Turnaround Leadeship And The Improvement Of Failing-school

Turning low-performing school around has been highlighted as one of the most important policy issuein the trend of global educational reform movement.Large amounts of research in the field of school effectiveness and improvement have shed lights on those factors that might contributes to school turnaround,among which were the school principalship and leadership factor.Investigation of the recent researches on school leadership indicates that turnaround leadership has emerged as a specific leadership pattern regarding how to lead the transformation of low-performing schools and radical turnaround of those failing and inefficient schools.Despite numerous contributions of investigation regarding the turnaround leadership abroad,the related efforts are quite limited in China.This paper aims at exploring a case school in J district of Shanghai,describing and analyzing in detail how "turnaround leadership" operates in the improvement of low-performing schools in the specific context of our countryTaking S School located in J District of Shanghai as a case,this study employs qualitative methods to explore the practical process of the principal leading improvement and development in schools,and to present the process of him interacting with the situation.Our research breaks through the should-be level of"what the principal should do",returns to the actual level "what the principal did",and tries to explore why the principal did so.Based on turnaround leadership theory and supplemented with other school leadership theories,this research refers to the conceptual leadership model proposed by Leithwood and Harris and conducts a detailed analysis of school improvement process.Findings reveal that the principal plays a crucial role in the process of school improvement,and the school has acquired remarkable achievements in establishing the development direction,developing teachers,and characterizing curriculum and teaching management by integrating cross-disciplinary resources.The success of the case school depends not only on the turnaround leadership of the principal,but also on the specific educational situation,i.e.,the help and support of the superior government and the education department,the regional recruitment policy and the geographical position of the school.Moreover,the subsequent in-depth description and analysis can provide reference and enlightenment for the advancement of school leadership theory and practice.Other low-performing schools should realize the limitations of this case school practice and take a comprehensive consideration of their different circumstances when referring to the experience.In conclusion,through qualitative empirical case studies,this paper enhances the understanding of low-performing school improvement and turnaround leadership,enriches related researches in China,and thus can enlighten others in research methodology and perspective.