Zorka Karanxha

A Study of Group Dynamics in Educational Leadership Cohort and Non-Cohort Groups.

The purpose of this study was to examine group dynamics of educational leadership students in cohorts and make comparisons with the group dynamics characteristics of non-cohort students. Cohorts have emerged as dynamic and adaptive entities with attendant group dynamic processes that shape collective learning and action. Cohort (n=42) and non-cohort (n=51) students were surveyed on group variables of participation, communication, influence, trust, cohesiveness, empowerment, collaboration, and satisfaction. Descriptive statistics and effect size analyses were used for data analysis. Significant differences were identified in trust, cohesiveness, and satisfaction. However, findings show little effect on cohort structures in the areas of participation, communication, influence, empowerment, and collaboration.

Running Bamboo: A Mentoring Network of Women Intending to Thrive in Academia

This article is based on the authors’ experiences as women academics who engage in informal peer mentoring to persist in the cultural milieus of their respective institutions. The authors draw on poststructural perspectives and the metaphor of the rhizome “running bamboo” to illustrate the connections they forged in a mentoring network that folds across multiethnic, multilingual, and multi-geographic spaces. The analysis of personal narratives surfaced the significance of context for understanding each other’s persistence in the academy. By rhizomatically constructing personal and professional narratives, the authors identified how shared experiences in academia, the contextual variations among them, and a process of becoming peers in a mentoring network supports their negotiation of the academy.

The Hidden Curriculum: Candidate Diversity in Educational Leadership Preparation

The authors describe a process of self-assessment attuned to equity and justice in the policies and practices that affect student diversity, namely, those associated with the selection of candidates. The disproportionate rate of rejection for applicants from underrepresented groups and the unsystematic process of applicant selection operated as hidden curriculum affecting the opportunities for the program to enhance meaningful relationships among diverse groups of students. The authors describe institutional and sociopolitical conditions, and individual actions reflecting a faculty’s will to policy. Faculty efforts supported and challenged systemic change to increase racial and ethnic diversity among aspiring educational administrators.

When the “Dream” Turns Into a Nightmare Life and Death of Voyager Charter School

Purpose: This article highlights the complexity of accountability issues associated with one charter school from the charter application process, operation, and functioning of the external mechanism and the internal mechanism to hold the charter school accountable, closure of the school, and consequences of the charter school’s closure on its constituents. Research Design: Utilizing retrospective case study design, 11 interviews from 6 participants, school documents, school district data, court proceedings, and newspaper accounts reconstruct the narrative of one charter school from its inception to closure and its community’s lived experience. Findings: In this case study, a charter school board’s quality of governance played a significant role in a charter school’s success or failure. Charter school board, charter school leadership, and local school authorizer played important roles in the school’s closing. Charter school authorizers, charter school boards, and charter school leaders are accountable and responsible actors in a charter school’s functioning, and negligence in fulfilling these roles can lead to a school’s closing. Teachers’ complaints are signals of a school in distress. According to teachers and parents, the school’s closure had a devastating impact on the students, teachers, and parents. Conclusions: The dual governance mechanism of charter schools can work if the charter school board, charter school leaders, and authorizers fulfill their governance roles. However, the theory does not account for human behavior in policy implementation. Charter school governing boards are well positioned to ensure accountability for individual charter schools. Charter school authorizers need to establish clear guidelines on board selection and membership.

Battling Inertia in Educational Leadership: CRT Praxis for Race Conscious Dialogue

The purpose of this article is to illustrate how institutional racism is mediated by faculty negotiating power and privilege in the selection of Black (African American) women into an educational leadership preparation program. Critical race theory (CRT) praxis is used to analyze the faculty dynamics in the candidate selection process situated in a race neutral institutional culture. This reflective case study of an educational leadership department draws on qualitative data such as field notes from faculty conversations, experiential knowledge, memos, and quantitative data describing the disproportionate rejection of Black women applying to an educational leadership program in the US. Efforts to confront a race neutral process prompted by the higher rejection rate of Black women in comparison to their white counterparts prompted some faculty to engage in race conscious discourse. Faculty in departments of educational leadership who provoke race conscious dialogue on how they are implicated in institutional racism will likely face risks they will need to (em)brace for the battle against inertia.

Modeling Social Justice Educational Leadership: Self-Assessment for Equity (SAFE)

In this chapter we present a model of self-assessment for equity (SAFE) to guide faculty in leadership preparation programs concerned with equity and justice. The conceptual framework for this model derives from a review of the literature on social justice in educational leadership preparation and addresses the gap in the literature on the evaluation of educational leadership programs. We discuss how we conceptualize and implement SAFE in the context of the mission statement guiding the educational leadership program in which we work.

Productive Tensions in a Cross-Cultural Peer Mentoring Women's Network: A Social Capital Perspective.

A growing body of researchers documents the unique barriers women face in their academic career progression and the significance of mentoring networks for advancement of their academic trajectories as faculty. However, few researchers explore the embedded tensions and conflicts in the social processes and relations of mentoring networks, and the implications this has for social capital. Using this as our starting point, our narrative reflections suggest that while productive orientations and shared experiences as women faculty of color promote supportive professional roles; the structural, relational, and cultural dynamics subtly frame the basis of our tensions. In moving beyond these, we advance the need for structured and constructive engagement of our differences in building the social capital of peer mentoring networks. While this is not an easy task, we hold that it requires fluid and ongoing negotiations of these relationships if collective goals are to be realized.

The case law on student teachers’ rights.

Abstract The article provides a concise and up-to-date synthesis of the published case law where a student teacher was the plaintiff, or suing party, and the defendant was an institution of higher education and/or the cooperating local school district. There were 28 of these court decisions, and the outcomes favored the defendant institutions in 23 of them (82%). The remaining cases were mostly inconclusive or were limited victories for the student teacher, serving as less-than-robust precedents. The court cases fall under three broad categories: Admission and placement of student teachers, accounting for 6 of the cases (21%); conditions of student teaching, accounting for 4 of the court decisions (14%); and dismissal of student teachers, accounting for 18 of the court cases (64%). Across the three categories, constitutional claims amounted to the predominant avenue of litigation against school districts and those institutions of higher education that were public, whereas breach of contract was the primary basis of litigation against private higher education institutions. Helping to fill a gap in the professional literature for student teachers and educational institutions, this study serves as a step forward for institutional policies and practices of preventive law and for curricular material in teacher preparation programs, including case studies based on these published precedents.

School Consolidation and the Politics of School Closure Across Communities

This case involves dilemmas for educational leaders who may face the process of school consolidation brought on by decreased funding and demands for accountability. We highlight the challenges and opportunities to collaborate within and across diverse communities and schools with varying expressions of cultural, political, ethical, and organizational power and interests. The teaching notes coincide with aspects of the case that involve principal responsibilities, equity concerns, and negotiations amid the demands of multiple constituencies. Theoretical frameworks highlighting asset-based approaches, leadership for social justice, and micropolitics are emphasized.