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Understanding Role-Making in Leadership Performance

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Quandaries of School Leadership

Abstract

With high-stakes educational environment, principals need to reconceptualize their leadership in order to make their schools responsive, adaptive, and productive. This is a challenge for principals that have emerged from the ranks of the teaching ranks, typically learning their leadership frameworks by “taking” their role from previous principals and concepts of leadership they have experienced. The phenomenon of strict adherence to a predefined role is referred to as role-taking by Hart (Principal succession: establishing leadership in schools. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993) and because of today’s high-stakes environment, has become an out-of-date way of thinking about the leadership role because of its static view and disregard for reciprocal leadership grounded in a dynamic interaction between the students, teachers, central office, parents, and the community. This chapter explores how principals can shift their traditional role-taking processes to role-making processes that are performance-based, relational, reflective, contextual, and involve collaborative reciprocating engagement of constituents to adequately address the complexities of educational reform.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Washington State University, Tri-Cities, Richland, WA, USA

    John Mancinelli & Michele Acker-Hocevar

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  1. John Mancinelli
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  2. Michele Acker-Hocevar
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stetson University, Celebration, USA

    Debra J. Touchton

  2. University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, USA

    Mariela A. Rodríguez

  3. Educational Leadership and Administration, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA

    Gary Ivory

  4. Washington State University Tri-Cities, Richland, Washington, USA

    Michele Acker-Hocevar

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Mancinelli, J., Acker-Hocevar, M. (2018). Understanding Role-Making in Leadership Performance. In: Touchton, D., Rodríguez, M., Ivory, G., Acker-Hocevar, M. (eds) Quandaries of School Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59120-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59120-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59119-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59120-9

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