By: Jessie Frierson and Ronald Lindahl
ABSTRACT: Educational entrepreneurship is a topic that has generated considerable interest over the past decade in the United States. Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman (1997) concluded that “the quality of schooling is far worse today than it was in 1955” (p. 342) and advocated the radical reconstruction of the system through the creation of a voucher system that would allow for competitive free enterprise to energize the system. Similar calls for the need for educational entrepreneurship have been voiced by Chubb and Moe (1990), Cuban (2006), Hess (2002, 2006), Hill, Pierce, and Guthrie (1997), Hunter (1995), Levin (2006), Lubienski (2003), Murphy (1986), and Smith and Petersen (2006), among many others. Eyal (2008a) proposed a two-dimensional theoretical model of school entrepreneurship based on the extent of governmental regulation and the absence or presence of choice. That model is displayed in Figure 1. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of that model as it relates to entrepreneurship of K-12 schools in a tri-county region of central Alabama.
By: Amiee Howley, Arlie Woodrum, Larry Burgess, Megan Rhodes
ABSTRACT: As local school boards plan for the employment of effective leadership teams, they may address different concerns than those articulated by state and national reformers. In particular, they may seek school leaders whose values and practices fit closely with the community’s cultural expectations. Nevertheless, the cultural responsiveness of school leaders may turn out to be more complex than simple alignment of values and practices with prevailing cultural norms. This study provided insight into such dynamics by illuminating the ways principals negotiated school reform in the context of four quite different rural cultures. In particular, the principals did not simply adhere to cultural norms, but instead deployed a combination of culturally resonant and culturally dissonant practices. Community culture in these districts tended to circumscribe leadership by rendering certain practices as intelligible and other practices as discordant. Principals who made use of intelligible practices, however, cultivated trust and gained community support—conditions that, ironically, gave them scope to use more innovative leadership than these traditional communities might otherwise accept. The study’s findings suggest that local planners (e.g., boards of education) might want to adopt a broad view of cultural responsiveness when they prepare for leadership succession or seek replacements for key administrators.
Planning for Leadership with Army Educational and Leadership Competencies
By: Brenda Marina and Robin Ellert
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to identify which leadership competencies future U.S. Army Continuing Education System Education Services Offi cers will need to better structure leadership development within that organization. A Delphi survey was sent to 13 Southeast Region Army Education Services Officers (ESOs) and consisted of three rounds. Nine critical competency components were identifi ed in six core areas. The information obtained from this study can provide a framework to assist Army leaders, Garrison Commanders, and hiring officials when reviewing applications for future Education Services Officers. Current Army Continuing Education System professionals can also use the data from this study to ensure they have sought out and received the necessary training and development in each competency area and are fully qualified to meet the demands of working as future Education Services Officers.
By: Burhanittin Donmez
ABSTRACT: Migration and education are two interrelated terms. There is a long-standing concern in both academic research and public policy over the impact of migration in educational settings. Most educational studies and population analyses have aimed to explore the links and/or relations between education and migration, and the effects of migration on education and/or the effects of education on migration. Internal migration has been a feature of almost all societies and it has various effects on education and school systems. As a result of internal migration, insuring that an adequate number of schools and classrooms are in place is one of the important subjects at the very centre of internal migration and education issues. Internal migration is an important subject that educators and educational planners, therefore, should consider when it is deemed necessary to project adequate school and classroom numbers. This study aims to explore the adequacy of schools and classrooms in the light of internal migration in Turkey as a means of understanding the issues and implications involved, especially for those engaged in developing new policies and evolving plans for the Turkish educational setting. This paper analyzes the shortages in the numbers of schools and classrooms, a problem which is among the most important in Turkish education.