0.1 Klinger, a., & Wronkovich, m. (april 2011). replicating

Education leadership review, volume 12, number 1 (april 2011)

NCPEA Education Leadership Review is a nationally refereed journal published two times a year, in Winter (April), and Fall (October) by the National Council of Professors ofEducational Administration. Editor: Kenneth Lane , Southeastern Louisiana University; Assistant Editor: Gerard Babo , Seton Hall University; Founding Editor: Theodore Creighton , Virginia Tech.

Authors

Amy L. Klinger , Ashland University

Michael Wronkcovich , Ashland University

Introduction

The decision making process of educational administrators consists of a number of elements unique to the profession. Building or district level school administrators are almost continually confronted with a wide variety of both immediate and postpone-able decisions as the very core of their daily work. These decisions range from the simple (“Should we have a fire drill today?”) to the complex (“Should this student be expelled?”) but have a number of factors in common.

Decisions in educational administration consist of competing elements or constituencies – what the student wants to happen is very different from what the teacher wants to occur – and a broad base of diverse stakeholders. Members of the school community, including staff, students, parents, administrators, and board members, may often have conflicting priorities and interests that are conveyed to the administrator making the decision.

Educational decisions are often made on the fly, without the luxury of time for reflection, discussion, or distance. Because of the myriad of decisions occurring daily, it is often difficult for administrators to predict which decisions may have unexpected and far-reaching consequences despite their seeming innocuous nature.