US and Cross-National Policies, Practices, and Preparation : Implications for Successful Instructional Leadership, Organizational Learning, and Culturally Responsive Practices

As educational policy trends converge in many countries, such as demands for greater accountability, decentralization, and more culturally sensitive practices for an increasingly diverse student body, there is growing interest in cross-national comparisons and generalizations about leadership qualities and practices that result in successful schools. __US and Cross-National Policies, Practices and Preparation: Implications for Successful Instructional Leadership, Organizational Learning, and Culturally Responsive Practices__ fills that need by bringing together triads of scholars from the International Study of Successful School Principals (ISSPP) to make direct comparisons among policies and practices in the U.S. with those in other national contexts, and then to draw implications for improving leadership preparation. This book provides theories and empirical case study examples of instructional leadership, organizational learning, and culturally responsive practices as they are shaped by political, economic, and cultural factors in seven different national contexts. The seven countries featured in this book are the U.S., Australia, Denmark, England, Sweden, Norway, and Cyprus. The book begins with an overview of the ISSPP, including its underlying theoretical framework, its research methodologies employed, its limitations and how analyses of the project’s data and findings evolved from the first phase of the study to its current focus. Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Comparative Perspectives: An Overview of Seven Educational Contexts....Pages 1-16 Converging Policy Trends....Pages 17-28 Leading Organisational Learning and Capacity Building....Pages 29-49 Democratic Instructional Leadership in Australia, Denmark, and the United States....Pages 51-73 Culturally Responsive Practices....Pages 75-101 Preparing School Leaders to Lead Organizational Learning and Capacity Building....Pages 103-123 Preparing Instructional Leaders....Pages 125-152 Leadership Preparation for Culturally Diverse Schools in Cyprus, Norway, and the United States....Pages 153-177 Comparative Perspectives on Organizational Learning, Instructional Leadership, and Culturally Responsive Practices: Conclusions and Future Directions....Pages 179-189 Back Matter....Pages 185-185 This book offers cross-national comparisons and generalizations about leadership qualities and practices that result in successful schools. It compares policies and practices in the U.S. with six other countries and includes theories and case study examples.