Dana L. Bickmore

Professional Learning Experiences and Administrator Practice: Is There a Connection?.

This study identified the formal and informal professional learning experiences in which school administrators engaged and the relationship between these professional learning experiences and administrator practice. The researcher developed an instrument that solicited school administrators’ engagement and perceived value of formal and informal learning experiences. A second instrument was adapted to measure middle grades administrators’ leadership practices. All middle grades principals in a southern state in the US were sent both instruments, resulting in a response rate of 42.5%. Correlational results indicated a significant relationship between participation in informal professional learning experiences and principal practice as measured by student, school, and faculty factors. Participation in informal professional learning experiences also significantly predicted principal practice related to the same three factors.

Confirming a Middle Grades Leadership Model and Instrument.

Abstract The purpose of this replication study was to confirm a model of middle grades principal leadership, Developmentally Responsive Middle Level Leadership (DRMLL), proposed by Brown and Anfara (2002) through the validation of the Middle Level Leadership Questionnaire (MLLQ), which was developed by Anfara, Roney, Smarkola, DuCette, and Gross (2006) to measure DRMLL. In this study, the principal form of the MLLQ was administered to middle grades principals in the State of Georgia. A factor analysis indicated the constructs of the principal form of the MLLQ support DRMLL, providing further confirmation of this model of leadership. However, the results of this study indicate principal responses and constructs may differ from those of teachers. The principal form of the MLLQ may provide an effective research tool to examine how antecedents, such as professional development, affect principal practice and how principal practice affects mediating factors to student achievement, such as teacher efficacy.

A Case Study of Middle Grades Leadership in a Conversion Charter School.

This 3-year case study examined middle grades principal leadership in a takeover charter school. The researcher analyzed principal and teacher interviews, field notes, and documents in relationship to a middle grades model of principal leadership. Results suggest the principals’ limited experience, organizational factors unique to takeover charter schools, an emphasis on student test scores, and a personal educational philosophy of teacher autonomy, precluded the advocacy and implementation of elements of the middle grades principal leadership model.

Guest Editors' Introduction: The Promises of Charter Schools

As the guest editors of this issue of Equity & Excellence in Education, we intentionally included the language “The Promises of Charter Schools” from the original call for charter research, in this issue. The word “promise” can invoke visions of possibility and potential, of optimism and confidence. A promise can suggest hopefulness and is used to inspire confidence. Charter schools began as a concept that held the promise of social justice—more autonomy for teachers, more choice for families, more innovative teaching in terms of curriculum and instructional practice, and more equitable educational outcomes for students (Abowitz, 2001; Budde, 1988; Bulkley & Fisler, 2003). Charters have been viewed by some as a means to disrupt the historical institutional effects of racism and systematic neglect in public schooling for under-served parents and children by creating voice and space for transformational change. Unlike other educational reforms, the charter school concept had the promise of correcting inequitable outcomes by unsettling the underlying framework that generates the outcomes, rather than pursuing affirmative remedies that tinkered around the edges of substantive change (Abowitz, 2001). For readers of Equity & Excellence in Education, we pose the following question to frame this special issue: How is the promise of charter schooling, as a vehicle for social justice in public education, playing out? This question is timely and warranted, considering that currently over two million students attend more than 5,500 charter schools in the United States (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 2012) in a national political context that advocates for the continued, rapid expansion and, in some states and locales, proliferation, of charter schools (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Answering the question we posed is problematic on several levels, but most fundamentally, as Brown (2004) stated, because of the “conflicting views of social justice” (p. 79). However, she continued by noting, “the evidence is clear and alarming that various segments of our public school populations experience negative and inequitable treatment on a daily basis” (p. 79). The persistent achievement gaps experienced between white, middle class students and students of color, those of low socioeconomic status, those whose primary home language is not English, and students with special needs, is a politically persistent indicator of the inequity of public schooling (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Ladson-Billing, 2006). Yet, the identification of the achievement gap is only a limited expression of issues of power and marginalization in public schooling, where low teacher expectations, inequitable allocation of resources, and limited voice in the decisions that affect parents and students occurs in public schooling (Abowitz, 2001; Darling-Hammond,

The Induction of School Counselors: Meeting Personal and Professional Needs.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain participants’ perceptions of elements of the induction process that met novice school counselors’ personal and professional needs. Interviews of seven novice counselors and their principals over one school year were the primary data sources. Employing an abductive analysis process based on a developed typology of induction elements from the teacher induction literature, the researchers’ analysis of the data indicated that although various induction elements were discussed by participants (i.e. informal mentors, orientation, professional development, collaboration, reduced workloads, and interaction with principals), few were planned specifically for the novice counselor. Most supports for the novices were viewed with mixed results in meeting their personal and professional needs.

Repositioning the Hook

The framing of this volume has centered on the notion of unhooking from Whiteness as a mechanism to dismantle racism. For many scholars of color, being hooked by Whiteness has represented not only a well-researched problematic of race (Fasching-Varner, 2009), but being hooked by Whiteness has assigned a particular property value to Whiteness and Blackness determined by the White majority (Harris, 1995; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Dixson & Rousseau, 2006; Fasching-Varner, 2009).