Leslie Ann Williams

The Boundary-Spanning Role of Democratic Learning Communities: Implementing the IDEALS.

This multi-case study investigates characteristics and practices in schools that expand the traditional boundaries of school leadership and transform schools into democratic learning communities based on the level of implementation of the IDEALS framework. This investigation serves as a modus to illuminate democratic processes that change schools and address the needs of the students, not the needs of the adults in the system. A sample of five purposefully selected high schools, from the Midwest USA, was utilized. The schools serve Grade 9—12 students, but vary in size, residential area and socioeconomic status of the students. This study illuminates some of the challenges and strategies that facilitate or impede the process of creating more democratic schools that expand the boundaries of inquiry and discourse to include a broader range of community stakeholders and that respect and embrace issues of equity.

The K20 Model for Systemic Educational Change and Sustainability: Addressing Social Justice In Rural Schools and Implications For Educators in All Contexts

Forty percent of U.S. school districts, serving nearly 10 million children, are located in rural settings (Johnson and Strange, 2007). Of the 250 poorest communities in the United States, 244 are rural (Malhoit, 2005). One-fifth of all rural children in the United States live in poverty, and minority children living in rural areas are even more likely to be poor, with 46 percent of rural African American children and 43 percent of rural Native American children falling into this category (USDA, 2004).