Lisa A. W. Kensler

Creating a New System for Principal Preparation: Reflections on Efforts to Transcend Tradition and Create New Cultures

When selected as a pilot redesign site, we decided to both refocus the underlying assumptions guiding our program and to engage in processes allowing us to model best practices while creating a new program. This article summarizes key aspects of our redesign work and offers reflections on the processes used and challenges faced. Murphys (2006) guiding principles for “fostering the reculturing of preparation programs” serves as our point of reference for conducting this programmatic critique, examining where we were, where we are now, and where we are headed.

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.

Student trust in teachers and student perceptions of safety: positive predictors of student identification with school

Abstract This study examined the effects of student trust in teacher and student perceptions of safety on identification with school. Data were collected from one large urban district in an eastern state. Participants included 5441 students in 3rd through 12th grades from 49 schools. Students responded to surveys that assessed student trust in teachers, safety and identification with school. Free and Reduced Lunch (a proxy for SES), school level and ethnicity were included as control variables. Two hypotheses guided the study. Hypothesis 1 stated that student trust, safety and identification with school would positively covary. Hypothesis 2 predicted that student trust in teachers and perceptions of safety were school properties that would individually and collectively explain differences among schools in student identification with school. Both hypotheses were confirmed. The results of the hierarchical linear model indicated that student trust in teachers and school safety accounted for 98% of the 22% of variance that exists among schools in student identification. SES, school level and ethnicity were not significant predictors of identification with school. Findings suggest that student trust in teachers and perceptions of safety may significantly contribute to student identification above the effects of SES, ethnicity and school level.

Leadership Preparation Programs: Preparing Culturally Competent Educational Leaders:

The demographic profile of the United States has been rapidly changing; by 2020, minority students will constitute the majority of the public school student population nationwide. This makes cultural competence a necessity for today’s school leaders. Educational leadership preparation programs are responsible for preparing culturally competent leaders; however, few programs assess their students’ cultural competence. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional, causal-comparative study was to examine whether graduates of educational leadership preparation programs had significantly different cultural competence than those beginning their respective program. The findings of this study suggest that matriculating through a principal preparation program positively correlates with educational leadership students’ overall cultural competence, cultural beliefs and motivation, and cultural knowledge. However, there appears to be no significant relationship between completing the program and students’ cultural skills.

Greener on the Other Side: Cultivating Community and Improvement Through Sustainability Practices

Sustainability practices that lead to greener schools are often overlooked in leadership preparation programs and in school improvement efforts. An urban middle school principal recognizes the potential to build community, foster a healthy learning environment, and redefine her school through focusing on sustainability practices in a collaborative manner.