Blazing New Trails - Connexions

Creating Shared Meaning in High Performing, Low Socioeconomic Urban Elementary Schools 155
principals was more subtle. Change could simply mean daily doing the sheer hard work of
building a winning team in a difficult environment.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
It is clear from the literature and the findings of this study that school principals play
key leadership roles in creating a culture that enables and promotes academic optimism for
the teachers and students. Both principals, moreover, were able to affect positive changes in
their respective schools, based most importantly on the fact that there was a set of shared
values between principal and teachers. Most noteworthy is that the principals’ efforts to
increase academic optimism were effective in helping to improve student performance in high
poverty schools by skillfully leading stakeholders in the desired direction of going the extra
mile and creating a “can do” spirit and a culture of excellence for their students, teachers, and
community.
It will take two qualities, a change in mindset and a change in approach to improve a
non-performing low SES urban school: two qualities not needed to improve a non-performing
affluent suburban school. From our research, we found that both principals worked very hard
to break the perception of and pattern of failure that is typical in urban low-SES schools. The
two principals truly believed, and acted on the belief, that they could make a difference for
their students regardless of their students’ background, socioeconomic status, and life
experiences. Such accomplishment, however, appeared to require a different mindset and
approach and more dedicated and inspired principals. Such principals will need to instill the
belief and build the confidence in teachers, students, and parents that excellence can be
accomplished if one has focused effort with major time commitments shared by all
stakeholders.
Strong principal leaders, who are transformational and who share instructional
leadership, truly believe that everyone can learn (regardless of economic status and family
background). They are team builders who inspire their teams to go beyond expectations to
have a chance of improving school performance in low-SES schools. They courageously
confront and influence teachers and staff members who resist pleas to change. Such principal
leadership can challenge and excite students about learning, particularly in low
socioeconomic urban schools.
Educators of future school leaders are left with the question: How do we teach future
leaders to become transformational change agents in low-SES schools? Those involved with
principal preparation programs, for example, should require students to visit, shadow, and
interview principals in high performing schools, including low-SES schools. Future principals
must see what excellence looks like from different grade levels and different perspectives.
Observing, coupled with interviewing, would provide students with first-hand knowledge and
experiences of excellence on campuses different from their own. Additionally, while future
school leaders undergo internships in a school, they often fulfill the academic requirement in
the school in which they are working, whether or not that principal is a model of excellence.
Often a university system is not designed to place graduate students into situations of
excellence; however, we believe that principals of excellence who have developed situations
of excellence would provide opportunities for growing and developing future change agents.
These high- performing schools would provide aspiring administrators arenas in which they
could experience high performance in action, occasions to work with varieties of learners, and
opportunities to be mentored by these excellent leaders.