Loucrecia Collins

Preparing Special Education Administrators for Inclusion in Diverse, Standards-Based Contexts: Beyond the Council for Exceptional Children and the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium.

Special education administrators must be prepared for their leadership roles in inclusive, culturally diverse, standards-based school settings. These challenges create the need for new skills, required for effective special education leaders in the 21st century. In this article, the authors examine the standards used to prepare special education administrators, and they offer new insights into the knowledge and skills needed to facilitate the inclusion of diverse students with disabilities in standards-based classrooms.

Maintaining a Strong Collaborative Community in the Early Dissertation-Writing Process: Reflections on Program Interventions

Dr. Gary B. Peters is an associate professor in the Educational Leadership Program, D. Keith Gurley is an assistant professor in the Educational Leadership Program, Dr. Matthew Fifolt is the associate director of the Evaluation and Assessment Unit in the Center for the Study of Community Health, and Dr. Loucrecia Collins is an associate professor in the Educational Leadership Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL. Address correspondence to Gary B. Peters, PhD, Department of Human Studies, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Education Building, Room 203, 901 13th Street South, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA (E-mail: gpeters@uab.edu). BEST PRACTICES

Perceptions and Experiences of K-12 Educational Leaders in Response to the 27 April 2011 Tornadoes.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to capture first-hand accounts of K-12 educational leaders whose school districts were directly affected by the deadly 27 April 2011 tornadoes in rural Alabama, USA. This study was framed by the literature base of leadership; specifically crisis leadership and resilience theory. Findings are organised under the headings of crisis management, crisis leadership characteristics, post-crisis support and crisis preparation. In this study, educational leaders demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity and took decisive steps to rebuild not only their schools but also their communities as well. Additionally, leaders expressed the importance of sharing their stories with others so that the lessons they learned in response to the tornadoes would not soon be forgotten. The study concludes with reflections about crisis planning and implications for future research as well as a call to action to improve crisis management in K-12 educational settings.

CHAPTER 2: Preparing Urban Educators for the Twenty-First Century

ABSTRACT This chapter provides a review of the research related to preparing teachers for urban settings. Specific competencies requisite to the successful preparation of urban teachers are presented, along with the research base supporting these competencies. The authors argue that teacher preparation program features that support the development of these competencies would contribute to a renaissance in teacher education.

The Case of the Field Trip Disaster

For decades, the instructional field trip has been viewed as a strategy to enhance students’ learning experiences. Yet what happens when an award-winning teacher is accused of choking a student while on a field trip? Tempers flare among community members, parents contact the police, and the principal is assigned the daunting task of investigating a staff member for assault and battery. This case study provides an opportunity for aspiring principals to analyze legal challenges posed by the supervision of students during instructional field trips. In addition, students will explore school board and site-based school policies regarding field trips and examine guidelines regarding due process for teachers. Finally, an analysis of the principal’s relationship with the teacher’s union representative will help prepare future administrators in working with negotiated contracts.