Introduction – Individual and organizational learning is a core mission for schools, colleges, and universities. The extent to which we are able to provide opportunities for learning for our students and/or employees is directly related to the quality of instruction and the educational context provided and created by their teachers, instructors, faculty, and/or professional development providers. To increase student and/or employee learning opportunities, we must improve the quality of instruction and the context for learning for teachers, instructors, faculty, professional development providers, and/or consultants. Yet, improving the quality of the learning opportunities for adults is a tremendously challenging goal for school and university leaders. We will identify significant leadership problems related to learning at the institutional level (i.e. administrative or faculty) and/or student level, collect relevant data, analyze that data, propose an appropriate solution from a leadership perspective, and assess the likelihood of success for the proposed solution with appropriate measures for determining success or at least significant improvement. Learning is a salient theme, as it is the argument for much of the educational change/reform instituted at all levels of educational policy and practice. The underlying assumption is that the perceived failures of the education system stem primarily from the extent which various underserved populations have had limited support within and access to equitable educational opportunities and resources – which result in long-standing underperformance, leakage within the educational pipeline, and limited career and social-class mobility. This class provides a preliminary introduction to the connections between learning and leadership in urban schools, institutions of higher learning, and other relevant work settings. Unit Learning Goals – when you finish this unit, you will be able to:Describe elements of a learning organization, and apply that model to an existing educational organization to determine: whether gaps in performance exist what efforts should be undertaken to close those gaps and to create a clear picture of what a successful outcome looks like, in terms of the client of the organization.Identify and conceptualize a plan for preparation and professional development of leaders at all levels to implement a learning organization.Reflect upon this plan in light of your current assignment, and identify a strategy to move your organization toward a high-performance organization.Describe and analyze professional development and continuing education approaches used in pre-k through 20 environments as they apply to leadership.Describe and analyze the relationship between leadership and learning conditions (expectations for learning/improvement, quality of instruction teachers, faculty, and administrators experience, and contexts for learning) for teachers, faculty, and administrators in pre-k through 20 environments, and identify key issues facing schools and colleges as they deal with teacher, faculty, administrator learning.Propose and apply strategies for change that will improve learning expectations and opportunities at all levels who will implement change strategies.Identify and evaluate the opportunities and constraints that leaders at different levels confront while enhancing educational opportunities, conditions, and expectations at all levels.
Questions to be answered before class as you complete the reading assignment:What does a learning organization look like?How is my organization similar or different from this picture?What issues need to be addressed in order to close this gap (if it exists)?How does strategic planning differ from long-term planning? Summary of Key Points:Modern, high-performance educational organizations are data-drive, learning organizations where the faculty is intimately involved in dialogue about the instructional process and product.The Leader’s responsibility is to create the conditions where this dialogue will occur, and to support it with the necessary data, material and human resources to ensure success.Organizational culture is a key element to the success of this strategy.Learning for faculty, administrators, and teachers is an essential component of any effort to improve educational opportunities for students in pre-k through 20 environments.At the same time, improving conditions and expectations for adult learning presents challenges to institutions to modify their programs and services to be effective. Leadership is essential to guide change, and to address attitudes as well as the content of change. click for download