Blazing New Trails - Connexions

CRITICAL ISSUES IN PROMOTING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
Creating Shared Meaning in High Performing, Low Socioeconomic
Urban Elementary Schools: Going Extra, Above, and Beyond
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JoAnn Danelo Barbour
Olga Pacot
The evidence has been clear for many years that the majority of low-income, urban
children of color rank at the bottom of almost every measure of academic achievement (Olson
& Jerald, 1998). Among 17,000 U.S. schools sustaining high performance as measured by test
scores, success occurred most often in more affluent schools; not one school out of 2,100 with
a poverty rate above 75%, and hardly any of the 7,000 additional schools with poverty rates
above 25% were able to show consistent improvement over more than a two-year period
(Bracey, 2004). Additionally, considering the data from award-winning Chicago public school
principals between 1996–1998, “... schools of outstanding principals have a higher percentage
of white students, a lower percentage of black students, a lower percentage of low-income
students, lower mobility rates and higher attendance rates than the schools of Chicago
principals who have not won the award” (Erbe & Holloway, 2000, p. 6). Recently, however,
scholars have indicated that some schools in low socioeconomic status (SES) urban areas
perform much higher than what the national studies suggest; and, contrary to the evidence of
the bottom ranking of low-income urban children, there are schools in low SES urban areas
that are performing at high levels and have shown improvements from previously poor ratings
on state assessment tests (Fullan & Steigelbauer, 1991; Wolf, Borko, Elliot, & McIver, 2000;
Uchiyama & Wolf, 2002).
School principals may be a key factor in making a difference in high performing
schools in low SES urban areas. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss findings from a
study in which we examined the behaviors and values of two high-achieving low-SES
urban elementary school principals. We highlight several effective principal behaviors and
values shared by the principals and their teachers. The following four questions guided
this study:
1. Based on extant scholarship, what are principals’ leadership behaviors that appear
to contribute to high-achieving, low socioeconomic urban elementary schools?
2. What decision making practices are in place in two high-achieving, low
socioeconomic urban elementary schools?
3. What types of human interactions occur between the principal and teachers/staff of
two high-achieving, low socioeconomic urban elementary schools?
4. What educational beliefs and values are held by the two principals in highachieving
low socioeconomic urban elementary schools?
JoAnn Danelo Barbour, Texas Woman’s University
Olga Pacot, Dallas Independent School District