Jeffrey S. Brooks

Leadership for Social Justice: Preparing 21st Century School Leaders for a New Social Order

At the dawn of the 21st century, there has been an increased focus on social justice and educational leadership (Bogotch, Beachum, Blount, Brooks & English, 2008; Marshall & Oliva, 2006; Shoho, Merchang & Lugg, 2005). This paper explores and extends themes in contemporary educational research on leadership preparation in terms of social justice and its importance for both research and practice on a national and international level. In particular, we examine various considerations in the literature regarding whether or not leadership preparation programs are committed to, and capable of, preparing school leaders to think globally and act courageously about social justice for a new social order.

Educational Leadership and Globalization: Literacy for a Glocal Perspective

This article synthesizes and presents literature in support of the argument that the preparation and practice of educational leadership must be rethought to be relevant for 21st-century schools. Specifically, the authors explore how the concept of glocalization, a meaningful integration of local and global forces, can help educational leaders inform and enhance their pedagogy and practice. They suggest that contemporary educational leaders must develop glocal literacy in nine specific knowledge domains: political literacy, economic literacy, cultural literacy, moral literacy, pedagogical literacy, information literacy, organizational literacy, spiritual and religious literacy, and temporal literacy. Furthermore, they explain that each of these domains of literacy is dynamic, interconnected, and can be influenced by the discrete agency of educational leaders.

Supporting Graduate Students of Color in Educational Administration Preparation Programs: Faculty Perspectives on Best Practices, Possibilities, and Problems

Overview: This article presents findings from a study that examined faculty perspectives on how individual faculty members and institutions support graduate students of color in educational administration preparation programs. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify strategies that faculty members and institutions employ to support graduate students of color. The authors were also interested in understanding challenges that face individuals and institutions as they seek to provide such support. Data Sources: Data were collected through a series of focus group sessions and from individual interviews conducted with a diverse sample of faculty members during a 3-year period. Findings: Findings suggested that effective support for graduate students of color in educational administration preparation programs entails proactive yet thoughtful, individual, and institutional work in four areas: (a) recognizing and engaging issues of race in educational administration preparation programs, (b) effective and race-sensitive mentorship, (c) creation and sustenance of multi-tiered and multi-purpose support networks, and (d) establishment of formal and informal support structures.

Black Leadership, White Leadership: Race and Race Relations in an Urban High School.

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to investigate how race and race relations influence school leadership practice.Design/methodology/approach – This ethnographic study was conducted in a high‐poverty, high‐minority, urban high school in the Southeastern USA. The authors utilized an anthropological conceptual framework called a moiety, through which the schools leadership culture was conceived as two distinct racial leadership subcultures, one black and one white.Findings – Findings suggested that the members of each of these leadership subcultures conceived of and enacted leadership in a different manner. Members of each subculture interacted with one another in a manner consistent with anthropological inquiry focused on moiety cultures.Research limitations/implications – Though under‐used in educational leadership research, the moiety approach seems to have potential for explaining certain (sub)cultural dynamics of leadership in organizations. In the context of this school, race and race relations...

Fear and Trembling in the American High School Educational Reform and Teacher Alienation

This article reports findings from a two-year case study of teachers in a single public high school. Data were gathered and analyzed using a conceptual framework that conceived of alienation as a set of five sub-constructs: powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation, and estrangement. Findings suggested that teachers experienced each of these forms of alienation, but that each individual teacher interpreted them in a unique manner. Moreover, data suggested that for individual teachers, experiences of alienation varied from situation to situation and evolved over time. The authors concluded that teacher alienation was a fluid phenomenon, a seemingly basic assertion that has profound implications for teachers, administrators, and policymakers as they consider adopting or implementing reform initiatives.

Heterosexism and Homophobia on Fraternity Row: A Case Study of a College Fraternity Community

The lead author questioned five fraternity members, one former member, and one non-member to assess their reasons for joining—or attempting to join—a fraternity chapter at a large public university in the Southeastern United States. Specifically, the study investigated (a) how their membership affected their sexual identity development and intimate relationships; (b) the degree of homophobia and heterosexism encountered; (c) how sexual orientation affected the quality of their fraternal experiences; and (d) the level of acceptance or rejection they faced. We examined how fraternity brothers with a gay sexual orientation affected chapter culture, the experiences, perceptions, and transitions of the gay members, and whether the beliefs and behaviors of heterosexual brothers were consistent or in conflict with the values espoused by the inter/national fraternities. We also present details concerning the reactions from fellow members, assess satisfaction with the fraternity experience, and detail the cultural norms of males and importance of gentlemanly behavior in fraternities.

It Takes More Than a Village: Inviting Partners and Complexity in Educational Leadership Preparation Reform

Heeding the advice of Young, Petersen, and Short (2002), the Educational Leadership Program at Auburn University included a variety of stakeholders in the reform of its preparation program. Collaborative partnerships were formed with school districts, local and state educational agencies, and with a variety of other educational stakeholders. This paper discusses how various stakeholders were involved in the redesign process. Insights gained from this process may be instructive to other programs as they consider involving multiple stakeholders while facilitating change in their own programs.

Chapter 5 Mentoring and Supportive Networks for Women of Color in Academe

As more women faculty of color enter the professoriate, they are evaluating, clashing with, and challenging old practices, while simultaneously articulating and establishing new ones (James & Farmer, 1993). To do so effectively, these women are best served by a network of mentors (Baugh & Scandura, 1999; Higgins & Kram, 2001) who can facilitate their development of career competencies, help them understand “the rules of the game” for scholarly activity, and transform the normalized construction of academic environments that is sometimes exclusionary of women faculty of color (Tillman, 2001; Young & Brooks, 2008). Mentoring networks are vital support structures in a successful academic career, as emerging scholars seek to navigate the complex and protean racial and gender dynamics of academic institutions (Sorcinelli & Yun, 2007). In this chapter, we explore issues of acclimatization of women new to the professoriate, with a particular focus on developing and sustaining effective mentoring networks for women of color. Furthermore, we examined extant research to gain insights on how women new to academe can build mentoring networks to create peer communities that advance scholarship and teaching, provide useful advice on tenure and promotion, help scholars balance personal and professional roles, and manage time. The following broad questions guided our chapter: (1) What types of mentors and mentoring relationships should early career women of color faculty should seek? (2) How are norms between proteges and mentors created, reinforced and sustained? and (3) What are the benefits of same-race/same-gender mentorships and cross-race/cross-gender mentorships?

Instructional Leadership in the Era of No Child Left Behind: Perspectives from the United States

Most large-scale urban school reform efforts of the last three decades in the United States have centered on providing incentives and sanctions for aligning educational practice to standards set at the district, state, or national level. Incentives typically have been provided for educators and schools to meet standards, and accountability has been enacted through various punitive sanctions when schools and educators have not met benchmarks or showed gains in outcome indicators. As pressure for improving student achievement in the current standards-based accountability environment continues to intensify and test results are scrutinized with unprecedented attention, school leaders are urged to focus their leadership efforts on the core purpose of schooling—teaching and learning (Kohn 2000). This chapter discusses the impact of assessment/standards-based reform on instructional leadership within the policy context of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB; Chrismer et al., Harvard Education Review 76(4):461–473, 2006; Supovitz, Developing communities of instructional practice, 2001; Supovitz and Poglino, Instructional leadership in a standards-based reform, 2001) and how leadership, not just by the principal but by a wider cast of individuals in both formal and informal leadership roles, plays a critical role in reinforcing instructional improvement and instructional quality that lead to accountability and improved student achievement.

The Gender Dynamics of Educational Leadership Preparation: A Feminist Postmodern Critique of the Cohort Experience.

The purpose of this study was to examine gender dynamics in educational leadership doctoral cohorts and explore the propensity for educational leadership programs to unintentionally perpetuate inequity through continued silence and unawareness of issues related to gender. The study includes narratives from two women cohort members and two professors (one man, one woman), detailing their experiences in an educational leadership preparation program at the pseudonymous Southern University. The authors conclude that it is important for students and faculty to proactively engage gender inequity in both professional venues and during informal interactions. Professors who engage in these conversations create opportunities for students to facilitate discussions regarding gender inequity in educational leadership. The cohort model allows students to be in a supportive environment where difficult conversations can take place, but it can also perpetuate inequity and oppression unless gender dynamics are interrogated and dismantled.