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Leadership is a popular topic both in the business and education worlds. The main reason for this popularity is that effective leadership is a primary factor for the success of any organization. By implementing leadership at the middle school and high school grades, the belief is that this earlier intervention will ultimately help not only the students, but the local communities, small businesses and larger corporate citizens.

What constitutes an effective middle school or high school system wide leadership program that delivers a positive return on your investment? These 10 pointers may help you better answer that question.

1. All staff must be developed at leaders to ensure consistency of behaviors through modeling. From bus drivers to superintendents, these individuals become role models for many young people. If their behavior is not consistent with any curriculum, then the likelihood of sustained success is doubtful. Using a student leadership program that evolved from a proven adult leadership process is probably a better way to proceed.

2. The desired end results for this leadership program should be clearly articulated before adoption of any curriculum. Simple benchmarks could be improved grades, improved high school retention and less discipline referrals. All benchmarks need to be measurable because as the old adage goes “if you can measure it, you can’t manage it.” This is the beginning to determine a positive or negative return on your investment for the leadership program or any change initiative.

3. The curriculum should focus on the affective learning domain especially interpersonal skills. Additionally, the cognitive and psychomotor domains should include: communication, conflict resolution, goal setting and goal achievement, higher order thinking skills, team building and time management.

4. Alignment between the leadership curriculum and the other academic disciplines is also necessary to the success of such a program. There needs to be numerous opportunities to apply newly learned concepts outside of the leadership classroom.

5. A goal setting and goal achievement Action Plan is probably the most critical piece to the success of this program. This Action Plan for success should allow for all students to self-evaluate themselves and provide a mechanism to prioritize and organize current and future goals.

6. A mentoring or alumni program should follow the student leadership development program. At this juncture is when the youth can fully participate in community projects as well as mentor younger students.

7. Parents need to be informed and if possible included within this leadership program. With many parents lacking the necessary skills and tools to help their children, by proactively working with parents helps both the young people and the school.

8. Local small business owners to larger corporate citizens need to be also involved. These companies can help by participating as keynote speakers as well as work to fund scholarships to help offset the cost of the leadership program and employing the graduates.

9. The curriculum should be highly interactive, highly adaptable and flexible and modeled after the best corporate training and development programs. Also, this curriculum should be researched based and should reinforce sound educational research including emotional intelligence, cognitive retention, etc.

10. Any student leadership program should also include pre and post assessments both cognitive and attitudinal. Additionally, a mechanism should be included to track these students for longitudinal data collection. These assessments show both the short-term return on investments as well as the long-term investments.

Finally, this leadership program should be for the majority of your student body and not just the high performing students. The success of our country is due to the as much if not more so to the every day efforts of the average citizen.

If constructing a viable and sustainable student world-class leadership program is in your current or future plans, then these pointers should catapult you ahead of the class because you now know that you have created self-leaders who are capable of being the knowledge workers needed in the 21st century workforce.

Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S.

This article may be freely published. Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. CEO of ADVANCED SYSTEMS located outside of Chicago, IL, is the Learning and Process Specialist. As one of the first nationally certified facilitators for America’s Rising Stars, a researched based student leadership program, Leanne speaks nationally on student leadership. Her 25 years of business & education experience allow Leanne’s clients to double their performance. Beginning with the belief systems, she brings a unique perspective to education, training and development that delivers a significant return on investment. Leanne infuses a 25 year old proven goal achievement action plan into her results focused solutions that work within a variety of industries including education, healthcare, manufacturing and professional services. Please contact Leanne at 219.759.5601 or visit http://www.processspecialist.com/youth.htm to read how you double your performance for unheard of results.

Tags: character education, education, Leadership, NCLB, schools, Student leadership, teen leadership programscharacter education, education, Leadership, NCLB, schools, Student leadership, teen leadership programs

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Education is hungry for change and this will require a shift in thinking welling up from within the system to bring about a new consciousness. Teachers as leaders calling forth their students, asking powerful questions, listening from a place of non-judgment, is a concept whose time has come. In partnership, teacher and student will actively engage in learning because they are passionate about the subject and excited about the future of their world. Out of this place, a co-active role will develop to create the flow that is needed for teachers to lead and to allow their students to grow as individuals. In return, a mutual trust and respect will emerge. This is a description of what is possible when coaching is introduced into the classroom. Giving teachers coaching skills may be the answer to what is not working in Education today.

Research does not reflect the kind of success that teachers would like to claim for their students and their profession. It is a complicated mixture of socio- economic, personal, and emotional issues that challenges everyone who is involved in Education. And the public demands that tests reflect the measure of success that teachers are having on their students. Little attention is paid to the holistic emotional well being of children.

Daniel Goleman’s work in Emotional Intelligence suggests that a skill set of six concepts is tantamount to address in addition to the academics taught in the classroom. Goleman perceives self-awareness, managing emotions, empathy communication co-operation and resolving conflicts, as necessary elements for the successful emotional development of the child. (Self-Science: The Subject is Me). He infers that pupil mediators could be available to teach the following skills outside of the classroom. Instead of outside pupil mediators teachers as coaches, leading the way, would open new doors in the holistic development of their students.

The idea of creating teachers as coaches is an intriguing one. Why not give teachers the skills to co-actively support their students in an environment that allows for everyone to be heard, an environment where no one gets to be wrong. Resolving conflicts through co-active communication would create a symbiotic relationship that would transform Education. A new energy would emerge, allowing students to grow both intellectually emotionally and spiritually This vision is embraced by coaches who are committed to making a difference in Education.

Teachers who design and implement change, instill creativity, listen to and hear their students are modeling leadership skills. One might say that they inspire through personal charisma, calling their students to action. There is an element of mystery as to how this actually happens that one person can ignite a fire in the human psyche big enough to cause someone to follow. And there is an aura around teachers who can feel the energy and produce what is needed to call forth greatness, in partnership with their students. However, there is a vast difference in co-actively leading versus telling students what to do and expecting an intended outcome.

Parker Palmer in his book, The Courage To Teach, asserts that good teachers join self and subject and students in the fabric of life. This points to a rich integration of concepts; a tapestry, woven together to produce results. Palmer sees communication, both listening and speaking, as essential for success. The lack of clear communication has a trickle down effect, from administrators to teachers, to students to the rest of the world. It is the single biggest component in a recipe for failure in the education system. Teaching the skills of listening, problem solving and leadership are tools that will empower the lives of everyone involved in the system. Coaching is the key to opening a new kind of communication in the classroom. Just as running into my former student helped me to reflect on the important role that I played in his life, teachers as coaches will transform education, one student at a time, until the impact is felt around the world.

Dr. Linda Lea is a former Professor of Teacher Education and currently, a Certified Coach and an Education Consultant. She is the Director of an International Education Program for a nonprofit organization working in East Africa. A world traveler and lecturer. Her work in coaching is with professional men and women and anyone who is passionate about Education. For more information go to http://www.LindaLea.com

Tags: coaching, education, Leadershipcoaching, education, Leadership

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Within education, almost any teacher can become a principal through self-direction provided they have the proper education and credentials. Unfortunately, within the training of principals, the focus is on being an instructional leader and not a manager leader.

Incoming principals bring their instructional strengths and knowledge of working with students, but to be an effective manager within the school requires additional skill sets that are not actively developed during their teacher or principal training.

In the previous teaching role, the new or even existing principal probably spent the majority of her or his time using job specific skills such as instruction, writing lesson plans and grading papers. Dealing with students and parents was only to a certain level and then those interactions where elevated to the principal. Now, the principal must deal not only with students and parents, but manage an entire organization - the school - from the custodial and support staff to the teachers.

Being a principal extends beyond just instructional leadership. Ongoing research also reveals that effective leadership practices can raise academic achievement one standard deviation or a jump from the 50th to 60th percentile. Additionally, another study suggests that the principal’s leadership can affect student achievement by 20%.

Suddenly, a new picture has emerged. The strengths of the former teachers are now relegated to the >i

Tags: education, Leadership, management, performance improvement, principal, professional development, trainingeducation, Leadership, management, performance improvement, principal, professional development, training

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