Leading Across Islands: Decision-Making Factors Found in Leader Networks Spanning a Newfoundland School District

• In Event: Change Leadership Across Multiple Contexts

Abstract

This research shows the power of education research for district leader policy implementation. As school districts change, district leaders, leadership scholars and governments need grounded knowledge about the main factors influencing leader decision making in pan-district policy implementation environments. What do district leaders worry about most? How and why do teams of leaders interconnect to make decisions? The findings of this doctoral study of emerging urban, rural and district may surprise you. For example, teaching and learning (or leading) does not come first to mind among some leader decision making networks. By describing and interpreting starkly different decision making factors found across district leader groups, this paper offers principles for designing open, powerful and adaptive decision making school systems.

Authors

• Wilson Douglas Warren, Newfoundland Labrador English School Board

• Eugene Gary Kowch, University of Calgary