Susan C. Faircloth

Responding to the Collective and Individual ‘Best Interests of Students’: Revisiting the Tension between Administrative Practice and Ethical Imperatives in Special Education Leadership

Purpose: Given the increasing role of the principal in the administrative and supervision of special education programs and services, this research examines how elementary principals interpret their experience of leadership decision making as a moral activity in relation to the Ethic of the Profession and Model for Students’ Best Interests. Method: A phenomenological-like research method was used to capture administrators’ perspectives involving moral practice and ethical decision making as it relates to students with disabilities. The primary data collection strategy was participant interviews by means of purposeful sampling. Findings: Findings challenge the Ethic of the Profession’s injunction, “the best interests of the student,” as a central guiding moral principle in decision making. Evidence exists that the expression does hold some insight as a maxim to guide behavior, especially when principals decide for one student against all or most students within special education contexts. Theoretical Implications: Participants indicated a distinction and clear difference between the best interests of one student and the best interests of students as a group. Participants viewed the work of deciding and acting in the best interests of the student body as being qualitatively different than working and acting in the best interests of individual students. Practical Value: Dynamic ethical thinking expressed by most school leaders in this study involved a thick and rich combination of rule referencing; maximizing benefit and promoting nonmoral good; assessing one’s character, motivation, and disposition and responding with empathy and personal investment; being reflective; and maintaining an open posture. Classification: This is a work of empirical research.

Examining the impediments to Indigenous strategy and approaches in mainstream secondary schools

Noted Māori scholar Russell Bishop identified three impediments to developing Indigenous principles and practices in schools within colonized countries. These include confusion about the culture of Indigenous children, uneven programme implementation and issues with measuring student achievement. In this article, we present results from a mixed method -research project that aimed to investigate the development of culturally responsive school leadership in 84 New Zealand secondary schools. Whilst analysed data revealed signs of raised awareness of Māori students and their achievement amongst school leaders, findings also aligned with Bishop’s assertions that the main impediments to successful implementation of important Maori principles and practices were symptomatic of a lack of partnership with Indigenous students and their communities.

Leadership in Indigenous Education: Challenges and Opportunities for Change

This special issue of the American Journal of Education was originally conceived in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the American Indian Leadership Program (AILP) at The Pennsylvania State University. Since 1970, the AILP has graduated more than 220 American Indian and Alaska Native students who have earned their master’s or doctoral degrees in educational administration and educational leadership. The AILP grew out of the tribal selfdetermination movement of the 1960s. During this era, there was increased awareness of the need for Indigenous leaders in schools and educational organizations serving Indigenous students in the United States (e.g., Lynch and Charleston 1990). This need for Indigenous leadership was fueled in large part by ongoing trends of low academic achievement and associated measures of social, economic, and physical well-being for Indigenous students postgraduation. In spite of efforts to increase the number of Indigenous school leaders and to wrest control of Indian education from the hands of non-

Ko wai Au? Who am I? Examining the multiple identities of Māori youth

In this paper, we present preliminary findings from a unique collaborative research project involving six Deaf Māori rangatahi (youth) in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Aotearoa New Zealand. This study utilized kaupapa whānau (research family) protocols, established in consultation with two cultural advisory groups within New Zealand and the young people themselves, combined with elements of photovoice methodology, to explore the identities of these youth. Emerging findings highlight the complex nature of these youth’s cultural identity as well as specific issues related to access to and participation within te ao Māori (the Māori world). Specific and critical reflections on the research process are also included.

A Feather in Her Cap

In this case, the authors explore the tensions that emerge when students exert their right to visibly demonstrate their cultural values and beliefs at school or school-sponsored activities and events. This case was designed for educational leadership courses dealing with diversity, pluralism, multiculturalism, and democratic values. Students should be encouraged to discuss pluralism and democratic education juxtaposed with multiculturalism. They should consider ways in which the principal and teachers in this case either missed or tried to use opportunities to engage students in transformative, cross-cultural pedagogies that could prove to be socially reconstructive.