Joseph F. Murphy

Frank W. Mayborn Chair of Education; Associate Dean for Special Projects

Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 1980

Joseph Murphy is the Frank W. Mayborn Chair of Education and Associate Dean at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University.  He has also been a faculty member at the University of Illinois and The Ohio State University, where he was the William Ray Flesher Professor of Education.

In the public schools, he has served as an administrator at the school, district, and state levels, including an appointment as the Executive Assistant to the Chief Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction in California.  His most recent appointment was as the founding President of the Ohio Principals Leadership Academy.  At the university level, he has served as Department Chair and Associate Dean.

He is a past Program Chair for Division A of AERA and a past Vice President of AERA.  He was the founding Chair (1994-2004) of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC).

Murphy is the co-editor of the AERA Handbook of Research on Educational Administration (1999) and editor of the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE) yearbook The Educational Leadership Challenge (2002).

His work is in the area of school improvement, with special emphasis on leadership and policy.  He has authored or co-authored 16 books and 2 major monographs in this area and edited another 12 books.  His most recent authored volumes include: Understanding and Assessing the Charter School Movement (2002), Leadership for Literacy (2004), Connecting Teacher Leadership and School Improvement (2005), Preparing School Leaders: An Agenda for Research and Action (2006), Turning Around Failing Schools: Leadership Lessons from the Organizational Sciences (2008), and The Educator's Handbook for Understanding and Closing Achievement Gaps (2010).  He has also published over 200 articles and book chapters on school improvement and leadership.

Murphy directed the development of the ISLLC Standards for School Leaders and chaired the research panel that produced the revisions to those standards-ISLLC: 2008.  He led the CCSSO team that developed the specifications with ETS for the School Leaders Licensure Assessment (SLLA).  He is also one of the four co-creators of the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education.

Learn More about Joseph F. Murphy:

Courses Taught | Selected Publications
CV | Media Mentions

Selected Publications

Books

Murphy, J. & Meyers, C. V. (2008). Turning around failing schools: Leadership lessons from the organizational sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Murphy, J. (2006). Preparing school leaders: An agenda for research and action. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Murphy, J. (2005). Connecting teacher leadership and school improvement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Murphy, J. (2004). Leadership for literacy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Murphy, J., & Shiffman, C. (2002). Understanding and assessing charter schools. New York: Teachers College Press.

Murphy, J., Beck, L. G., Crawford, M., & Hodges, A. (2001). The productive high school: Creating personalized academic communities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Monographs

Murphy, J. & Vriesenga, M. (2004). Research on preparation programs in educational administration: An analysis. Columbia, MO: University Council for Educational Administration.

Murphy, J. (1999). The quest for a center: Notes on the state of the profession of educational leadership. Columbia, MO: University Council for Educational Administration.

Edited Journals

Murphy, J. (1999, September). "The evolution of school leadership: Realizing the vision of the ISLLC Standards through authentic assessment." Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 13(3).

Articles (* = refereed article)

Murphy, J., Goldring, E., Cravens, X. C., Elliott, S. N., & Porter, A. C. (in press). "The Vanderbilt assessment of leadership in education: Measuring learning-centered leadership." East China Normal University Journal.

*Meyers, C. V., & Murphy, J. (in press). "Turning around failing schools: An analysis." Journal of School Leadership, 17(4).

*Murphy, J. (in press). "The place of leadership in turnaround schools: Insights from organizational recovery in the public and private sectors." Journal of Educational Administration, 46(1).

*Murphy, J., & Meyers, C. V. (in press). "Rebuilding organizational capacity in turnaround schools: Insights from the corporate, government, and non profit sectors." Educational Management, Administration and Leadership.

*Smylie, M. A., Mayrowetz, D., Murphy, J., & Louis, K. S. (in press). "Trust and the development of distributed leadership." Journal of School Leadership.

*Murphy, J., Moorman, H., & McCarthy, M. M. (in press). "A comprehensive framework for rebuilding initial certification and preparation programs in school administration: Lessons from whole-state reform initiatives." Teachers College Record.

*Murphy, J., Vriesenga, M., & Storey, V. (2007, December). "EAQ, 1979-2003: An analysis of types of work, methods of investigation, and influences." Educational Administration Quarterly, 43(5), 612-628.

*Murphy, J., Elliott, S. N., Goldring, E., & Porter A. (2007, April). "Leadership for learning: A research-based model and taxonomy of behaviors." School Leadership & Management, 27(2), 179-201.

Murphy, J. (2007, April). "Questioning the core of university-based programs for preparing school leaders." Phi Delta Kappan, 88(8), 582-585.

*Mayrowetz, D., Murphy, J., Louis, K. S., & Smylie, M. A. (2007, February). "Distributed leadership as work redesign: Retrofitting the job characteristics model." Leadership and Policy in Schools, 6(1) 69-101.

Murphy, J. (2006, Fall). "Of dubious efficacy—questioning the core of university-based preparation programs for school leaders: A reflective essay." School Leadership News (AERA Division A Newsletter), 17, 6-12.

Murphy, J. (2006, December). "The evolving nature of the American high school: A punctuated equilibrium model of institutional change." Leadership and Policy in Schools, 5(4), 1-39, 285-324. (invited article)

Murphy, J. (2006, Summer). "The 5E model of school leadership." Journal of Staff Development, 27(3), 51-52, 64.

Murphy, J. (2006, Spring). "Some thoughts on rethinking the pre service education of school leaders." Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 1(1).

*Murphy, J., & Vriesenga, M. (2006, April). "Research on school leadership preparation in the United States: An Analysis." School Leadership and Management, 26(2), 183-195.

Murphy, J., (2005, September). "Using the ISLLC Standards for School Leaders at the state level to strengthen school administration." The State Education Standard, 15-18.

*Murphy, J., Hawley, W.D., & Young, M.F. (2005, Fall). "Redefining the education of school leaders: Scaffolding a learning-anchored program on the ISLLC Standards." Educational Leadership Review, 6 (2), 48-57.

*Murphy, J., & Vriesenga, M. (2005, Summer). "Developing professionally anchored dissertations: Lessons from innovative programs." School Leadership Review, 1 (1), 33-57.

*Murphy, J. (2005, February) "Uncovering the foundations of the ISLLC Standards and addressing concerns in the academic community." Educational Administration Quarterly, 41 (1), 154 – 191.

*Murphy, J. (2004, March). "Leadership for literacy: A Framework for policy and practice." School Effectiveness and School Improvemental, 15 (1), 65-96.

Murphy, J. (2003, Winter). "Some notes on the foundations of the ISLLC Standards School Leadership News" (AERA Division A Newsletter).

Murphy, J., & Hawley, W. (2003, Fall). "The AASA 'Leadership for Learning' masters program." Teaching and Learning in Educational Administration, 10 (2), 1-6.

*Murphy, J. (in press). "Leadership for literacy: A Framework for policy and practice." School Effectiveness and School Improvement.

*Murphy, J. (2003, January-March). "Has marketization improved the quality of education: The case of charter schools." Journal of Educational Change, 4 (1), 10-18.

Murphy, J. (2002, September/October). "How the ISLLC Standards are reshaping the principalship". Principal, 82 (1), 22-26.

Murphy, J., Manning, J.B., & Walberg, H.J. (2002, September). "Educational leadership: Reports and recommendations from a national invitational conference." The LSS Review, 1 (2), 1, 30.

*Murphy, J. (2002, April). "Reculturing the Profession of educational leadership: New Blueprints." Educational Administration Quarterly, 38(3), 176-191.

Murphy, J. (2002, Winter) "The ISLLC Standards at work." AERA Division A Newsletter

Murphy, J. (2001, November). "The changing face of leadership preparation." The School Administrator, 58(10) 14-18.

Murphy, J. (2001 Winter). "The Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium--Standards for school leaders." AASA Professor 24(2), 2-7.

Shipman, N. J. & Murphy, J. (2001, February). "Standards for school leaders: Gaining momentum." Principal Leadership, 16), 69-70.

*Murphy, J. (2000). "A response to English." The International Journal of Leadership in Education, 3 (4), 411-414.

Murphy, J. (2000, September). "Notes from the cell: A response to English's 'interrogation'." Journal of School Leadership, 10(5), 464-469.

*Murphy, J., Yff, J., & Shipman, N. J. (2000, January-March). "Implementation of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium standards." The International Journal of Leadership in Education, 3(1), 17-39.

*Murphy, J. (2000, February). "Governing America's schools: The shifting playing field." Teachers College Record, 102>(1), 57-84.

Murphy, J. (1999, December). "Core strategies for reforming schooling." The School Administrator, 56(11), 20-21.

*Murphy, J., & Louis, K. S. (1999, October). "Understanding the Handbook: Notes from the editors." Educational Administration Quarterly, 35(4), 472-476.

*Murphy, J., & Shipman, N. J. (1999, September). "The Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium: A standards-based approach to strengthening educational leadership." Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 13(3), 205-224.

Murphy, J. (1999). "Reconnecting teaching and school administration: A call for a unified profession." UCEA Review, 40(2), 1-3, 6-7.

Shipman, N. J., & Murphy, J. (1999). "ISLLC Standards Based Professional Development project." UCEA Review, 40(2), 13, 18.

Beck, L. G., & Murphy, J. (1999, April-June). "Parent involvement in site-based management: Lessons from one site." The International Journal of Leadership in Education, 2(2), 81-102. (Commissioned article)

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