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As a master teacher with ten years of experience in a challenging middle school, and as a director with our local teachers’ association, I am an excellent candidate for the Concordia online Doctorate of Education in Transformational Leadership program. I have continued my professional growth since I completed my master’s degree and have actively searched for a post-master’s program that excited and inspired me. The relevance and rigor of the Ed.D. in Transformational Leadership is the program most suited to my current obligations, future aspirations, leadership background, and style.
Before entering the teaching profession, I worked as a team leader in Disaster Management for the Canadian Red Cross and the Victoria Emergency Program in
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Victoria, British Columbia. I earned a certificate for Supervision in Disaster from the Canadian Red Cross and worked at the division level. There, I developed policy while I planned and coordinated interagency responses to large scale events. My experiences and training in emergency services transferred into numerous aspects of my private and professional pursuits. Learning how to coordinate large scale responses under trying circumstances prepared me for the rigors of being a U.S. Special Olympics Sailing Coach and the responsibilities of organizing the volunteer force and logistical support for the World Games held at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Working as a teacher, I ran several afterschool programs and attended our superintendent’s leadership academy.
Although I was being groomed for school administration, I instead became a leader with our teachers’ association, realizing that it was in this arena where I could affect greater change. Like many school districts, St. Mary's County Public Schools (with its 17,000 students) was unable to meet their obligation to fully fund teacher salaries as promised in the negotiated agreement. Through an e-mail campaign, rallies, press conferences and a series of interviews with newspapers such as the Washington Post, I began and managed a job action called “Back to Basics.” The job action successfully educated the public and our local politicians on the budgetary shortfalls that our school system had faced for several years. During this job action, I was elected to our local association’s board of directors and was recognized by our state and national education associations for my efforts in St. Mary's County. Thanks to the support of our community leaders, St. Mary's County Public Schools is now fully funded and is the only school system in the state of Maryland that has been able to meet its contractual obligations, where many of the surrounding counties have been unable to support teacher raises for the last five to eight
years. With the recommendation of Janet Varner, a colleague who is in the second year of her Ed.D. with Concordia, I reached out to your admissions department after receiving an email advertisement. After speaking at length with Mrs. Varner, and another close friend in the final stages of her Ph.D., I understand and am prepared for the time commitments that this program will demand. My wife and I have discussed what the next few years will entail if admitted to the program, and we are prepared for the challenges and sacrifices. I understand that a minimum grade point average of 3.0 is required to complete the program. I also understand Concordia University – Portland does not provide licensure or certification, and the university does not complete state request forms for licensure. I look forward to your response, and I sincerely thank you for your consideration.
Ms. Hall has had many years of public education experience and higher education training in which to hone her leadership style and framework. She started her career as a teacher in the Kirkwood School District. She then served as an assistant elementary principal at both Ritenour and Pattonville School Districts before being selected to serve as the assistant superintendent of the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District in 2008. Throughout her career she continued to pursue her education as a means o...
Dr. Tanisha L. Heaston, principal of Treadwell Elementary talks to me about educational change. In my first meeting and interview with her, she displays many if not all the leadership benchmarks of a Change Master and Facilitator. Defined by McEwan (2003), a Change Master is a highly effective principal who is flexible and futuristic. A realistic leader who is able to both motivate and manage change in an organized, positive, and enduring fashion. As a Change Master, she uses a situational approach since every school community requires somewhat different skills. Dr. Heaston respects change resisters, procures resources for her school, and trusts her teams which aligns with ISLLC Standard Six.
Leading organizations of school administrators offer educators various opportunities to encourage educators to become leaders. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has mandated that leaders be better prepared for the task of providing quality education to all. NCLB “… is forcing all educational stakeholders to face the weakness of contemporary school leadership and is making it impossible to ignore the need for higher quality principals” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). It is believed that all educators can be and are leaders in their own right. A leader is a visionary and has the ability to inspire others to aspire to greatness. Of the numerous opportunities that are offered, those that are most beneficial include but are not limited to leadership training programs, professional development, and creating shared leadership opportunities for teachers to become leaders. The systems “…that produce our nation’s principals are complex and interrelated – and governed by the states. Each state establishes licensing, certification and re-certification” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). States use the ISLLC standards “…as the framework for preparation programs and in service professional development of school superintendents, principals, and other leaders” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.3).
The concept of transformational leadership relies on appropriate leadership approaches for mission success. AFDD 1-1 describes three leadership competencies: person, people/team, organization Effective leaders (tactical level) need to build face-to-face and interpersonal relationships that directly influence behavior and values. Effective leaders (operational level) need to build team dynamics for small groups and squadrons. Effective leaders (strategic level) need to build strategy and provide direction in a broad spectrum.
In February 2010 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) reported their shockingly large budget deficit which will affect the 2010 / 2011 school year. The decreased state funding, increased salary and benefit costs, and the increase of operational costs for Chicago Public schools leaves a deficit of $700 - $900 millions dollars. This deficit of funds will have drastic affects on teachers including teacher and staff layoffs, school closings, and loss of teacher benefits. More importantly the effects of budgetary issues hits hard on our students’ increase the inequities of especially poor urban schools. These children have nothing to do with poor management of the funds for their basic right of an equal and highly performing education. There are an increased number of dilapidated school buildings, an increased number of charter schools, and a loss of afterschool programs such as music and sport activities, minimal school supplies, no transportat...
In class, I learned about Kouzes and Posner’s five practices that relate to Transformational Leadership; they include modeling the way, inspiring
Currently, the fact that there is a high employee turnover is problematic. High employee turnover suggests the organization is not effectively managing its teammates (Brody and Nair, 2014). A different leadership technique could possibly be used at the organization to address high employee turnover. As mentioned above, the current leadership style has proven successful for the company as a whole, but it is not working effectively at my particular clinic. The reality is that the clinic is having a hard time managing employees. As the current leadership style, has been participative leadership, a potential strategy could be to shift to transformational leadership. Several studies have reported on the effectiveness of a transformation leadership style. At my clinic, the top leader is the facility administrator, who is a woman. Transformational leadership theory is based on the notion that teammates will go above and beyond what is normally expected of
As with any approach or theory to leadership, weaknesses and strengths become obvious. Northouse (2001) identifies the weaknesses and strengths of the transformational leadership method as follows:
According to Yoder-Wise (2015), a leader can be defined as, “an individual who works with others to develop a clear vision of the preferred future and to make that vision happen” (p 35). As employees, we often have our own ideal of a good leader, which may be influenced by experiences and perception of workplace norms. While one’s opinion of an effective leader may vary, there are several recognized leadership theories. The following will focus on the transformational leadership approach.
Transformational leadership is one of the most popular leadership styles. According to Kendrick (2011), “Transformational leadership involves four factors: 1. idealized influence, 2. inspirational motivation, 3. intellectual stimulation, and 4. individual consideration.” These four factors make transformational leadership have an impact on followers. The goal of transformational leadership is to cause a positive change in individuals, help motivate them, and develop a leader within each individual.
Throughout life, there are and have been leaders who have helped change and shape others view of the world by their charisma, strength, morals, and kindness. These particular people can help to create a vision along with intellectually stimulating people to broaden their horizons and to be successful in business and personal accomplishments. At one point of time, there was someone who I considered a leader, who motivated me by applying what is known as the Transformational Leadership Theory. Transformational leaders “inspire and empower” (LugoSantiago, 2016, p. 18) other individuals to become more well-rounded along with helping to achieving overall goals. With the Transformational
In the article titled, “Does the Transactional- Transformational Leadership Paradigm Transcend Organization and National Boundaries?” by Bernard M. Bass, Bass addressed the different paradigm of transactional and transformational leadership as well as how other factors influence their effectiveness. He notes that leadership is universal and that there are a lot of of sub-factors in addition to hereditary component, which is about forty percent, that affect one’s capability of becoming an influential leader (Bass, 1997). The part of the article that I personally found very significant is where Bass examines the quality of a transformational leader. According to Bass, leaders who qualified as being a transformational figure was someone who had exceeded Maslow's Hierarchy of needs by achieving self actualization and moved past selfish interest. Similarly, one of the components of a transformational leader according to Bass was “Inspirational Motivation [according to which] leaders articulate an appealing vision of the future, challenge followers with high standards, talk optimistically with enthusiasm, and provide encouragement and meaning for what needs to be done” (Bass, 1997).
What is leadership? “Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right”. The meaning of leadership can bring to a variety of images. For example:
This study aims to determine the impact of leadership styles on job satisfaction and job commitment. Leadership is an art of influencing thoughts and activities of followers for the achievement of established goals and standards. A good leader influences the followers in such a way that they put more effort for the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives. The impact of transactional and transformational leadership styles on job satisfaction and job commitment of education sector of Pakistan is observed. The result of study has shown that both leadership styles have effect on job satisfaction and job commitment. Transactional and transformational leadership styles play a vital role in every organization with respect to job satisfaction and commitment. The study indicates that transactional and transformational leadership style intensifies job satisfaction and commitment. But in Pakistan context transformational leadership style has more influence on job satisfaction and job commitment. Employees would like to work with transformational leader as they know the leader is a source of motivation, inspiration and build confidence. Transformational leader inspires their follower because employees feel trust, loyalty, appreciation and respect. Employees put more energy and effort for the betterment of the organization. They work beyond the established standards by meeting all the organizational goals and objective. Transformational leader arouses the awareness in the employees and change the perspective of employees. Transformational leader build a sense of achievement and growth. Here are some recommendations on the behalf of my study for the leaders of education sector for the enhancement of job satisfaction...
As you can see the school board handles many issues from budgets, to tenure, to performance scores, to conferences. Although this paper did not cover everything in the meeting, it summarized what took place, and what affects it would have on teachers. The decisions made no matter how big or small can influence how and what task a teacher performs. The school board meeting was interesting because you are able to see how the changes could affect you personally.