Comments on: Who are the thought leaders in educational leadership?

By: Tim Springer

Tim Springer — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:16:03 +0000

Interesting points.
I’m curious – were the people on your lists nominees or awardees?

I ask because in scanning the UCEA website they list a single individual each year for each award to which your blog links. There are other awards with multiple annual recipients that also speak to Thought Leadership.

I’m also interested in the source of your lists, since I’m working on a presentation about “Learning from Thought Leaders”

Thanks

By: Lisa Linn

Lisa Linn — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 03:55:12 +0000

Jon,
An outstanding post -spectacularly on point. I find it interesting that a few of the people whom I consider thought leaders in education, are some of the folks who responded above. Hmm, maybe that was the point? If not, it certainly underlines it!

By: Grafik komputerowy

Grafik komputerowy — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 19:34:28 +0000

Great point of view. I for sure inform about it my to friend! Grafik Komputerowy.

By: #leadershipday10: the complete list : Darcy Moore's Blog

#leadershipday10: the complete list : Darcy Moore's Blog — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:53:26 +0000

[...] Becker (@jonbecker). Who are the thought leaders in educational leadership? Where I throw ed. leadership professors and school leaders under the bus, only not [...]

By: Jon Becker

Jon Becker — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 03:21:07 +0000

Oh, and one more thing, Adrienne. If that multi-authored blog is built on WordPress, the newly developed plugin, Anthologize, adds some really interesting possibilities…
See: http://anthologize.org/

By: Adrienne

Adrienne — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 03:02:58 +0000

Thanks for reminding me about Jerrid’s blog – I did know of it but hadn’t thought of it in a while. I agree; it’s credible, accessible, and definitely a good start. I also know from previous conversations with Jerrid that he’s open to contributors. I’m going to mention it to a few of my colleagues here and see if anything catches on. Sadly, a characteristic of some academics is they are more interested in their research than they are in “real change” (I put that in quotation marks because I’m not even sure what I mean when I say that). But that’s not to say it ain’t worth tryin’… Thanks for the push and the reminder.

By: Jon Becker

Jon Becker — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:37:00 +0000

Hi Adrienne,
I thought Jerrid Kruse was on to something with this blog:
http://researchtopractice.wordpress.com/
But, it needs some new life. It’s a simple concept, though. A multi-authored blog by credible producers and consumers of research that provides accessible summaries, critiques, etc. of research.

It’d be a GREAT project for a group of education doc. students to organize. What do you think?

By: Adrienne

Adrienne — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:41:12 +0000

I’m terribly late to respond, but have been thinking about this post since you wrote it.

It’s of no surprise to you that this is my favorite quote:

“If you’re serious about school reform, stop reading pop-psychology and marketing books written by people who wouldn’t know John Dewey from John Stamos.”

It drives me nuts that we have more educators following these pop-culture figures than the leaders you mentioned (many of whom I don’t know, but I did recognize 3 so I don’t feel too guilty considering Ed Leadership is not my specialty). But as you and others have pointed out, the pop-psych and marketing books are more widely disseminated, more easily accessible, and their authors distribute golden nuggets of “wisdom” in pithy epithets, which desperate educators (leaders and non-leaders alike) cling to for dear life.

You mentioned above that you’re going to work with other leaders at CASTLE to “bridge some gaps” — my question is what can the rest of us do to bridge this divide? Many administrators (and other educational leaders) don’t have access to the “closed” scholarly publications. Those of us who do can find and read them and ensure their ideas don’t wither and die in the PDFs they were published in, sure. Those who don’t have access can read the open access journals you linked to above.

And then what? Where’s the action that bridges that scholar/practitioner divide?

I’m not asking just to be a devil’s advocate; I’m genuinely asking what we can do to step forward, rather than just toss around good ideas and say, “hey, that’s great!” The fact is, much scholarly writing isn’t marketed well. Sometimes, it’s downright boring to read, even if it is full of great ideas — not exactly inspiring to most to get out there and DO something. I guess what I’m asking for is a call to action. What would you suggest?

By: Nick Sauers

Nick Sauers — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 02:20:48 +0000

Great post Jon! As a previous principal and current Ph.D student in Ed. Leadership, I know none of the individuals you named and I consider myself connected! Hmmmm…..maybe I should consider moving back into K-12 education!

By: Mags Amond

Mags Amond — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:56:36 +0000

The power of communication in social media – I found it ironic that I had not heard of the people on your list, but recognised two of the folk mentioned in the posting and your comment later (@dougbelshaw and @irasocol – both good ‘follows’).