As our nation demands systemwide improvement in education, distance learning leaders of secondary and postsecondary schools are being challenged to offer reforms and to implement them more widely, deeply, and rapidly than ever before. Is there a different leadership skill set needed to bring distance learning programs to scale? Research suggests that leadership in the realm of educational technology is significantly different in various ways from leadership in general (Kearsley & Lynch, 1994). The contention is that many educational technology efforts fail due to the lack of good leadership at all levels of the school system. This suggests that technology leaders must develop skills specifically aimed at conceiving technical solutions to identified educational problems and then building theoretical, political, and financial support structures to ensure the success of the solution. This implies a need to identify the appropriate skills underlying technology leadership such that they can be incorporated into training programs for teachers and school administrators to ensure the success and scalability of distance learning reform efforts.
Elmore (1996) proposes that the “failure to scale up educational interventions was not so much a failure of a theory of how to reproduce success but the absence of a practical theory that takes account of the institutional complexities that operate on changes of practice” (p. 21). Maxcy (2000) describes the increased presence of technology as a sensitive area of cultural change where “little reference is harbored within [these] educational leadership reform agendas for dealing with it” (p. 142). He reports that educational institutions have been blinded to the increased use of computers and the Internet, encouraging neither professors of educational leadership nor student leaders-to-be to learn how to both understand and use new technologies. This suggests that educational reform leaders have stepped into the twenty-first century viewing technology as invisible, even though the place of computing and information technology has become a defining feature of our culture and its leadership since the 1990s and into the new millennium.
How can distance learning educational reforms develop into sustained practices within institutions blind to the use of technology? The optimism for distance learning as an educational reform model stems from the increased use of distance learning activities that are in large part due to the popularity of the Internet. The very nature of distance learning offers us the ability to test the current school model which many argue is obsolete and insufficient to meet current and future demands (Dede, 1994;,Moore & Kearsley, 1996; Roblyer, 2006). Some current research contends that as a model it had reached the upper limit of its potential effectiveness and efficiency many years ago. Whereas distance learning programs are seen as potential positive additions to the traditional classroom experience, they are thwarted as catalysts for systemic change because they are revolutionary and represent a fundamentally different delivery system that breaks the monopoly of the classroom and forces us to examine habits of teaching and learning that for too long have gone unchallenged.
As we witness the explosive growth of distance learning programs throughout the United States and as we watch these programs expand their reach globally, we need to determine:
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their ability to change basic pedagogical principles;
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their viability for longevity;
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their ability for replication;
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their acceptance in the mainstream educational arena;
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their impact for improving practice in education;
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their effectiveness in terms of student learning; and
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the required leadership skill set to bring them to scale.
Scalability of distance learning initiatives involves a more challenging set of circumstances for leaders than do other types of reforms. Kearsley and Lynch (1994) suggest that technology leadership requires unique considerations. Whereas leadership usually involves dealing with change, technology leadership deals almost exclusively with new procedures, policies, and situations. Moore and Kearsley (1996) point out that leadership is essential to the proper administration of distance education courses and programs. They assert that leaders must “participate in the political process, helping policy-makers to understand the potential of distance education, obtaining funding, and bringing about the organizational culture change that is needed to accommodate this new form of education” (p. 12).
What is the leadership skill set capable of confronting resistance from the status quo such that distance learning innovations can be brought to scale? Specifically, how can school leaders successfully promote school redesign and reform strategies for systemic change through distance learning innovations? Some research proposes a cultural view of leadership as most useful in the domain of education and technology leadership (Kearsley & Lynch, 1994). This theory suggests that leader success is determined by an ability to articulate and influence cultural norms and values while shaping the culture of the individual schools and school systems through new visions which organizational members can believe in and act on. Hughes and Zachariah (2001) concur: “Successful leaders not only challenge the existing educational process and inspire a vision for meaningful change, but also provide the necessary support and modeling strategies to enable teachers to become part of a learning community” (p. 3).
How can such a learning community emerge? Healey and DeStefano (1997) offer a dichotomy of actions regarding the relationship between leadership and organizational change. They suggest that scalability requires two skill sets, space clearing and space filling; both of which have implications regarding the type of leadership capabilities to successfully perform both actions. Space filling consists of actions that define and implement things that constitute good educational practice. Healey and DeStefano suggest that schools in the United States have concentrated largely on space-filling activities, and advocate that the problems we face with scalability indicate that we have done very little in regard to space clearing. They define space clearing as “activities that work to overcome the impeding effects of many obstacles that stand in the way of reform going to scale” (p. 14). These activities would include policy dialogues that afford changes in the legal structure of the system, policy marketing which enables understanding of constraints and options, coalition building that levels the political-economic playing field, networking which develops a support infrastructure for the reform, and consensus generation that leads toward decisions of important policy directions for the reform.
They advocate for reformers to expand their space-clearing efforts in order to push the pockets of reform to a theoretical maximum in terms of both size and number. They contend that to push reform beyond this point, “to effect a wholesale restructuring of the way in which the United States does education—will arouse an opposing force the resistance of which will require an entirely new set of strategies aimed specifically at strategically orchestrating space-filling and space-clearing activities” (p. 15). In this manner, they propose that scalability necessitates being both purposeful and strategic in its facilitation.
How can the notions of space filling and space clearing be used to better understand how distance learning leaders can take their reform effort to scale? Diamond (2007) proposes that scalability is comprised of two levels, scaling up and going to scale. Scaling up refers to the expansion of a program, practice, or product. Twenty years ago, the process of scaling up was defined as a replication model characterized by a one-way flow of information and mandates from external providers or districts to schools and teachers. This definition offers scaling up as simply a marketing problem needing strategies and incentives to persuade local decision makers and teachers to adopt a particular reform and scale up its use.
In contrast, going to scale refers to the ability of an innovation to sustain itself over time and for its participants to assume ownership of the reform. Going to scale implies full utilization of a program, practice, or product in a jurisdiction such as a nation, state, region, or school district. It refers to achieving reform in such a large number of schools and classrooms that the norms of the profession are altered, and the reformed practice becomes the new standard. Scalability refers to the movement from scaling up to the ability of an innovation to go to scale.
Diamond (2007) utilized the tenets of Pisapia’s (2006) strategic leadership theory to develop a practical checklist for educational leaders to use when designing strategies to bring distance learning innovations to scale. Pisapia suggests that postmodern leaders need to adaptively balance four counterweights: change, stability, ethical action, and political possibility. The theory posits that modern challenges are forcing leaders to develop new skill sets that afford them the ability to both lead for change while also leading for stability.
The leader’s effectiveness in maintaining this balancing act determines his or her relevance, competence, and acceptance by their organization. This ability to balance provides leaders with the flexibility and endurance to survive because they have the capability to continually adapt their strategy to the changing environment (Pisapia, 2006, as cited in Diamond, 2007, p. 124).
Strategic leadership is an expanded leadership framework enabling leaders to alter their thinking and actions to adjust to a contemporary world. Pisapia (2006) describes a fundamental shift in the environment(s) in which organizational work is taking place. The modern age, with its emphasis on rationalization and stability, is transitioning to the hyperrationalization and chaos of the postmodern condition. Therefore, leaders must “fit” their organizational reforms into its environment in order to survive. Fit organizations have the ability to perceive the themes in their environment and evolve appropriately. Because the environment is constantly changing, the application of this principle necessitates a continual rethinking, revising, and restructuring of the organization in order to stay connected to the environment. Also implied is the establishment of a learning process to ensure that the organization continues to develop.
Pisapia’s (2006) strategic leader actions are found in the transformational, managerial, political, and ethical leadership sets. Transformational leadership is the ability to use frame-breaking (space-clearing) actions that develop a new normative order and include the ability to challenge mental models, set direction, enable selfmanagement, and prioritize learning. Managerial leadership is the ability to use frame-sustaining (space filling) actions to create structural changes that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the current organization. Skills include the ability to plan, organize, allocate, and monitor the organization.
Ethical leadership is the ability to follow self-chosen principles and virtues, valuing rights of others, and upholding absolute values and rights in any situation. Leadership actions include acting virtuously, using best practice in making decisions, infusing values into the organization, and being the steward of the common good. Political leadership is the ability to barter, engage in relationships for the purpose of exchanging valued things, and form temporary (or materialistic) relationships. As such, the leader acts as a broker for the organization capable of building coalitions and facilitating transactions. It also includes the ability to develop networks with other people and organizations with common goals and direction.
The balancing of leading and managing (transformational and managerial) while considering the politics and values (political and ethical) is at the heart of strategic leadership. Dede, Honan, and Peters (2005) affirm Pisapia’s framework, stating that “people often see leadership as a combination of meticulous management, adept political maneuvering, and responsive facilitation of other ’s activities” (p. 128).
The constructs of strategic leadership become the primary attributes that describe how distance learning leaders can initiate, develop, and carry out significant change and effective educational reform. Diamond (2007), in her research regarding the scaling up of virtual high schools, identifies these leadership capabilities and separates them into the two distinct categories of scaling up and going to scale. Scaling up leadership capabilities represent the traditional notion of taking reforms to scale (space filling), whereas going to scale leadership capabilities are comprised of actions that push the envelope (space clearing) to strategically alter how we conduct the business of teaching and learning while ensuring a place for the distance learning initiative within the political context and climate of an organization. Scaling up leadership capabilities have the distance learning leader able to:
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manage the interrelated financial, human, and intellectual resource needs to maximize the benefits and build the infrastructure of the organization;
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display self-determination to reaching organizational goals;
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establish formal plans, policies, routines, and priorities to maintain reliable performance and task accomplishment; and
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monitor and emphasize the organizational priorities and operational standards by enforcing organizational rules to ensure success.
Going to scale leadership capabilities have the distance learning leader able to:
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commit to and demonstrate evidence of endorsement and continued support for the distance learning initiative;
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minimize the constraints from external and internal factors that can limit what the organization accomplishes;
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promote change and a new normative order by challenging the mental models of all members of organization;
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use knowledge of best practice as the basis for action by focusing on what needs to be done and what is right;
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stay the course of the reform while planning and preparing for succession;
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place a high priority on individual and organizational learning through continuous professional development opportunities;
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construct and communicate a compelling shared vision, values, and priorities;
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create a process that strategically places the organization into its competitive environment; and
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motivate people to work through rewards and punishments.
Elmore (1996) suggests that much of what passes for “change” in U.S. schooling is not really about changing the “core of educational practice.” He argues that educational changes and practices are superficial because they “seldom translate into changes in the fundamental conditions of teaching and learning for students and teachers” (p. 3). Distance learning reform programs are all about high aspirations. Somewhere between the Federal No Child Left Behind mandate for equal access to quality education by highly qualified teachers, and the local reality, stands the unrelenting wall of the status quo. The attributes of scalability offers the road map for states and school districts to get around it, through it, or over it. It is the process, the techniques, and the system for implementing sustainable reforms that become embraced, and ultimately embedded within the fabric of an organization. Diamond (2007) concludes that in order for distance learning initiatives to incorporate space clearing efforts (going to scale) that enable changes of practices, they must first develop strong space filling (scaling up) efforts capable of withstanding the organizational complexities that wreak havoc on innovative designs. Her research concludes that when scaling up attributes are strongly developed and incorporated into distance learning interventions, going to scale attributes are more likely to occur. The development of a practical theory such as one described by Elmore must include both of these types of attributes in order for distance learning initiatives to go to scale.
