Here are some selections from ASCD publications that can help educators get in touch with their leadership potential, apply it to education policy, and watch it grow.
Who Are You?
Emerging Leader Lori Cooper listed getting to know yourself as key to fulfilling leadership potential. Here are a couple of strategies for getting to know your leadership style, from chapter 17, “Actualizing Natural Leadership Qualities,” from the book Finding Your Leadership Style: A Guide for Educators by Jeffrey Glanz (Members can log in for full access to the book):
Know Who You AreYou can't change if you don't know who you are. Knowing yourself requires self-assessment and, perhaps even more important, feedback from others. Confirm your personal assessments with the opinions of those whom you trust.Strategy 1. Gather at least five different viewpoints by asking five different people you trust to describe you. Do their descriptions confirm or contradict your assessment of yourself?Strategy 2. In the self-help section of your local library, select and read a book that deals with uncovering people's strengths and weaknesses.Strategy 3. Spend a day in conscious self-reflection. Conduct your normal business, but observe carefully how you interact, for instance, with others in the workplace. Are you overbearing? Are you congenial? How do you know that they appreciate your point of view? What do you think they might say behind your back?Affirm Your ValuesWhat do you believe in? What do you want to accomplish? How do you view teachers, students, and administrators? Articulate your core beliefs and values about education. Align your values with practice.Strategy 1. Develop a mission statement for yourself. Refer to it and act on it—every day.Strategy 2. Share your mission statement with trusted colleagues and ask them for feedback about the extent to which the statement matches your actions as a leader.Strategy 3. Every six months, review your goals and objectives as articulated in the mission statement and revise as necessary.(Copyright ASCD ©2002)
For more ASCD books on this topic, browse the “” section of the ASCD books Web site.
Practicing Policy Influence
Emerging Leader April Jordan is interested in trying out different roles in policy advocacy—using opportunities like the LEAP Conference's Day on the Hill as a chance to test her education policy advocacy chops. More and more, educators are stepping into policy work as a way to push education reforms. In the June 2005 issue of Education Update, the article, “Touch That Dial! Educators Tune In to Policy Channels,” Affiliate Leaders at Virginia ASCD give some tips on getting started and sustaining a focus, among educators, on policy work. (Members can log in for full access to the article):
Knowledge Is Power
Virginia ASCD has been working to influence state policy for several years and now has its sights set on Capitol Hill. Based on her group's experience, Executive Director Ann Etchison recommends the following approach to policy influence:
- Educate your group's leaders about how public policy is made and what topics are hot. For example, invite policy analysts to speak at board meetings.
- Have your leaders attend state board of education meetings and report back on pending legislation and current opposition to those bills.
- Inform your membership about proposed policy changes via newsletter articles and conference presentations.
- Partner with other education organizations when you share concerns about an issue.
“It's eminently helpful to speak with more than one voice” when working to drive changes in policy, Etchison emphasizes. “The more people you can get on that bus, the stronger your voice is going to be.”
(Copyright ASCD © 2005)
More ASCD Resources
For further exploration of policy and leadership themes, look under these stones:
July 2005 Infobrief, “A Policymaker's Primer on Assessment”“Cultivating Leaders from Within” by Maggie Burdette and Kristen Schertzer, Educational Leadership, May 2005 (Requires Member log in for full access)“Growing Into Leadership” by Harvey Alvy and Pam Robbins, Educational Leadership, May 2005 (Requires Member log in for full access)April 2004 Educational Leadership whole issue, “Leading in Tough Times” (Requires Member log in for full access)May 2005 Education Update article, “Promoting Diverse Leadership: Shared Cultural Backgrounds Can Strengthen Bridges” (Requires Member log in for full access)September 2003 Education Update article, “The Heart of the City: Teacher Leadership in Urban Schools” (Requires Member log in for full access)