Friday, January 31, 2020

Optimizing School-wide Climate Positively Impacts School Success


      Sustained school improvement processes rely upon a school-wide climate of high expectations for success (Lezotte & Snyder, 2011).  Curriculum for teacher preparation or leadership programs should inspire exploration of leadership models influential upon sustained school success.  Models may include servant leadership, transformational leadership, and distributed leadership.  Exploration of the literature based on the variables and theoretical frameworks would find Winston and Hartsfield (2004) attributed high levels of emotional intelligence to leadership models.  Other research identified leaders’ demonstrated high emotional intelligence promoted empowerment (Page & Wong, 2000; Patterson, 2003), collaboration (Russell & Stone, 2002), and autonomy (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002; Winston’s SL Model, 2003).  The relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership influence (Charbonneau & Nicol, 2002; Dries & Pepermans, 2007) should be further examined as it may positively relate school climate created by a school leader to staff performance and student achievement (Barnett & McCormick, 2004; Stipek, 2006). 
Given the previously established positive link between school climate and student achievement, Johnson and Stevens (2006), suggested future studies test school climate using “other mediating variables” (p. 119).  Winston and Hartsfield (2004) identified correlations between three of the four sub-skills of emotional intelligence (Mayer & Salovey, 1997) and leadership behaviors that promote positive school climate.  Climate-building behaviors also embrace teacher autonomy (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002; Winston’s SL Model, 2003).  Marzano and Waters (2009) also identified the importance of “defined autonomy” (p.8). 
      Leaders promoting personally and professionally inviting opportunities for development provide an optimal model for success within today’s schools (Burns & Martin, 2010; Purkey & Siegel, 2013).  Identifying the competencies that increase the conveyance and receipt of personal and professional development opportunities could optimize school climate for all stakeholders (Purkey & Novak, 2016).  Invitations for personal and professional development need to be explicitly conveyed (Purkey & Novak, 2016) and recognized as an opportunity (Anderson, 2017). 
     Invitational Education theory seeks to promote trust, collaboration, and purposeful inclusion (Purkey & Novak, 2016; Purkey & Siegel, 2013).  However, “People cannot accept invitations they have never received” (Purkey & Novak, 1996, p.75).  To be dependably inviting, effective leaders need to check for receipt and seek acknowledgement of their invitations for personal and professional development.  What is the influence of the teachers’ emotional intelligence upon the ability to recognize the invitation as an opportunity?
      Sadri (2012) noted Samad’s research found dimensions of emotional intelligence explained 59% of the variance in effective leadership whereby the social skills dimension emerged as the most influential.  The awareness and management of emotions, as well as perception of emotions by others, provide critical elements for success as a leader (Cherniss, 2010).  Within this constantly and rapidly evolving society, Bumphus (2007) found that resilient leaders possessing high levels of emotional intelligence become increasingly important.  
      Therefore, to be more reliably inviting, school leaders need to have the skills to effectively convey and then check for receipt.  Only then does acceptance become a possibility.  While Curry (2009) found uncertainty of the influence of emotional intelligence upon school climate, Anderson (2019) found Emotional Self-Control and Emotional Management of Others predicted a strong relationship in the positive direction between four of the five Inviting School Survey-Revised (ISS-R) domains of school climate. 
       While educational research exists on emotional intelligence, school climate based on IE theory, and leadership influence upon school climate, the field would benefit from further examination of the interconnectedness of these variables.  Further empirical research on the relationship between a certified teacher’s rating of the leader’s demonstrated emotional intelligence and the teacher’s perception of the school climate based on structures aligned with Invitational Education theory s encouraged.  Related empirical data would thereby inform the curriculum of educator preparation programs and the professional development of educational leaders.
     Schools must be places where leaders gain credibility through self-regulated behaviors.  Invitational Education theory contributes to school effectiveness by the way that its leaders demonstrate care for, and support of, the efforts of others (Halpin, 2003; Purkey & Siegel, 2013).  These behaviors include the ability to empathize, build trust, challenge and support others, serve as a visionary, promote teamwork, and share leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2000).  This allows school climate to improve based on “relationships that flourish” (Weymes, 2003). 

To Cite:

Anderson, C.J. (January 31, 2020) Optimizing school-wide climate positively impacts
school success [Web log post] Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/



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