Microaggressions in Administrator Preparation Programs: How Black Female Participants Experienced Discussions of Identity, Discrimination, and Leadership

Using Sue et al.’s microaggressions framework, this qualitative study focused on the preparation experiences of 10 Black, female school leaders to examine how and in what ways identity, leadership, and discrimination were discussed in their administration preparation programs. We find participants were neither given space to explore their identities or experiences of discrimination nor did they learn strategies to address them. Instead, leadership was treated as an identity-neutral endeavor, and conversations regarding racial or gender differences were ignored or silenced. In these ways, the programs perpetrated various microaggressions excluding, negating, or nullifying participants’ experiences as Black female leaders.

Changing Course in Jefferson City: Reevaluating a District Initiative to Convert Under-Enrolled Elementary Schools

This case positions the reader as the superintendent of Jefferson City Public Schools (pseudonym). Like many urban school districts in the United States, Jefferson City faces a complex milieu of fiscal challenges attributed to inadequate state funding and declining student enrollment. Within this case, the superintendent must address the failing implementation of a district-wide initiative, which converted K-5 elementary schools to K-8 combination schools in response to declining middle school enrollment. The case invites the reader to consider how the district might engage in strategic planning to revise or eliminate the initiative. The case is appropriate for use in administrator preparation programs, particularly those preparing district-level administrators.

Validation of the Newly Developed Graphical Inventory of Ethical Leadership (GIEL) Scale: Implications for Administrator Preparation and Business Leaders

This quantitative pilot-study empirically tested the factor structure and reliability of the newly developed Graphical Inventory of Ethical Leadership (GIEL) scale, a Likert-style scale for quantifying key concepts related to ethical leadership. Correlations and principal components analyses were performed using pre-existing data as self-reports from a sample including 103 graduate students, within a Scholarship for Teaching and Learning project design, in an administrator preparation program at a private university located in a large southwestern state of the U.S. Face and content validity were demonstrated and empirical analyses revealed a three-factor structure for a unidimensional construct of ethical leadership. Internal reliability was above the pre-determined indices of Cronbach’s alpha > .60 considered acceptable for scales in a pilot study. Potential uses of the GIEL include; as a baseline for setting and monitoring professional development goals, as evidence for recommending certification in administrator preparation programs, and as part of a 360-degree evaluation process.

Social Justice Leadership and Family Engagement

Research Approach: This in-depth qualitative case study explores one school leader’s enactment of social justice leadership in an elementary school in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Analysis of interviews and observations revealed how this leader adapted her leadership to prioritize the severe needs of families and students in one of the world’s most violent cities. Findings: The article describes how the leader made sense of the community and its needs. Then, it examines how the leader enacted social justice leadership by addressing the out-of-school challenges that affected student achievement and well-being. Consequently, the leader’s focus shifted toward meaningful family engagement through adult education, community advocacy, and critical questioning of the status quo. Implications: Implications for future research, theory, and administrator preparation programs are presented at the conclusion of the article.

Administrator Preparation

Administrator preparation refers to leadership education graduate programs in universities, granting master’s and doctoral degrees in educational administration or educational leadership. These programs usually include completing requirements for state licensure to serve as school principals, superintendents, and other central office administrators. Students’ degree programs include a plethora of courses including educational finance, organizational theory, leadership processes, education law, education policy, instructional management, research methods, program evaluation and data management, systems planning and analysis, and human resource management. The two most prominent professional associations for individuals engaged in administrator preparation and related research efforts are the National Council for Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA) and the University Council of Professors of Educational Administration. Researchers for NCPEA reveal that more than 370 graduate programs in educational administration include approximately 3,000 professors and nearly all programs offer the master’s degree and courses leading to administrative licensure, many with an online option. The terminal degree—PhD or EdD—is viewed as a necessity for candidates competing for central office jobs or principalships in many school districts. The historical context and evolution of theory within the field has been important in generating research and change in administrator preparation programs. The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) and the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC), now called ISLLC 2008 Leadership Education Policy Standards, are the primary standards in place for administrator preparation programs. This standardization has raised significant criticism within the field, spurring best-practice research and efforts to reform existing programs. “Interdisciplinary” administrator preparation is a newer movement promoted by growing criticism of traditional administrator preparation. These new degree programs blend graduate-level courses in financial, entrepreneurial, and innovation skills in business administration, public administration, and public affairs with courses in departments of educational administration. In addition to new courses, the popularity of online courses and degrees increases each year. This new program content and the new mode of delivery require research to be conducted to compare the quality of credentials awarded online and through the traditional model.

Democratic Leadership and Places to Practice It

The renewal or reform of public schools and their communities calls for a moral democratic concept of leadership, which includes the principles and practices of caring, trust, social justice and collaborative inquiry. In contrast to the bureaucratic concept of leadership that has prevailed in public schools and placed a few people in leadership roles, a democratic concept involves everyone and requires the development of leadership skills in teachers, school administrators, students, parents and neighborhood residents. Such a concept can best be served by a merger of teacher and administrator preparation programs, so that future teachers may develop as leaders as well as followers, and future administrators may develop as followers as well as leaders. In such a merger, there must be community and school forums in which preservice teachers and administrators may practice for their future roles and extend the democratic concept of leadership to students, parents, and neighborhood residents. Efforts of one eight-year school and community change initiative, which is now in its sixth year, indicate the type of forum that might effectively serve this need.

Potential Problems (and Solutions) of Mentoring in the Preparation of School Administrators

In a few university administrator preparation programs, experienced principals are being used effectively as mentors to aspiring principals. The mentoring relationship has been found to be more positive and beneficial if the practicum experience is long term and the mentor is seen as an important member of the university training effort. Under the best of circumstances problems may occur that affect the value of mentoring. The article discusses twelve common pitfalls of mentoring and provides suggestions for their resolution.

The Effects of the Educational Reform Movement on Departments of Educational Leadership

This article reviews the types of revisions that preparation programs in educational leadership have begun to make in response to three related sets of pressures brought on by the reform movement of the 1980s: pressures bearing on school administrators from the larger reform agenda—that is, improving education across the board, general critiques of and calls for improvement in educational leadership, and specific analyses and demands for change in administrator preparation programs. The results are based on questionnaires completed by 74 chairpersons in departments of educational leadership. The emerging picture is mixed. On the one hand, departments of educational administration have begun to respond to the pressures for change. In addition, for better or worse, discernible patterns in these revisions are generally consistent with the implicit demands for improvement that lace the critical reviews of the field and with the more explicit recommendations contained in the reform reports of the National Policy Board for Educational Administration and the National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration. On the other hand, the response has been moderate (at best) in intensity and mixed in focus.