improvement. Too often,

schools make decisions without the input of parents which is a major oversight. Parents need to

be included in this process as they provide key insight into the more personal, social, and cultural

needs of their children. In a study conducted by William Jeynes, he emphasizes the value of

meta-analysis and systematic school self-analysis but what he really focuses on is the need for

schools to work more at a collaborative level with families to ensure one of the main goals of

education, academic success, is guided by both the school and the family. Academic success is

not isolated from the social and emotional needs of a student, and it is the family of a child that

can give the best insight into what these social and emotional needs are. By including families,
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schools can ensure the decisions they make take into consideration all the needs of a student

(Jeynes, 2014, n.p.).

Being an Effective Instructional Leader

One of my instructors, Courtney Goode, told us something at the very beginning of the

program that has stuck with me ever since. He maintains the most important think an effective

educational leader can do is make sure they hire effective teachers. Effective teachers are ones

who consider the individual needs of their students. These needs are not solely relegated to those

that are academic. They also consider the strengths, interests, and values of their students and

create a classroom environment suited to those as best as they can. Most administrators don’t

stay at a school for more than five or so years. As a result, it is critical the legacy they leave

behind is best for students. The biggest factors contributing to the education of a student is of

course their teachers as they spend most of their time learning from these professionals. By

ensuring effective teachers are in the classroom, instructional leaders go a long way towards

ensuring the needs of students are met.

Keeping the Community at the Center

The community of a school is a valuable resource, one that is often ignored by a school.

The problem is that without the community that raised them, the perspective of what a student is

become a lot more one-dimensional. The problem with seeing a student in one dimension is that

when you “show a people as one thing…that is what they become” (Adichie, 2009). Showing a

student as one thing does not allow for the more complex understanding of their

multidimensionality. Students are in fact much more complex than they are often taken for and
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by including the community more at a school, educators can gain some valuable insight into who

these students really are and transform education so that it meets the needs of who these students

really are. Leaders play a key role as they work to include the community. In communities that

serve multiple demographics (which is most communities), leaders should act as cultural

workers, liaisons that “must have the moral and political will to collaborate and help build

progressive, affirming, and diverse educational communities” (Cooper, 2009, p. 720). By doing

so, educational leaders can ensure the school is equitable and accessible to all students, no matter

how diverse.

Ensuring a Safe and Equitable Student Environment

Under the law, schools are expected to provide educational support to all students.

Schools are not allowed to discriminate against pregnant students, married students, students of a

specific race, students of a specific sexual orientation or gender identification, or students with

disabilities. The school environment must provide for all of these students. Schools must provide

the resources every student needs to have access to education (Essex, 2015, n.p.). Effective

instructional leaders are key to making sure this happens as they are ultimately the ones

responsible for when a school’s environment is not safe for students. Ensuring a school’s Single

Plan for Student Achievement is appropriate and fiscally responsible, ensuring a school’s

atmosphere is one without discrimination or prejudice, making sure due diligence is performed in

every legal, disciplinary, and punitive action, these are all areas for which an educational leader

is responsible, and they are all areas an educational leader can influence to ensure the school

environment is safe for students. Keeping all stakeholders involved in creating a safe and

equitable environment is also key towards ensuring every need of a student is met.
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Conclusion

If it hasn’t been stated enough, above all these qualities an educational leader needs, is

the need to keep students at the heart of every decision a school makes. Education was created to

prepare students for the real world and this is no easy task. In a world driven by distraction, pain,

and self-centeredness, it is difficult to push our students to see through to the other side of the

curtain. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to inspire students and push them towards making

great change of their own as they take off into a world where there is goodness, fellow feeling,

and things that really matter. Nevertheless, that is the mantle we have picked up and it is the

burden we have voluntarily and willingly chosen. It is the responsibility of the modern educator

to give all students purpose, meaning, and understanding, not to put them in a box that keeps the

from flourishing.
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References

Adichie, C. N. (2009, July). The danger of a single story. TED. Retrieved October 15, 2018,

from

https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language

=en

Cooper, C. W. (2009). Performing cultural work in demographically changing schools:

implications for expanding transformative leadership frameworks. Educational

Administration Quarterly, 45(5), 694-724. doi:10.1177/0013161x09341639

Essex, N. L. (2015). A teacher’s pocket guide to school law. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:

Pearson.

Jeynes, W. (2014). A Meta-Analysis on the Factors That Best Reduce the Achievement

Gap. Education and Urban Society,47(5), 523-554. doi:10.1177/0013124514529155

Wiseman, L., Allen, L., Foster, E (2013). The Multiplier Effect: Tapping into the genius inside

our schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.