Turning Around a Low Performing School

Introduction

Performance in schools depends on a number of factors within and without the school’s environment. In the general set up, performance is affected by the hours a student spends while revising and learning his classworks, the number of times the student is committed to doing class assignments, at the extent, the amount of work or rather house chores given to the student.The factors are considerably high and this forms the basis of performance in schools by a number of students. Schools play a great role in ensuring that students perform and perhaps that's the reason for the establishment of schools. In any given institution, performance or success is determined by the management system and this involves leadership skills (Brundrett, Burton & Smith, 2003). In school, performance is paramount and this is based on the leadership skills that the students undergo and how the management conducts their curricula. Schools are divided into different departments as well as students’ structure which include their leaders. Performance in schools is dependent on the leadership skills that are likely to be portrayed in the system. In a low performing school, the likely reason for the failure is due to the poor leadership skills that would rather help elevate the learning activities (Brundrett, Burton & Smith, 2003). In performing schools, seemingly the leadership skills are way apt and commendable for the existence of the school. In order to elevate a lowly performing school to a rather averagely or better-performing institution, the leadership of the unions must always be liable and be corrected.

Leadership and education work in handy in order for a successful management to be obtained. Schools offer the best example of institutions that demonstrate the actualization of what is expected of leaders and what leaders are expected to do to the general public. Leaders are expected to be all round and hence very active in problem identification in any given set up. In a low performing school, leaders are liable to most of the happenstances. The challenge in the institution is low performance and therefore the leaders should first identify the problem. Upon problem identification, sources of the problems are established after which they are solved each at a time till when the main problem in performance is annihilated (Brundrett, Burton, & Smith, 2003). The knowledge base any leader should have is on problem identification and the relevant ways within which the challenge can be completely been removed. In problem solution, leaders are expected to know the significance of whichever model they choose to solve the problem (Grace, 2005). Some of the models that aid in problem-solving have robust effects to the general public and therefore leaders should have the wit of identifying the best way of model identification. The school leader should be well acquainted with the different sources of low performance in the school and how to solve the problem as fast as possible. This paper shall focus on relating leadership skills to performance in schools and what is expected of leaders in providing solutions to problems. In order to establish the leadership expectation, the paper gives a challenge of a low performing school which is to be rectified through a leadership approach. Different leadership skills are analyzed and how they can be applied in problem solving. In addition, technical leadership is analyzed in problem identification and the sources of low performance in a school. 

Knowledge of the School Leaders

In identifying the sources of problems in the school, the leaders must have knowledge of the repercussion of the delayed solution. A number of factors, as outlined in the introduction, affect the performance of students in schools (Herman et al, 2008). Among the factors include time spent in revision; hours spent learning, student’s attitude towards the teacher and perhaps the student’s determination in learning. When a leader identifies the different factors affecting performance in schools, it will be very easy to have solutions. A number of studies indicate that performance of students is directly proportional to the hours spent in learning and revision (Grace, 2005). In a low performing institution, leaders should strive to ensure that students have enough time in revision and perhaps learning. It is the responsibility of leaders to ensure that the environment is favorable for learning to take place and this defines their responsibilities in the schools. Every student should have access to the school resources at equal proportions and this includes time allocation to every student in ensuring that the best is done for all the students. The challenge on low performance should remind leaders that there is a short supply of their services. School leaders should, therefore, strive to establish the source of low performance in the school before proceeding to find the solution and implementing them.

Channels of Communication

Upon identification of the source for the low performance, it will be in order to channel the communication both to the management and even the entire student’s body. The channel of communication should then follow a destined sequence defined by the urgency of the process and the method with which they can be easily addressed. The leaders should first communicate to the school management sequence to give a clearance on effecting changes in the system. Most of the performance factors are owed to the fact that environment suits the studies. It will be the responsibility of the school management system to ensure that the environmental suitability is adhered to. This will aid in increasing the performance of students in the school (Herman et al, 2008). The right communication channel must, therefore, be followed to ensure that everything is done in order and sequence acceptable by the entire system. The student leaders should inform their immediate superiors who will then pass the information to the directors of the schools. Some of the fact0ors that affect performance in school need the intervention of the4 whole managerial system of the institution. Therefore, it will be in order to inform the superior management departments to aid in effecting changes in the learning process. 

Another channel of communication should be directed to the students themselves who are the immediate victims of performance in the school. Whenever the leaders have established to root courses of underperformance of low performance, they ought to have informed the immediate superiors before asking the students. At times, the students are also involved in the communication channel since they are the main victims of the circumstance. The leaders should help in correcting some of the notable mistakes in the learning patterns and making appropriate changes in the systems which are vital to the learning process. The communication channel towards the students should be more information to ensure that some of the courses of low performance are established and correctly put into practice (Herman et al, 2008). After the identification of the problem in the system, the leaders should pass what they have found out to those responsible and ensure that the right measures are taken which will ensure that the major and more accommodatingsolutions are made and implemented to correct the low performance in the school.

Roles of School Leader

School leader must play a role in addressing problems that are encountered in the institution. In the general definition of leadership, leaders are expected to be solution providers. In the case of this challenge of low performance, school leaders have important roles to play in addressing the problem. Some of the major roles played by school leaders include identification of sources of problems in the institution and solution, directing students on what to do at given instances of challenges, work with the higher authorities to get solutions to problems and also the school leaders are responsible for giving directives and channeling the student wants to the relevant authorities. 

School leaders should identify the problem and find amicable solutions to the challenges encountered. Leaders by virtue are responsible for the wellbeing of students in the school. Upon the occurrence of any problem, they should find the best and quickest way of solving the problems (Maxcy, 1991). In the case of the low performing school, the leaders should strive and locate the source of low performance in the school and adequately address them to the entire school and discussions done with immediate authorities in order to arrive at a solution. The school leaders should serve the purpose of directing the students on what to do while they are looking for solutions to problems at hand. Sometimes students may be confused on what to do and it will be the onus of the leaders to give directives to them. 

Interpersonal Skills

School leaders are anticipated to have some notable interpersonal skills. Quite often, the school is affected in terms of student’s welfare. At such moments, the leaders need to have interpersonal skills that will help them in understanding what almost each and every student expects to be done so that solutions can be established for the challenges (Brundrett, Burton, & Smith, 2003). Leaders should be understanding. An understanding leader is more of a personal friend and everyone would wish to have their problems be addressed by such leaders. Another interpersonal skill that a school leader should possess is humility. In instances where trust should follow the major proceeds of the solution-finding-process, leaders should be humble and listen to students grievances (Hofer, 1980). Interpersonal skills are very consequential in understanding the needs of students and leaders should, therefore, be informed on how to carry themselves and instill hopes to the students they lead.Low performance in school can be solved by the virtue of having the interpersonal skills. 

Technical Skills

School leaders must be equipped with adequate knowledge on the magnitude of some of the matters that involve them with the students. At certain instances, school leaders need to be aware of technical problems that will need them to be solved by applying technical skills.Some of the most important technical skills needed from a school leader are the ability is identifying a problem and designing models in solving it (Grace, 2005). Low performance can be categorized as a technical problem in the school since there need to be some adjustments in the system for good performance to be realized. Technical skills involve decision making and solution finding. At given instances, leaders are expected to give immediate solutions to more urgent problems. In such a case, the leader must be having some vast knowledge of technical skills.

Data

In data collection, analysis address and evaluation, school leaders must have vast knowledge in research methods. Data collection dictates that school leaders interact with the students and issue questionnaires and even carry out interviews among the students. In the school setting, the leaders can get records from the administration records in performance and analyzefor the compilation of the problem. Through the interaction with students and the obtained data, solutions can be found for the low performance in the school (Maxcy, 1991). Data analysis involvesthe systematic representation of raw data in a manner that a reader can easily understand. School leaders need to have vast knowledge in data analysis and this will involve knowledge in measures of central tendencies and some other statistical inferences to be made from the data obtained (Hofer, 1980). Data pertaining the low performance in the school can be analyzed by leaders through getting the means, median and even the modes with standard deviations and variances. Evaluation of analyzed data will give the light on where the problem in performance lies and appropriate solutions are established (Maxcy, 1991). Whenever the data for the performance in the school is established, school leaders will tell where the problem is and devise ways with which they can be solved. 

Way to Plan

Having a plan to solve a problem in an institution will involve the board of directors and the contribution of those affected.To have an elaborate plan for deriving a solution to the problem, leaders should first carry out personal interactions with the students to get what they generally think about the situation and how they may wish the challenge should be addressed. This should involve the recording of the discussions and amiable suggestions also put forth (Brundrett, Burton, & Smith, 2003). The outcome of such discussions is forwarded to the senior administrations that will, therefore, have the professional expertise to establish solutions to the problem. To plan for change, school leaders must be brought on board and put to task on the expectations of the system.In collaboration with teachers and the students, solutions can be reached at and the low performance in the school shall be corrected. 

Success Indicators

In noticing the changes on the challenge, there must be some parameters that can be used to gauge the changes in performance. Performance is determined by the general performance of the school, performance of teachers, performance of students and individual scores by the students.Whenever there is any change in the entries mentioned, it will mean that performance shall be on a verge to become better in the whole school (Brundrett, Burton, & Smith, 2003). When individual students start performing better or adding something on their performance, it will be an indication that changes made will be of importance to the school's general performance. The low-performance tag shall be eradicated with time. It is worth noting that performance in schools cannot be scaled overnight and therefore the small bits of inputs will eventually put the school on a performing spree.

Conclusion: Paper and the Course

The paper gives an insight on what is expected of a school leader when the system is under a problem. The paper gives the roles, expected skills from a leader and problem identification and solutions. In relation to the course, the paper connects leadership and education which are two different entities that wholly need each other in order to realize significant changes to the whole system. Leadership is gauged in terms of problem-solving and the paper gives the qualities and the skills expected from a leader in giving solutions to problems that are discussed in the coursework. School-based learning involves simulation of what is learned in class and what can be applied in the real world. The course strives at giving the insights of education and how leadership is expected to solve problems. The paper, however, strives at indicating the practicality of the class-based analogy to what is anticipated in the field of work.

References

Brundrett, M., Burton, N., & Smith, R. (Eds.). (2003). Leadership in education . Sage.

Grace, G. (2005). School leadership: Beyond education management . Routledge.

Herman, R., Dawson, P., Dee, T., Greene, J., Maynard, R., Redding, S., & Darwin, M. (2008). Turning Around Chronically Low-Performing Schools. IES Practice Guide. NCEE 2008-4020. National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance .

Hofer, C. W. (1980). Turnaround strategies. Journal of Business Strategy , 1 (1), 19-31.

Maxcy, S. J. (1991). Educational Leadership: A Critical Pragmatic Perspective. Critical Studies in Education and Culture Series . Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., 88 Post Road West, PO Box 5007, Westport, CT 06881-9990 (ISBN-0-89789-259-3, paperback: $16.95; ISBN-89789-258-5, hardback).