What K-8 Leaders Must Know About Their Role in - National ...

the future of
education is now
What K-8 Leaders Must
Know About Their Role in
Schools are increasingly asked to expand their role in
meeting the needs of all students. They are asked to
provide a blend of synergistic ideas that are both traditional
and progressive while dealing with huge differences in
skill levels (Pogrow, 2006). The response of K-8 principals to
this challenge can make all the difference in the world to
children being raised in a world that is increasingly diverse.
As the National Association of Elementary School Principals
recognizes the role of school leaders in closing the learning
gap, it becomes critical to examine how that role is changing
in regard to equity.
Ensuring
Equity
Christopher Wooleyhand
Preparing for the future means knowing how
to effectively teach diverse populations.
24 Principal n September/October 2008
www.naesp.org

Policy and politics are not, nor have
they ever been, the sole driving force
behind educational progress for minority
students. It takes individual teachers
and administrators working actively and
tirelessly on behalf of students to make
a difference. As Singleton and Linton
(2006) note, educators must have a passion
for addressing equity and a willingness
to change. When school leaders
begin to purposefully and thoughtfully
address the needs of all students, they
invest in their community. That investment
pays dividends that can be measured
by both qualitative and quantitative
means.
The importance and value of building
relationships is recognized as a
critical factor in the success of minority
students. Educators readily agree that
we are charged with establishing and
fostering sustainable relationships with
children before we can even hope to
help them (Blankstein, 2004). Kuykendall
(2004) calls this “people-oriented
learning.” School leaders who hope
to reach students from diverse backgrounds
must value their need to be
educated via effective pedagogy. Children
from minority communities have
the infinite capacity to become lifelong
learners if they can connect with at
least one caring person who is willing to
serve as a positive role model (McNulty
& Quaglia, 2007).
“It takes individual
teachers and
administrators working
actively and tirelessly
on behalf of students to
make a difference.”
It is the responsibility of K-8 principals
to create model programs at
the elementary and middle levels that
promote and ensure an equitable education
for all. Politicians and school
districts should support these initiatives,
but schools need not wait for funding
to move forward. School leaders who
accept their responsibility in the fight
for equity will work until each student
reaches his or her potential.
Two themes emerge from educational
research that may provide a focus
for K-8 school leaders seeking to ensure
equity. First, specific leadership qualities
enhance and magnify the relationship
between school leaders and student
performance. Second, colleges and
universities are reflecting on leadership
training and their role in ensuring
equal access to education.
Digital Vision/Punchstock
Principal n September/October 2008
25

Leadership Qualities
While the role of the teacher in
ensuring equity is undeniable, that
mission can be challenging if school
leaders, through action or inaction,
undermine the efforts of teachers.
Therefore, it is critical for school leaders
to possess qualities, and exhibit
behaviors, that are consistent with the
goals of equal access. Leadership must
ensure that schools are places where
children interact socially, engage in
recreation, and learn to be compassionate
(Grogan, 2004). In order for school
leaders to understand their role in promoting
equity, they must examine their
own sociopolitical identities within
the context of their profession (Evans,
2007). It may also help if they appreciate
the meaning of social justice within
the educational context. Social justice
is a process built on respect, care, recognition,
and empathy. It is focused
on reducing the marginalization and
exclusion of groups. For Theoharis
(2007), social justice leadership means
that principals make issues of race,
class, gender, disability, sexual orientation,
and other historically marginalized
conditions central to their advocacy,
leadership practice, and vision.
School leaders must grasp the complex
role of race and demographic
change in their schools. Evans (2007)
uses the term “sensemaking” when discussing
this concept. She defines
sensemaking as “the cognitive act of
taking in information, framing it, and
using it to determine actions and behaviors
in a way that manages meaning
for individuals.” Evans also notes that
school leaders must interpret meaning
for themselves before they can shape
and influence events in their schools.
This is a complex and crucial skill for
school leaders motivated by equity
issues. Evans advises that if school leaders
are to address the needs of a racially
diverse student population, they must
acknowledge their own dominance and
marginalization of others.
Effective school leadership for equity
requires principals to be reflective
of their own personal racial identity.
They must constantly ask themselves
“School leaders who
have a global awareness
might be better able to
challenge the status quo
structure in schools.”
how their personal race biases may be
impacting the decision-making process.
For school leaders to be effective in
meeting the needs of minority students,
they must consider themselves advocates
for all students. Theoharis (2007)
reminds us that social justice leadership
is what good leadership should be.
Henze (2005) also reminds us that leaders
must improve their understanding
and knowledge by constantly wearing
their “equity lens,” which will enhance
their ability to promote equity as a consistent
practice.
Leadership Training
Recognizing that effective school
leadership is at the core of equity in
education, the question becomes how
do we provide training for administrators?
Administrators need more than
a cognitive understanding of their settings,
they need an emotional understanding
(Grogan, 2004). Henze (2005)
suggests that professional development
for school leaders should address their
awareness of how discourse creates and
reinforces ideologies. Henze identifies
the discourse of educational leaders as
a focus for improving equitable access
to education. She notes that educational
leaders often talk about race and
equity, but suggests that we need to know
how they understand these concepts. She
found that the discourse of educational
leaders is a neglected topic in professional
preparation courses. She suggests that
educational leadership programs could
encourage new leaders to use language
more consciously.
There is increasing support for leadership
training programs that produce
administrators who will ensure equitable
results for all students (Lopez, Magdaleno,
& Mendoza Reis, 2006; Henze, 2005;
Theoharis, 2007; Grogan, 2004). As the
K-8 student population becomes increasingly
diverse, a one-size-fits-all approach
is no longer appropriate (Lopez et al.,
2006; Kose, 2007). The preparation of
school leaders thus becomes central in
the pursuit of equity. The responsibility, in
many respects, rests with professors of educational
administration who must assume
responsibility for leadership programs that
promote equitable results for all students
(Lopez et al., 2006). Grogan (2004) also
suggests that we create professional development
that focuses on ways for administrators
to counter the negative effects of
national school reform efforts. She offers
that school leaders should collaborate
with teachers to provide a rich curriculum.
Grogan implores superintendents and
principals to ensure that the remediation
efforts mandated by school reform laws do
not become punitive for students. Evans
(2007) summarizes the concerns related
to school leadership by positing the need
for school leaders to have a clear and
lucid ideology related to the sociopolitical
issues. School leaders who have a global
awareness might be better able to challenge
the status quo structure in schools.
In order for K-8 principals to be the
leaders of change that NAESP’s Vision
2021 initiative calls for, they will need
to become fluent in issues associated
with equity. School districts will need to
actively seek out and train administrators
who possess the skills and ability
to advocate for all of their students.
Colleges will be charged with including
specific training that provides budding
administrators with the skills they will
need to eliminate the achievement gap.
If the future of K-8 education is now,
26 Principal n September/October 2008
www.naesp.org

then school leaders will need to make
conscious decisions directed at ensuring
equity for all students. P
Christopher Wooleyhand is principal
of Hillsmere Elementary School in
Annapolis, Maryland. His e-mail address
is cwooleyhand@aacps.org.
References
Blankstein, A. M. (2004). Failure is not an
option. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin
Press.
Evans, A. (2007). School leaders and
their sensemaking about race and
demographic change. Educational
Administration Quarterly, 43(2), 159-188.
Grogan, M. (2004). Keeping a critical,
postmodern eye on educational
leadership in the United States: In
appreciation of Bill Foster. Educational
Administration Quarterly, 40(2), 222-239.
Henze, R. (2005). Metaphors of diversity,
intergroup relations, and equity in the
discourse of educational leaders. Journal
of Language, Identity, and Education, 4(4),
243-267.
Web Resources
The Summer 2007 issue of Research
Roundup, titled “Supporting Teaching
in Culturally Diverse Classrooms,” offers
resources intended to help principals
provide leadership for their teachers’
efforts to reflect on and address issues of
culture and learning.
www.naesp.org
This paper, “A Collective Responsibility,
A Collective Work,” from the Center
for Law and Social Policy presents
a picture of risk and challenge for
youths in distressed communities and
outlines how these communities can
band together to create a continuum of
supportive activities to bolster children’s
success in school and life.
www.clasp.org/publications/
collectiveresponsibility.pdf
Houston, P. D., Blankstein, A. M., & Cole,
R. W. (2007). Out-of-the-box leadership.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Kose, B. W. (2007). One principal’s
influence on sustained, systemic, and
differentiated professional development
for social justice. Middle School Journal,
39(2), 34-42.
Kuykendall, C. (2004). From rage to hope.
Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
Lopez, J., Magdaleno, K., & Mendoza
Reis, N. (2006). Developing leadership
for equity. Educational Leadership and
Administration, 18, 11-19.
McNulty, R. J., & Quaglia, R. J. (2007).
Rigor, relevance and relationships.
School Administrator, 64(8), 18-24.
Pogrow, S. (2006). Restructuring highpoverty
elementary schools for success:
A description of the hi-perform school
design. Phi Delta Kappan, 88(3), 223-230.
Singleton, G. E., & Linton, C. (2006).
Courageous conversations about race: A
field guide for achieving equity in schools.
Somerset, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Theoharis, G. (2007). Social justice
educational leaders and resistance:
Toward a theory of social justice and
leadership. Educational Administration
Quarterly, 43(2), 221-258.
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