School Effectiveness: Leadership Styles Used for Change

In 1997-98, Winona State University experienced what many educational institutions do: change. The leadership styles used for these changes are outlined and referenced by Richard Bowman. These leadership styles are offspring of D.R. Conner’s “Leading at the Edge of Choaos”, and are titled: anti-change, rational, panacea, bolt-on, integrated, and continuous.

Also in 1998, McREL began gathering three decades of research in educational leadership and the effects it has on school effectiveness. McREL identified numerous leadership responsibilities that are closely related to student achievement. McREL’s authors’ Waters, Marzano, and McNulty, introduced a framework based on a “balance” mode of leadership, encompassing knowledge, skill, strategy, and specific tools leaders need to have a positive impact on achievement.
With these two views of educational leadership, the authors offer some similar ideas with regard to change. For example, in McREL’s Figure (3) “Principal leadership responsibilities”, they have identified 21 different qualities that embrace positive change in student achievement. Of the 21 listed, the six with the largest occurrence (Avg. r) include: situational awareness, intellectual stimulation, change agent, input, culture, and monitoring/evaluation. The situational awareness quality is similar to Conner’s leadership style of “anti-change”. Anti-change is when a leader attempts to avoid as much disruption or fluctuation to the currently working system. A leader that addresses both these qualities must be detail orientated.

The second quality with the highest average was intellectual stimulation. The stimulation factor is consistent with Conner’s Panacea leadership style because its foundation is based upon motivational qualities. The importance of being a motivator is maintaining open communication.