Skilled education leaders serve several important purposes, the most obvious being their effect on the success of all students. However, what are the prerequisites of beneficial and capable leadership? Accomplishing the goal of delivering successful students will require that the leaders establish an operative system that provides specific guidance and direction in a given area of study. Additionally, leaders must be able to identify and hire prolific teachers who possess the ability to impart the knowledge to students that will enable them to successfully complete their education. Thus, the most effective leadership will include the coordination of employees and students functioning within well-run institutions that eventually dispense top-rate professionals into the world.
There’s an abundance of information available on education leadership that can be found in many formats such as in institutes, websites, books, databases, directories, journals and guides. Following are some examples of resources that can be helpful.
Books
An interesting resource supplied by the University of Maryland located at http://www.ila-net.org/communities/MIGs/Resources.htm provides various journals that tackle the major managerial and behavioral issues encountered in the education field giving leaders the opportunity to review these journals and interact with each other in academic forums with the exchange of ideas, suggestions and solutions.
Amazon.com has an array of books that reference the education leadership field from every possible perspective. At http://www.amazon.com/Best-Books-About-Educational-Leadership/lm/R1TJOMF4RU830V, educators will find books ranging in categories from helping leaders to discover the basic concepts of educational management and leadership, to showing educators how to decipher their own leadership capabilities.
Websites
ASCD is an organization which specializes in developing programs, services and products that focus on promoting best practices in the education leadership field. People in this field from all positions and subject levels are encouraged to go the ASCD website at http://www.ascd.org/about-ascd.aspx and become members of this organization. By doing so, educators and leaders will have access to an assortment of resources like books and publications, programs, and forums offering instruction, guidance and solutions, all drawn from proven strategies that have been used to promote educational excellence for students and professionals.
The Wallace Foundation has been working with school districts for more than a decade offering their expertise and knowledge on best practices for hiring, training and supporting leaders in the education field. This group stresses that central to the success of any educational institution is the leadership involved and therefore, the attention and focus should be on properly preparing and strengthening the key people in this field. Their website located at http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/Pages/default.aspx is chock full of books, reports and updates that evaluate the impact of leadership on student development and how to put the ultimate educational curriculum in place.
Documents
The Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education comes through with an endless list of what they refer to as Highly Qualified Leaders Project Documents that cover every point of view of the education leadership field. Their website located at http://www.ride.ri.gov/hqlp/resourceslinks.aspx carries a complete list of document resources covering subjects that give instructions on how to set up lab sessions for the purpose of conducting experiments and studies, as well as instructions on engaging parents and communities in the educational system as a another way to contribute to a productive curriculum.
Studies
Stanford Educational Leadership Institute was commissioned by the Wallace Foundation to conduct a study to determine what essential elements are the most important when it comes to setting up high quality schools with successful curriculums. At http://www.srnleads.org/data/pdfs/sls/sls_rr.pdf, people will find the results of this study that answers questions like what program structures provide the best learning environments, and what are the critical characteristics of effective leadership. This comprehensive study is entitled School Leadership Study: Developing Successful Principals and it addresses all the key issues encountered in this field.
Springer Science + Business Media readily concedes that the type of leadership makes the difference between the success and failure of an educational institution. Therefore, they conducted numerous studies for the purpose of ascertaining the prominent features of successful leadership and have highlighted the results of these studies in a book entitled Studies in Educational Leadership. This book is available in an easy to understand format at http://www.springer.com/series/6543.
Conclusion
Yet again, the Internet proves to be a valued source for gathering information relevant to education leadership resources. Indeed, all who browse this forum will find the resources referenced in this article and much more to satisfy their need for materials and guidance for one of the fastest growing academic fields.
