Mariela A. Rodríguez

Sustaining a Dual Language Immersion Program: Features of Success

The promise of dual language education has spurred a movement in the field of bilingual education to shift from remedial programs to enrichment forms of bilingual education. Although research supports the effectiveness of such programs, many programs do not maintain their level of implementation and quickly revert to their original remedial form. This research looks at one elementary campus that has implemented a 2-way dual language program for more than a decade. Findings indicate that pedagogical equity, qualified bilingual teachers, active parent–home collaboration, and knowledgeable leadership contributed to the programs success.

“I don't belong here”: Chicanas/Latinas at a Hispanic Serving Institution Creating Community Through Muxerista Mentoring

In order to create more diverse communities and greater social justice in academia, a group of Chicana/Latina junior faculty at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) established a research collaborative, Research for the Educational Advancement of Latin@s (REAL). Using a co-operative inquiry and dialogical epistemology, we document how REAL is an agency of transformative resistance to combat racism and sexism within academia. Also we reveal the importance of peer “muxerista mentoring” as an ideology and practice in building a supportive community in the bid for tenure. We provide implications and recommendations for the retention, tenure, and promotion of Chicana/Latina faculty.

“But They Just Can’t Do It” Reconciling Teacher Expectations of Latino Students

This case begins with a contextual overview of the educational plight of Latino students in U.S. public schools. This pervasive plight has economic and social implications in the lives of these students. Using a Borderlands Cultural Wealth framework, the case focuses on the educational challenges of Mexican American and immigrant students in one of the poorest areas in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas. The school principal is faced with the challenge of trying to reform educational practices, but the deficit perspectives of the teachers are in direct contrast to what the students need to be successful.

Negotiating Linguistic and Cultural Identity: One Borderlander's Leadership Initiative.

Meeting the academic needs of linguistically and culturally diverse students requires new perspectives on behalf of school leaders. Using the concept of the border epistemology of school leadership, this case study reveals the work of one ‘borderlander’ in a dual‐language school. Telling her story through self‐reflection, the voices of her teachers and the success of her students, three critical components of effective educational leadership in a dual‐language school were identified. These included advocacy, socially cognizant behaviour and curriculum expertise. Implications for school leadership within high poverty and high language‐minority populations require the principal’s role to become more than supervising curriculum, managing budgets and evaluating teachers but rather one of a ‘borderlander’ who rejects deficit perspectives and promotes the acceptance and integration of all cultural and linguistic groups.

Principals' perceptions from within: Leadership in high-need schools in the USA

This study explores leadership in high-need schools where social and economic issues collide with learning, preventing students and their families from receiving the level of education they deserve. Two Latina principals in primary schools identified as high-need schools answer these questions: (a) “How can high-need schools be defined?”; (b) “Would a school inevitably be a high-need school in a high-need area?”; and (c) “In what ways do you see your leadership as influencing your specific school?” The views of these principals carry larger implications for the promotion of Latinos as the fastest-growing school-age group in the US. They defined their leadership as a moral craft, as one that prepares adults on campus to support families and students in urban high-need areas. At an international and cross-comparative level, considerations of socio-economic issues, and unaddressed academic, emotional, and physical issues, were regarded as needs to be met before focusing on students’ academic success.

Developing a Leadership Platform: Using and Understanding the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders

This chapter serves as a guide to developing your leadership platform. What do you believe in? What do you stand for? Questions like these will serve as your roadmap for creating your unique leadership platform. The ten Professional Standards for Educational Leaders are explained as they relate to leadership actions. Activities are included to help the reader develop a leadership platform.

Principals Supporting English Learners in US Public Schools

This chapter focuses on quandaries that principals face when attempting to meet the academic needs of English Learners (ELs). In schools with high language-minority student populations, the principal’s role entails more than supervising curriculum, managing budgets, and evaluating teachers but rather one who promotes the acceptance and inclusion of all culturally and linguistically diverse groups of students.

Leaders learning from leaders as an emergent action learning strategy

This account of practice describes what three executive leaders in a professional association have learned about action learning and their own practices of organizational renewal. Data are approached narratively and stories are told from the perspectives of diverse educators’ experiences, agency, and expertise. Mature organizations can be revitalized and diversified through the action learning of executive leaders who integrate a new and diverse faculty body into the governance structure and decision-making process. The goal of facilitating diversity goals for established organizations has relevance for universities, schools, businesses, and other learning environments. Public conversations can strengthen the diversity-oriented outreach missions of professional organizations.