Directions for New Research: Preparation and Professional Development for Middle-Level Leaders

• In Event: Contributions and Connections: Establishing a Comprehensive Agenda for Middle-Level Education Research

Abstract

Purpose
To summarize research on how middle school administrators are prepared and continue to learn to develop and coordinate middle school structures and processes documented to be essential to students’ learning and development (Jackson and Davis, 2000; Bickmore, 2016). Attention was paid to how administrators’ preparation and continuing development either facilitate or inhibit teacher collaboration and leadership provided by teachers and other school staff members (Yoon et al., 2015; Wenner and Cambell, 2017).

Perspectives
For administrators to affect students’ learning and personal development, their approaches must affect one or more of the characteristics that other researchers have identified as essential to middle school student learning and development, including (a) structures and processes that provide for a challenging, integrative, exploratory curriculum; (b) varied approaches to teaching that engage students in active learning; (c) assessment and evaluation processes that promote student-centered learning; (d) inclusive programs and policies that foster all students’ health, wellness and safety; (e) flexible organizational structures that provide varied opportunities for learning; and (f) comprehensive guidance and support systems that reflect students’ transition from childhood to adolescence (Jackson and Davis, 2000; Petzko, 2004; Gale and Bishop, 2014; Angelle, 2016; Bickmore, 2016).

Methods & Data Sources
In conducting our literature review we used conventional approaches to identifying, summarizing, and analyzing empirical research and research syntheses relevant to the questions we posed (Hart, 2018). We utilized peer-reviewed, empirical studies and research syntheses of the instructional and organizational leadership and preparation of formally-appointed administrators in middle schools, and were attentive to studies of other kinds of middle school leadership and educational leadership in other settings, as well as studies of informal leadership and collaboration among other school staff members.

Results
This study of middle level leadership uncovered the formal and informal processes by which the essential characteristics of middle level education are developed, nurtured, inter-connected and changed. While most of the research on middle level leadership has focused on the roles played by those who have been formally trained and appointed to serve as administrators, attention is now also being paid to collaboration among teachers and other staff members and the formal and informal leadership roles they play. Our literature review has yielded the following questions for further research: What is the status of middle-level schools’ leadership preparation? What do each of the middle-level essential elements tell us about leadership and leadership preparation? How were administrators trained for middle level education 20-30 years ago vs how they are trained now?

Scholarly Significance
This work contributes to a comprehensive literature review on current research in middle level education. It adds to the 2016 MLER SIG Research agenda by identifying and uncovering themes and gaps in middle level research on this important topic of middle level leadership, and how middle level leadership affects and is related to other factors that are critical to middle level student learning and success.

Authors

• Toni M. Williams, University of South Carolina

• W. Keith Burgess, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Mary Ann Luciano, Luciano Education Associates