Professional Documents
Culture Documents
An immense volume of leadership theory has been produced over the past twenty years but there is still no
consensus around effective school leadership. Much of the literature fails to accurately reflect leadership
practices in schools and has over-relied on the accounts of principals to define effective leadership in action
(Harris, 2002; Razik and Swanson, 2001; Owens, 2001; Morrison, 2002).
The dominant model over the past decade or so has been the notion of 'transformational leadership'. This
model has its origins in non- educational settings (Burns 1978) but the work of Leithwood et al (1999),
Sergiovanni (1990; 2000) and others has translated transformational leadership theory to education.
Leithwood et al (1999) have identified six dimensions of transformational leadership: building school vision and
goals; intellectual stimulation; individualised support; symbolising professional practices and values;
demonstrating high performance expectations; and developing structures to foster participation in school
decisions. In addition, Leithwood and Jantzi (2000) include four dimensions of transactional leadership in their
model:
Central to most transformational leadership roles is the notion of charisma; the notion that has seen principals
carefully articulating a vision for their schools that inspires followers to higher levels of commitment and
performance (Bryman, 1992). However, transformational leadership theory has come under criticism on the
grounds that it is only a partial theory of leadership in that it remains very one-person centred and does not fully
take into account the context in which leadership is exercised, and other personal dimensions that may be
important. Gurr (1997) for example, argues for the addition to the model of the following dimensions:
while Day and colleagues (2000) talk about post-transformational leadership which is values-led and includes:
A recent theory which is receiving much attention and growing empirical support (Gronn, 2000; Spillaine et al.
2001) is the notion of 'distributive leadership'. In their recent review of successful school improvement efforts,
Glickman et al. (2001:49) cite varied sources of leadership, including distributed leadership at the top of the list
of what makes successful schools. Similarly, Silns and Mulford (2002) found that where leadership sources are
distributed throughout the school community, student outcomes are more likely to improve. This is particularly
so if teachers are empowered in areas of importance to them.
Distributive leadership contrasts to traditional notions of hierarchic leadership and systems in that it is a form of
collective leadership in which teachers develop expertise by working collaboratively. This distributive view of
leadership requires schools to subscribe to the view that leadership resides not solely in the individual at the
top, but in every person at entry level who, in one way or another, acts as a leader (Goleman, 2002).
Distributive leadership therefore allows all members of the school community the opportunity to provide
leadership and make decisions within the framework of the school culture and mission.
Distributive leadership does not, of course, suggest that the school principal is not ultimately responsible for the
overall performance of the organisation, however, the nature of this formal leadership role becomes 'primarily
to hold the pieces of the organisation together in a productive relationship, ...[and] to create a common culture
of expectations around the use of individual skills and abilities' (Harris, 2002). In this way schools can maximise
the human capacity within their organisations.
Distributive leadership is, however, more than just 'delegated headship' where unwanted tasks are handed
down to others, and is less concerned with individual capabilities and skills than with creating collective
responsibility for leadership action and activity (Harris & Chapman, 2002).
In schools where distributive leadership has been successful, roles have not simply been imposed by
management. Rather teachers have been involved in the process of deciding on what roles, if any, they wish to
take on and they have received the support of school management throughout. The school culture has also
been encouraging of change and leadership from teachers.
One of the barriers to successful distributive leadership is that it requires the principal and other school leaders
to relinquish power and control to others. This is not just a challenge to authority and ego but also challenges
the structure of school leadership which, generally, is premised on maintaining the bureaucratic and
hierarchical structure.
The success or otherwise of distributive leadership is also dependent on the quality of relationships with other
teachers and school management. Since teachers may not have a formal leadership 'title', their ability to
influence colleagues may be reduced and they may, in fact, be resented by those teachers who do not take on
leadership roles. In addition, management may feel threatened by particularly able teachers and, either
consciously or unconsciously, undermine their influence.
Valentine (1999) suggests that distributive leadership may be viewed more as abdication of responsibility than
diffusion of ownership. Leadership, he says, begins with a 'transformational' principal who establishes a belief
system and related practices that disperse leadership and ownership for success across a wide segment of the
school faculty. While it is important for principals to make statements about quality educational practice
(instructional leadership) and establish effective and efficient policies and routines (managerial leadership), this
alone is not enough. Similarly, creating structures and opportunities for distributing leadership responsibilities
will not meet the tenets of transformational leadership.
What must happen is for the principal to transform school culture so that all teachers see the importance of
accepting the challenge of ownership for student success. When teachers accept that what they do, both within
the classroom and working collaboratively outside of the classroom, is critical to student success, then the
conditions for distributive leadership are established (Valentine, 1999); and leadership becomes central to the
work of all teachers.
Bibliography:
Burns, J.M. (1978), Leadership, New York: Harper and Row, Publishers
Bryman, A. (1992), Charisma and Leadership in Organisations, Newbury Park, CA: Sage
Day, C. Harris, A et al (2000), Leading Schools in Times of Change, London: Open University Press
Glickman, C. Gordon, S. and Ross-Gordon, J, (2001), Supervision and Instructional Leadership: A
Developmental Approach, Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon
Goleman, D. (2002), The New Leaders: Transforming the Art of Leadership into the Science of Results,
London: Little Brown
Gronn, P. (2000), Distributed Properties: A New Architecture for Leadership, Educational Management and
Administration, Vol. 28, No. 3
Gurr, D. (2001), Directions in Educational Leadership, Hot Topics, No.5, ed. Peter White,
www.qcel.edleaders.edu.au/pubs/52001.html
Hallinger, P. and Heck, R. (1996), Reassessing The Principal's Role in School Effectiveness: A Critical Review
of Empirical Research 1980-1995, Educational Administration Quarterly, 32 (1)
Harris, A. (2002), Distributed Leadership in Schools: Lead or Misleading
www.icponline.org/features_articles/f14_02.htm
Harris, A. and Chapman, C. (2002), Effective Leadership in Schools Facing Challenging Circumstances, Final
Report, NCSL
Leithwood, K., Jantzi, D. & Steinbech, R. (1999), Changing Leadership for Changing Times, Buckingham,
Philadelphia: Open University Press
Leithwood, K. & Jantzi, D. (2000), The Effects of Transformational Leadership on Organisational Conditions
and Student Engagement with School, Journal of Educational Administration, 38
Morrison, K. (2002), School Leadership and Complexity Theory, London: Routledge Falmer.
Owens, R. (2001). Organisational Behaviour in Education: Instructional leadership and school reform,
Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon
Razik, T. and Swanson, A. (2001), Fundamental Concepts of Educational Leadership, Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall Inc
Sergiovanni, T. (1990), Value Added Leadership: How to get Extraordinary Performance in Schools, San
Diego: Harcourt Brace and Jovanich
Sergiovanni, T. (2000), The Lifeworld of Leadership: Creating Culture, Community and Personal Meaning in
our Schools, San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Silns, H. and Mulford, B. (2002), Leadership and School Results, Second International Handbook of
4Educational Leadership and Administration (in press)
Spillane, J., Halverson, R. and Diamond, J. (2001) Towards a Theory of Leadership Practice: A Distributed
Perspective, Northwestern University, Institute for Policy Research Working Article
Valentine, J. (1999), Framework for Continuous School Improvement: A Synthesis of Essential Concepts,
www.icponline.org/feature_articles/ f9_02.htm
KLA
Instructional rounds appears in
new case study book
I'm pleased to share that a case study co-authored by my recently-retired WKU colleague Ric Keaster and me
appears in a just-published book edited by D.D. Warrick and Jens Mueller called Lessons in Changing Cultures:
Learning from Real World Cases (Rossi-Smith Publishing).
The book includes 28 real-world case studies exploring how leaders effectively worked to change organizational
cultures in a wide variety of contexts, and is currently available in .pdf and .epub formats. It will soon appear on the
iBook Store and also Kindle, and depending on sales may eventually be published in hard copy as well.
Our chapter is entitled "Transforming Education and Changing School Culture," and describes work carried out
in the Simpson County (KY) Schoolsduring 2009 and 201o to implement the instructional rounds learning
protocol. At the time I was an instructional supervisor there and worked closely with Simpson County
superintendent Jim Flynn to learn the rounds process and implement it throughout the district.
Instructional rounds is a collaborative method of inquiry developed by Richard Elmore and his colleagues at
Harvard and designed to help schools gather and reflect on data about a vexing, school-wide problem of
instructional practice. It is loosely based on the practice of medical rounds used in teaching hospitals.
The case study details how Jim and I travelled to Harvard with a contingent of leaders from the Green River
Regional Educational Cooperative and some of its member districts, learning the rounds protocol directly from
Elmore and his partners, and then worked to implement rounds as a district-wide form of professional
learning. Among the key lessons we learned in the process was the great value of engaging classroom teachers in
the vision and implementation of rounds from the very beginning.
We were pleased to pioneer a powerful tool of school improvement that was subsequently implemented in several
other GRREC districts. The coop continues to sponsor regular rounds visits to schools throughout the region where
superintendents, principals, district leaders, classroom teachers, university partners and others can learn together and
provide specific, actionable, data-based feedback to schools on their improvement efforts.
The chapter includes questions for discussion and reflection, and like many other case studies in the book, could
be used in various leadership courses, reading groups, or other professional development activities.
You can order a .pdf copy of the Lessons in Changing Cultures: Learning from Real-World Cases here. Read
more about instructional rounds here.
Posted at 01:56 PM in Books, Instructional Leadership, Instructional Rounds, Kentucky schools, Theories of
Practice | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: book, case, change, chapter, County, cultures, Elmore, Flynn, GRREC, Harvard, instructional, Jim, Keaster, lessons,
Mueller, Ric, Richard, rounds, Schools, Simpson, study, Warrick
Reblog (0)
10/30/2014
Presenting research on principal
coaching, faculty meetings, and
personalized learning at MSERA
2014
Next week I will be traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee to co-present some recent research and other scholarly
work at the 2014 annual conference of the Mid-South Educational Research Association.
"Enhancing Instructional Leadership Through Collaborative Coaching: A Multi-Case Study," represents the latest
installment in a line of research going back to my own doctoral dissertation at the University of Louisville. That
originally study, also discussed in this piece I co-authored with my dissertation advisor, Dr. John Keedy, used
concepts from Chris Argyris and Donald Schon's now classic 1974 work, Theory in Practice, to create a visual map
for the thinking processes used by effective school principals as they approach their role as instructional leaders.
One of my conclusions from that work is that even highly-skilled school principals need intentional, job-
embedded structures to help them reflect at the deepest levels about their work. Inspired by that notion, in 2012
I co-authored a research study with colleagues Janet Hurt, Beckie Stobaugh, and again John Keedy describing our
efforts to design a coaching protocol using the theories of practice framework. That article, which appeared in the
peer-reviewed journal Qualitative Research in Education, described how we implemented the coaching process with
four purposively-selected school principals. While the results varied across the four participants, the coaching
process proved a highly-useful tool for enhancing principal's self-reflection about their instructional leadership.
In the latest study, which I will present with my co-authors Tom Stewart (Educational Recovery Leader with the
Kentucky Department of Education) and Sara Jennings (teacher from the Bowling Green Independent School
District and one of my students in WKU's educational leadership doctoral program), is a reiteration of the 2012
coaching study, but with a twist. For this project, we included six school principals all from the same high-
performing rural district and incorporated coaching sessions involving the entire group sharing their theories of
practice, reflecting collaboratively, and providing each other feedback.
The results of this new study were also encouraging, further confirming the usefulness of this coaching protocol
for supporting principals' leadership development. The group coaching element proved affirming and rewarding for
the participants, though its real impact on outcomes was questionable. Our presentation will explore the results and
implications for future research.
I will also be sharing findings from Dr. Daryl Hagan's dissertation research on "Catholic School Faculty
Meetings: A Case Study Linking Catholic Identity, School Improvement, and Teacher Engagement." Daryl is
superintendent of schools in the Catholic Diocese of Evansville, Indiana, and conducted his research under my
supervision, graduating from the WKU EdD program in May 2014. I will share findings from his qualitative
exploration on how faculty meetings in a high-performing Catholic school help facilitate the promotion of school-
wide academic goals and the protection of the school's Catholic identity.
Finally, WKU colleagues and I are co-authors on a number of papers that have emerged from our involvement
as external evaluators of the $41 million Race to the Top grant being administered by the Green River (GRREC) and
Ohio Valley (OVEC) Educational Cooperatives. My greatest involvement was with a paper describing our efforts to
conceptualize and evaluate the grant's personalized learning component, a topic of increasingly intense interest for
me. Doctoral student and graduate assistant Trudy-Ann Crossbourne will co-present.
Posted at 12:42 PM in Books, Instructional Leadership, Kentucky schools, Research, Theories of
Practice | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Argyris, association, case, Catholic, coaching, conference, education, evaluation, faculty, grant, GRREC,
instructional, Keedy, leadership, learning, meeting, Mid-South, OVEC, paper, personalized, practice, presentation,
principal, qualitative, Race, research, Schon, school, study, theory, Top
Reblog (0)
10/30/2013
06/24/2013
Less is More
Time management is an age-old challenge for leaders of all kinds of organizations, but the problem seems
particularly acute for school administrators. While educators have a strong sense of their core mission, constantly-
changing policies, mandates, and curricular goals leave many teachers and principals grasping for a unified sense of
purpose in their work. The structure of schools and the school day contribute to a rushed, fragmented, and
unsustainable pace of activity.
The result is not just stress and burnout, but also a loss of efficiency and effectiveness both for individual
educators and for schools as a whole. There is a surprising dearth of good resources on how to address this
issue. John C. Leonard's Finding the Time for Instructional Leadership is a notable exception, but most authors,
including Leonard, focus primarily on better ways to delegate responsibility or manage one's calendar.
There's nothing really wrong with such a technical approach, but it overlooks a more fundamental aspect to the
problem of our break-neck, harried, frenetic approach to work and life. Working and living this way separates us
from our deepest selves, cuts us off from our feelings, limits our relationships, and deprives us of opportunities for
more fulfilling lives of purpose and joy.
Marc Lesser's excellent little book, Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less,
addresses the issue of time management from this kind of contemplative perspective. Lesser, a former business
executive who now consults world-wide, draws heavily from his ten years as a full-time student of Zen in offering a
rich, thoughtful perspective on our unsustainable work habits and provides a wealth of practical, down-to-earth
strategies for slowing down so that we can actually be more productive at the things that really matter.
Lesser (who acknowledges the irony of his name) starts by noting that as societies and individuals we have
become addicted to our unrealistic agendas and ubiquitous digital distractions at least in part because we are
convinced that our self-worth is tied up in the accumulation of our accomplishments. In this era of Perpetual
Recession we may not rely as much anymore on our wealth as a sign of our worth, but we have perhaps doubled
down on the assumption that if our lives are to be useful and meaningful, we must be busy.
The fallacy of this kind of thinking is nearly self-evident. Our busyness does not result in a greater happiness or
even a sense of accomplishment, but rather frustration and a feeling that, whatever we may have done today, there is
twice as much to do tomorrow.
Less offers a way out of this cycle of frustration and fear by first emphasizing the power of sitting still to figure
out what we really are seeing, hearing, feeling, fearing, and hoping for in this present moment. The act of just
sitting with ourselves is in itself a radical break with the busyness addiction, and open us up to a vast universe of
self-awareness and new possibilities. The author offers instruction on a variety of simple mindfulness techniques
through which we can begin this journey of self-discovery.
The "Less Manifesto" is Marc Lesser's framework for what to do with this self-awareness when we begin to slow
down and listen to our own hearts. The author explores, through a series of straightforward exercises, how we can
get in touch with the inner fears that motivate our incessant busyness (a direct link to the Enneagram of personality),
and from a new place of openness begin to identify, test, and challenge our own (often unrecognized) assumptions (a
strategy that perfectly echoes Argyris and Schon on the concept of theories of practice).
Such self awareness work does not come easily, of course, and Lesser also offers great wisdom on how we can
come to recognize our patterns of resistance - the ways in which we flee from our own fears and aspirations, usually
through some intentional distraction or through the busyness of work itself.
By breaking through these layers of resistance and distraction, we can reflect on our work in light of three
fundamental questions: 1) What is my purpose for being here on this planet? 2) How am I doing in relation to this
purpose? 3) What steps do I need to take to align my purpose and my actions? In slowing down to ask these
questions, we build capacity to change our work habits so that we are investing our time in the things that really give
us life and joy. Lesser emphasizes that in the end we may appear just as active (and certainly more productive)
before we began the less-is-more journey, but our activities will be farmore closely aligned with our values and life
purpose.
Less is a book that is both philosophical and practical. The perspectives and strategies offered could enrich the
work of teachers and school leaders, especially since schools as workplaces seem to be so resistant to reflection and
contemplation. It isn't a silver bullet, however, even if a reader were to faithfully implement all of Lesser's
recommendations (not that any silver bullet really exists). One key source of our busyness is the relentless demand
that others place on us to complete tasks associated with their key priorities. The author doesn't address this
challenge specifically, but it seems the key to meeting this problem is in first being perfectly aware of
our own priorities and patterns, so that we might then more effectively work with the (often misplaced) priorities and
frustrating patterns of others.
Self aware (contemplative) living is a journey and a lifestyle rather than a technique, and the recommendations
of Less are a starting point for the reflective practitioner. Consider this book for your personal and professional
library.
You can get a sense of Marc Lesser's teaching and approach in this 50-minute video that summarizes key points
from his book:
Note: This post originally appeared on the Contemplative Learning Solutions website.
Posted at 11:08 AM in Books, Contemplative Leadership, Enneagram, Professional Development, Theories of
Practice | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Accomplishing, administrator, books, busyness, contemplative, Enneagram, leadership, learning, Less, Lesser, Marc,
mindfulness, practice, principal, reflection, reflective, review, school, theories
Reblog (0)
06/18/2013
10/30/2012
09/19/2012
08/14/2012
06/17/2012
04/17/2012
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Dr. Gary Houchens WKU Teaching Page
AERA preview
Tomorrow I'll be traveling to Vancouver, British Columbia, for the annual conference of the American
Educational Research Association (AERA). Twenty-thousand educational researchers from around the
world will share their latest work on a wide variety of topics. In addition to presenting my own research,
I'm looking forward to attending sessions on instructional leadership, formative assessment, holistic
education, charter schools, and more.
My own paper, which I will co-deliver with my mentor Dr. John Keedy of the University of Louisville,
will highlight the results of my 2008 dissertation study exploring the instructional leadership of
successful school principals. Using a theory of practice framework first developed by Chris
Argyris and Donald Schon in the 1970's, my study illuminated the core values, beliefs, and assumptions of
successful principals, examined how those underlying beliefs influenced their action strategies with a host
of positive effects on teachers (the main mechanism by which principals influence student achievement),
and examined how and whether the principals actively reflected on and refined their basic assumptions
and instructional leadership action strategies.
This research has led to a series of on-going studies using the theory of practice framework to craft
a coaching protocol designed to help principals improve their instructional leadership. I shared initial
results of this research at last year's Kentucky Association of School Administrators summer institute, and
with the support of a WKU new faculty research support grant I'm continuing to advance this work with
area school districts.
Watch for follow-up blog posts and tweets about my AERA experiences in coming days.
Posted at 11:11 AM in Education Policy, Formative Assessment, Instructional Leadership, Kentucky
schools, Research, School Choice, Theories of Practice | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: AERA, coaching, instructional leadership, research, theories of practice
Reblog (0)
09/29/2011
Coaching: Reaching for your "personal best"
in teaching and leadership
Many students know I put a big emphasis on teaching and leadership as professional practice, a
concept I borrow from Richard Elmore, who stresses that education is a skill and craft closely akin to the
work of medical professionals who apply a large body of (ever-changing) technical knowledge to make
thousands of individualized judgments about treating individual patient needs. Thus, professionals like
teachers and doctors must constantly be honing their craft.
You may also know that one of my key research interests focuses on using coaching models for helping
principals improve their practice of instructional leadership. I'm currently conducting the second part of
a multi-phase research agenda using theories of practice as the foundation for a principal coaching
protocol.
Happily, a new article in the New Yorker links all these concepts together in a
thoughtful and compelling way. In"Personal Best," writer and surgeon Atul Gawande describes how
professional athletes and singers have long used coaches to improve their performance, even when they
are at the top of their profession. Gawanda asks, why shouldn't other professionals, like doctors, use
coaches as well?
In making his case, Gawande actually suggests that doctors could learn a bit from educators in this
regard, and points to the work of Jim Knight, director of the Kansas Coaching Project at the University of
Kansas. Knight, author of Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction,
trains teachers in a simple but powerful method of coaching designed to help teachers improve their
practice.
For the New Yorker article, Gawande observed Knight and instructional coaches working to help a
07/21/2011
07/19/2011
07/15/2011
The Department of Education just recommended that the country’s largest nationally recognized
accreditation agency lose its status.
By Dwyer Gunn
California Attorney General Kamala Harris points to a map as she speaks during a news
conference in 2013, announcing the filing of a lawsuit against Corinthian Colleges and its
subsidiaries. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
On Wednesday, the United States Department of Education (DOE) officially recommended that
the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, the largest nationally recognized
accreditation agency in the country, lose its status as a DOE-recognized institution.
ACICS, which works primarily with for-profit institutions, has been under fire for years, most
notably for its accreditation of Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit school that collapsed in 2015
amid allegations of fraud. The institution’s detractors, which includeElizabeth Warren, consumer
advocates, and lawmakers, argue that ACICS employs lax accreditation standards and fails to
properly investigate complaints, leaving students vulnerable to for-profit institutions that happily
gobble up federal student loan aid without providing students with much of anything, other than
debt.
Earlier this year, the attorneys general of 13 states submitted a letter to the DOE recommending
that ACICS’s status be revoked. In the letter, they didn’t mince words in their evaluation of the
agency:
The investigation also found that students at ACICS-accredited schools take on more debt than
typical students and are more likely to struggle with re-payment and default. Last week, the
Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, released a report on ACICS’s dismal record.
The report concluded that ACICS accredits an unusually high number of institutions under
investigation and produces the worse student outcomes of any other accrediting agency—trends
which have cost the federal government billions of dollars.
ACICS’S FAILURES HAVE BEEN MORE FLAGRANT THAN MOST, BUT THE
AGENCY’S WOES HAVE SHED LIGHT ON SYSTEMIC FLAWS IN THE COUNTRY’S
HIGHER EDUCATION ACCREDITATION SYSTEM.
“Allowing so many troubled actors to access the federal financial aid system has cost taxpayers
billions of dollars,” Ben Miller, the senior director for postsecondary education at the Center for
American Progress, wrote in the report. “According to a Center for American Progress analysis,
the 17 institutions, campuses, or corporate entities under investigation that ACICS approved
have taken in more than $5.7 billion in federal funds over the past three years. That represents 52
percent of all federal aid dollars received by ACICS-approved colleges during that time period.”
ACICS’s failures have been more flagrant than most, but the agency’s woes have shed light on
systemic flaws in the country’s higher education accreditation system. As the employment and
earnings prospects of high school graduates have declined in recent years, more and more
workers have sought out post-secondary education; the for-profit schools (as well as some not-
for-profit schools) that have emerged to fill the demand are often sub-par and leave
students saddled with crippling student debt.
Accrediting agencies like ACICS are, in their role as the gatekeepers of federal student aid,
supposed to protect students from these low-quality schools, but they’re failing spectacularly in
their mission. The fact that accreditation standards aren’t uniform (and the DOE has little control
over the standards) only encourages lax standards. Critics also allege that the accrediting
agencies are hopelessly entangled with and influenced by the schools themselves.
Robert Shireman, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation described the accreditation process
as “a giant cesspool of corruption.” He told ProPublica that “it would be like getting the CEOs of
the airlines together to review whether the airplanes are safe.”
Last year, the Obama administration announced several executive actions aimed at reforming the
accreditation process, but further reforms are clearly needed. The DOE’s recommendation to
revoke ACICS’s status suggests that change is coming.
O 20, s. 2013 - The Philippine Accreditation System
for Basic Education (PASBE) Supplemental Guidelines
to DepEd Order No. 83, S. 2012 (The Implementing
Guidelines of the Revised SBM Framework,
Assessment Process and Tool)
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April 8, 2013
DO 20, s. 2013
The Philippine Accreditation System for Basic Education (PASBE) Supplemental Guidelines to DepEd
Order No. 83, S. 2012 (The Implementing Guidelines of the Revised SBM Framework, Assessment
Process and Tool)
To: Undersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries
Bureau Directors
Directors of Services, Centers and Heads of Units
Regional Directors
Schools Division/City Superintendents
Heads, Public Elementary and Secondary Schools
All Others Concerned
1. The Philippine Accreditation System for Basic Education (PASBE) is an accreditation process that looks into
the operations of the public and private elementary and secondary schools if they meet the quality standards as
established by stakeholders of basic education. Officially launched through DepEd Order No. 64, s. 2012, the
harmonized accreditation was relaunched in DepEd Order No. 83, s. 2012 as an integral component of School-
Based Management (SBM) practice.
2. This DepEd Order which provides the supplemental guidelines to the DepEd Order No. 83, s. 2012, further
details the continuum in the SBM and PASBE processes. In this DepEd Order, an accredited status in PASBE
is equivalent to Level III SBM practice. This reinforces the role of SBM and accreditation as an integrated
quality measure, where PASBE is the quality assurance mechanism of the SBM practice.
3. All regions, divisions, and schools shall organize the SBM-PASBE Coordinating Team as per Item No. 4 of
DepEd Order No. 83, s. 2012, which shall be chaired by the regional director (RD), schools division/city
superintendent (SDS) and the school head (SH), respectively.
4. All regions are encouraged to implement the integrated process starting summer of School Year (SY) 2012-
2013. In the first year of implementation, the SBM-PASBE Coordinating Teams shall be given the task to
orient the schools on the revised process.
5. Continuous advocacy on the SBM guiding principles in the context of A Child-and Community-centered
Education Systems (ACCESs) is imperative during the period of validation of the SBM practice and before the
school and division embark on accreditation.
6. For clarifications and concerns, all concerned may contact Ms. Elsie Esmer, Head, Philippine Accreditation
System for Basic Education (PASBE) Secretariat at telephone no.: (02) 632-7586 and Ms. Maria Katrina L.
Gregorio, School-Based Management (SBM) Secretariat at telephone no.: (02) 633-7216 or through email
address: sbmpasbe@gmail.com.
Encl.:
As stated
References:
DepEd Order: (Nos. 64 and 83, s. 2012)
Nothing affects a school district more than it’s ability to create and execute a strategic
plan. A good strategic plan can improve student outcomes, keep great teachers and
enhance the reputation of district leadership. Failure in strategic planning can be
disastrous. Here’s what we know about strategic planning in education including a brief
history, what works now and where it’s heading in the future.
School districts of all sizes use strategic planning to achieve the broad goals of
improving student outcomes and responding to changing demographics while staying
within the funding box they are given. The nature of these goals and restrictions suggest
that strategic planning in education is, and must be, different than the process used in
the business sector. In the business sector the goal is to get more customers or make
more money. Recognizing these differences, educators became early adopters of
blending strategic planning with community engagement activities.
The strategoi provided “strategic” advice to political rulers and war councils about
managing battles to win wars as opposed to providing tactical advice about managing
troops to win wars. That distinction has haunted the strategic planning process for close
to 2000 years. Even the language of military strategy remains entrenched in the work
place. “Front line” workers and being “in the trenches” are an accurate description of the
reality of those on a battlefield, not those in an office or classroom.
We know that it can “feel” like there are enemies to rail against. The collaborative
leaders we work with recognize and acknowledge the reality of the public education
system while using language that builds relationships and reframes enemies to potential
allies.
The adoption of strategic planning in the business world began somewhere between the
1950′s and 60′s. The exact date has yet to be agreed upon but most scholars and
business historians agree that the practice along with the philosophy emerged over a
few decades and that strategic planning continues to evolve today. Strategic planning in
the education sector initially flowed out of business practices as a result of people
moving from the business sector into positions in education leadership and bringing with
them a set of planning tools and paradigms.
Mintzberg also found and shared many examples of organizations that had been
successful in strategic planning. He notes that these organizations approach strategic
planning in a less structured and rigid way. Much like we have observed within school
districts.
Some critics suggest that the education sector emphasizes the political dimensions of
the strategic planning process as a way of increasing the number of school community
stakeholders. We don’t think that’s something to be critical of. Rather, it should be
lauded. The education sector has shifted the process of strategic planning from a
boardroom activity to a community-involved process. As Anderson aptly points out:
In some ways, up until now, we have managed to get community engagement exactly
backwards. We decide then we engage. We decide and then we defend. We tell and
then we sell. We decide what the community wants for its children then we sell them the
solutions. True community engagement is just the opposite. We engage the community
in answering the question at hand and then, we, as part of the community, decide. That
shift in language and in actions makes all the difference. (2009)
More recently school districts have proactively shifted their strategic planning process to
genuinely include and involve parents and other constituents. At the school district level
strategic planning requires community engagement and support both functionally and
legislatively. Collaborative leaders in education know that without community support
and the insight that comes with community engagement their strategic plans are likely to
fail.
1. Get everyone on the same page. Differing understandings of what strategy entails,
how it should be created and who should be involved, can stymie even the best plans.
The first step in creating a successful strategic plan is getting everyone involved to
agree on one model of strategic planning. A terms of reference document can get
everyone on the same page.
2. Engaging community early in the process. Gain insights and gauge community
preferences as early as possible. School districts that engage early in the planning
process have a much greater chance at building a successful and community supported
plan. Engage early and engage often is the mantra of successful collaborative
leaders.
Without a connected and accessible “environment” like the Internet, genuine and
affordable community engagement in strategic planning would not be feasible. Our
connected environment, the ubiquity of email and user-friendly technology has changed,
and will continue to change, the strategic planning process.