Peter R. Litchka, Ed.D.

Professor Emeritus, Educational Leadership
prlitchka@loyola.edu

Education

B.A.- State University of New Year at Genseo
M.Ed. Johns Hopkins University
Ed.D., Seton Hall University

Biography

Dr. Peter Litchka has been a professional educator since 1972 and during this time, he has been a high school social studies teacher and department chair, school administrator, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, and a superintendent of schools for two school districts.  Dr. Litchka has been with Loyola University Maryland since 2006.

Awards and Grants

2010 Special Persons’ Recognition (February 4, 2010). Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, Ellicott City, Maryland.

Research Interests

1. International School Leadership
2. Organizational Decision-Making in Education 

Recent Publications

Books

Litchka, P. (Ed.). (2019). School leadership that matters. Ideas that work from around the world. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education. Litchka, P. (2016). Exemplary leadership practice: learning from the past to enhance future school leadership. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education. Litchka, P., Calzi, and Polka, W. (2014). Living on the horns of dilemmas:  Superintendents, politics, and decision-making. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education.
Polka, W. and Litchka, P. (2008).  The dark side of leadership: Superintendents and the  professional victim syndrome. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

Book Chapters

Litchka, P. (in press). Notre Dame Mission Volunteers AmeriCorps: Deploying Volunteers to Improve the Education of Urban Children. In Fenzel, L. & Simmons, R. (Eds.), Responding to the call for educational justice: Catholic-led initiatives in urban education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Polka, W., Litchka P., and Calzi, F. (2013).  American superintendents living on the horns of dilemmas: A review and analysis of contemporary decision-making approaches and leadership issues.  In S. Eacott & R. Niesche (Eds.), Empirical Leadership Research:  Letting Data Speak for Themselves. New York: Untested Ideas Research Center, 63-96

Denig, S., Polka, W., Litchka, P., Calzi, F. and Brigano, M. (2011). Problem-solving and decision-making: The ongoing influence of Wayne Hoy.  In M. DiPaola & P. Forsyth (Eds.), Leading Research in Educational Administration. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 147-162.

Polka, W., Litchka, P., Calzi, F., Denig, S., and Mete, R. (2011). Superintendent decision-making and problem-solving: Living on the horns of dilemmas. In B. Alford, G. Perreault, L. Zellner and J. Ballenger (Eds.), Blazing new trails: Preparing leaders to improve access and equity in today’s schools: The 2011 Yearbook of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration, 93-108.

Litchka, P. & Procaccini, J. (2011). Planning for school leadership:  Does gender matter? International Society for Educational Planning Fortieth Anniversary Yearbook, 103-111.

Polka, W. and Litchka, P. (2007). Strategies for surviving the professional victim syndrome: Perspectives from superintendents on navigating the political waves of contemporary leadership.  In L. Lemasters & R. Papa (Eds.), At the tipping point: Navigating the course for the preparation of educational administrators:  The 2007 Yearbook of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration, 255-265.

Refereed Journals Publications

Litchka, P. & Babaoglan, E. (2018).  The leadership perceptions of female and male school principals in Turkey and the United States. Kastamonu Education Journal (26)2, 297-306.

Polka, W., Litchka, P., Mete, R., & Ayaga, A. (2016). Catholic school principals’ decision-making and problem-solving practices during times of change and uncertainty: A North American analysis. Journal of Catholic Education (19)4 (220-243). 

Litchka, P. & Shapira-Lishchinksy, O. (2015). Planning educational policy: Teacher perceptions of school principal transformational leadership in Israel and the United States. Educational Planning (23)2, (45-58).

Litchka, P. (2015). An examination of school principal leadership abilities as perceived by teachers in Poland and the United States. Leadership and Policy Quarterly. 4(1), 1-21. 

Polka, W., Litchka, P., Calzi, F., Denig, S., & Mete, R. (2014). Perspectives about living on the horns of dilemmas: An analysis of gender factors related to superintendent decision-making and problem-solving. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership. 9(1), 1-16.

Polka, W., Litchka, P., & Calzi, F. (2013). The decision-making approaches and leadership dilemmas of contemporary American school superintendents. Leadership & Policy Quarterly. 2(3), 157-178.

Polka, W. and Litchka, P. (2013). COMPASS: A leadership survival guide for school superintendents. Southern Journal of Educational Administration 1(2), 29-41.

Litchka, P. (2011). A vision of excellence: Exemplary leadership practices of principals from high poverty, high achieving schools. Education Leadership Review, 12(2), 11-19.

Litchka, P. (2011).  The leadership abilities of a principal in a high achieving, high poverty urban school. Edukacja-Studia, Badania, Innowacje 3(2), 40-48.

Litchka, P. & Procaccini, J. (2011). Planning for school leadership: Does gender matter? International Society for Educational Planning Fortieth Anniversary Yearbook, 103-111.

Polka W. & Litchka, P. (2010). Managing yourself and others for personal and organizational satisfaction and productivity: Critical components in contemporary leadership programs. NCPEA Education Review. 11(2), 100-111.

Babaoglan, E. & Litchka, P. (2010).  An examination of leadership competencies of school principals in Turkey and the United States. Egitim ve Bilim-Education and Science. 35(158), 58-74.

Litchka, P., Fenzel, L. and Polka, W. (2009).  The stress process among school  
superintendents. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation. 4(4), 1-7.

Davis, C., Litchka, P. and Polka, W. (2008). Female superintendents and the professional victim syndrome: Preparing current and aspiring superintendents to cope and succeed. The Journal of Women in Educational Leadership. 6(4), 293-310. 

Litchka, P. (2007).  No leader left behind:  Planning to prepare effective educational leaders in this era of accountability. The Journal of the International Society for Educational 

Professional Activities

International Society for Educational Planning

o Associate Editor, Journal of Educational Planning (2015-187)
o President-elect (2016-19)

Review of promotion dosser, Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel

External Review of Ph.D. dissertation, Niagara University, Niagara, NY (spring 2018)

Wrote the foreword for the book, Very Good to Despicable: The Impact of the Seven Deadly Sins on Contemporary Leaders (Polka, W., 2017).

Facilitated Leadership Development Training for the Administration and Department Chairs: Archbishop Curley High School (August 2017-December 2018).

Facilitated the development of a five-year strategic plan for St. John School, Westminster, MD (June 2017-June 2018).

Member, Editorial Review Board

o The Journal of Research Initiatives, Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, Arkansas

Member, Editorial Board

o Leadership Planning and Policy Quarterly, Niagara University, NY