Mette’s article most downloaded of 2015 in educational leadership journal
Ian Mette, an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Maine, had the most downloaded article of 2015 in the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership.
The paper, “Turnaround, Transformational, or Transactional Leadership: An Ethical Dilemma in School Reform,” appeared in the December 2014 issue of JCEL. It was downloaded more than 1,500 times last year, according to the journal’s website.
The article examines the negative impact school reform policies can have on underperforming schools, particularly schools that serve high percentages of minority students. It highlights how accountability policies place extreme pressure on educators to teach to a standardized test, which often leads to an increase in rote memorization and a decrease in higher-order thinking and instruction.
“Many communities in Maine are beginning to experience similar issues and pressures as school systems respond to increasingly diverse racial populations as a result of new migration patterns, as well as the negative impact on communities being labeled a failing school,” Mette said.
The article was based on research Mette did for his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Missouri. It was co-written with Jay P. Scribner, a professor at Old Dominion University.
The paper can be viewed online.