Sarah W. Nelson

Lifeworld or systemsworld: what guides novice principals?

Purpose – This paper aims to contribute to the literature on principal preparation by examining the experiences of novice principals and what their experiences mean for principal preparation in the USA.Design/methodology/approach – The researchers employed qualitative methods to examine the experiences of four novice principals over a two‐year period.Findings – The findings suggest that the current climate of efficiency and accountability is contributing to the socialization of principals who focus on the technical aspects of administration over the of relational aspects leadership.Originality/value – This study focuses on the link between preparation programs and the practice of novice principals, an area that has not been fully explored in the literature.

Educator Beliefs and Cultural Knowledge Implications for School Improvement Efforts

Purpose: This qualitative study reports on beliefs practicing educators hold about diverse students and families. Specifically, this study examined educator beliefs related to culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students and families along with participants’ knowledge of culture and its application in practice. Research Design: Data were collected through a qualitative instrument administered to 111 teachers and educational leaders in two school districts in Texas and Michigan. Participants provided written responses to scenarios depicting culture clashes that commonly occur in schools. Data were analyzed using a constructivist grounded theory resulting in a continuum of cultural responsiveness. Findings: Results reveal the majority of participants appear to have a general awareness of culture, but also hold a number of deficit beliefs about diverse students and their families. In describing how they apply cultural knowledge in practice, participants tended to address visible aspects of culture, overlooking less obvious aspects. The majority of participants used deficit thinking in explanations for the clashes and viewed the clashes as problems warranting a technical solution. Little consideration was given to the social aspects of schooling such as identity, culture, language, and relationships, which are at the heart of culturally responsive teaching, learning, and leading. Implications: More than 30 years of school reform efforts have failed to address inequitable educational outcomes. The results of this study suggest the ineffectiveness of reform efforts may be due in part to educators’ deficit beliefs and lack of cultural knowledge, two areas preparation and professional development programs must better address.

Changing Professional Practice Requires Changing Beliefs.

Photo: Vladimir Zivkovic/PhotoSpin A n abundance of research suggests that teachers’ personal beliefs drive professional practice. Unfortunately, the prevalence of deficit thinking, which is the inclination to view certain groups of students as inherently flawed, is well documented in the literature on preand inservice teacher education (Valencia 1997). In spite of this, most school improvement efforts continue to focus on changing only the behavior of educators, rather than working on both beliefs and behaviors. We believe this is, at least in part, why 30 years of school reform have failed to significantly change educational outcomes for culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students (CSRQ 2006: Berman, Chambliss, and Geiser 1999). Why don’t school leaders address beliefs? Could it be they ascribe to the old adage of change the behaviors and the beliefs will follow? Or could they hold many of the same deficit beliefs teachers do, believing students and families, rather than educators, should be the target of change? Or could they be aware of the deleterious effects of deficit beliefs but aren’t quite sure how to approach staff about this sensitive topic?

Lessons Learned: The Promise and Possibility of Educational Accountability in the United States

This chapter reviews educational reform efforts in the United States beginning with the National Commission on Excellence in Education in 1981 and traces how student assessment has come to be associated with large-scale, centralized, high-impact testing. This approach has been instrumental in aligning curriculum to standards and disaggregating results to focus attention on student groups. However, unintended consequences have narrowed the curriculum, decreased time for instruction, and pushed students out of school.

A Connection between Moral Imperative and Women's Leadership?.

This paper describes a qualitative study of two school districts’ efforts to support school leaders in developing the knowledge and skills to analyze, understand, and transform system inequities. The results suggest that, despite being armed with knowledge and skills, leaders may be reluctant to act even when doing so is within the scope of their authority. This work draws from Fullan’s (2003) concept of moral imperative and examines the connection between moral imperative and women’s ways of leading. The findings have implications for educational leadership programs that seek to prepare school leaders capable of challenging and changing inequitable systems. Keywords: leadership, moral imperative, school reform, equity, women’s leadership

Swimming Between: An examination of the Inherent Complexity within Social Justice

Classrooms tend to be absolute spaces, places where fluidity is rejected and nearly everything—from people, to ideas, to practices and policies—is viewed and organized through binary logic. Because binary logic is implicitly accepted as the natural order in schools and the structures resulting from it are highly unmalleable, individuals who differ from the norm are expected to assimilate and adapt so as not to disrupt the structure. Those who are too different from the norm to fit in or who refuse to accept the binary structure are viewed as problems and are often ostracized or blamed for disturbing the system. Even when evidence to dispute the binary logic emerges, such evidence is often ignored or rejected in favor of maintaining the status quo. As such, the need for educators with a social justice orientation is needed. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the process one teacher used to create inclusive spaces for students who identify with differences in order to develop a more critical understanding of the work of social justice teachers. The findings suggest the teacher enacted behaviors and maintained beliefs that contradicted her espoused social justice orientation and her classroom was at once both inclusive and exclusive. The findings illustrate the complexities inherent within the work of equity-oriented educators. Implications for educator preparation is discussed.

Chapter 1 Lessons in Leadership from the Vineyard

This introductory chapter provides background information and an organizational structure for the book. The authors begin with a brief history of the research project that undergirds the work presented in each chapter. Drawing from the fields of enology and viticulture, the authors introduce the concepts of terroir, millerandage, and appellations as section headings that help to frame brief descriptions of each chapter. The authors conclude with an invitation for the reader to engage with the authors in a discussion about the contents of the book.

Chapter 13 Awareness of Self and Others in Principal Preparation: An International Perspective

This chapter explores the concepts of awareness of self and others and their application to equity-oriented educational leadership. Drawing from the literature, the authors define key concepts and how these concepts affect the work of school leaders. The authors then present an analysis of the career development of three principals who each struggle with how they will define themselves in relation to the community in which they work. Collectively these cases illustrate the importance of attending to self-awareness and cultural knowledge in the preparation of equityoriented educational leaders. All participants’ names have been changed to protect their identity.