In Praise of Top-Down Leadership

Autor/in	Dufour, Richard
Institution	American Association of School Administrators, Arlington, VA.
Titel	In Praise of Top-Down Leadership
Quelle	In: School Administrator, 64 (2007) 10, S.38-42 (5 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0036-6439
Schlagwörter	School Restructuring; Educational Change; Leadership Responsibility; Power Structure; School Districts; Administrative Organization; Educational Improvement; Change Strategies; Cooperative Planning; Accountability; Academic Achievement; Educational Quality + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Schulreformplan; Schulumwandlung; Bildungsreform; School district; Schulbezirk; Teaching improvement; Unterrichtsentwicklung; Lösungsstrategie; Verantwortung; Schulleistung; Quality of education; Bildungsqualität
Abstract	In the ongoing debate of the efficacy of top-down versus bottom-up strategies to improve school districts, top-down is clearly losing. Many district leaders are reluctant to champion improvement for fear of being labeled with the epithet "top-down leader," the unkindest cut of all. In this article, the author presents the change processes in three districts that attempted to implement professional learning community concepts in their schools using three approaches: (1) autocratic; (2) laissez-faire; and (3) loose-tight leadership at work. Thus, he states that if some regard the scenario described in District C as top-down leadership, then he comes to praise top-down leadership, not to bury it. Moreover, it is clear that improvement initiatives will not occur unless there is buy-in, a willingness of those engaged in the initiative to rally around it and without this buy-in you will only generate resentful compliance that dooms the initiative to inevitable failure. Leaders should certainly use every component of an effective change process and commit to what Elmore, in his 2006 book "School Reform from the Inside Out: Policy, Practice, and Performance", refers to as "reciprocal accountability." This principle calls upon leaders to help build the capacity of the members of the group to accomplish what they have been asked to accomplish. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	American Association of School Administrators. 801 North Quincy Street Suite 700, Arlington, VA 22203-1730. Tel: 703-528-0700; Fax: 703-841-1543; e-mail: info@aasa.org; Web site: http://www.aasa.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10