Professor Of Educational Administration Research Articles

A Path Forward: Critically Examining Practitioners' Role in Addressing Campus Racial Climate

A Path Forward:Critically Examining Practitioners' Role in Addressing Campus Racial Climate Kaleb L. Briscoe (bio), Crystal E. Garcia (bio), and Ashley L. Swift (bio) Student affairs professionals (SAPs) have long grappled with the pervasiveness of whiteness within predominantly white institutions (PWIs). Whiteness is "a normative structure in society that marginalizes People of Color and privileges White people" (Cabrera et al., 2017, p. 18). Whiteness, which often reinforces systemic racism, directly affects how institutional history, culture, and racial climate are shaped (Gusa, 2010). Yet how whiteness operates is not always obvious. As Ahmed (2007) described, "We need to examine not only how bodies become white, or fail to do so, but also how spaces can take on the very 'qualities' that are given to such bodies" (p. 156). Ahmed's work emphasized how whiteness affects environments and how People of Color can be vastly harmed and deemed invisible in such spaces. The influence of whiteness on campus spaces is perhaps unsurprising, given that SAPs often normalize ideologies and practices around whiteness (Cabrera et al., 2016, 2017). Whiteness is often demonstrated in how SAPs advocate (or not) for Students of Color and respond to racialized incidents that occur all too often within campus communities. Indeed, racialized incidents, "problematic and derogatory actions and behaviors that promote negative stereotypes and send negative messages to marginalized groups" (Garcia et al., 2011, p. 8), operate under the guise of whiteness—a reality the field of student affairs rarely discusses. In this paper, we bring together our perspectives to offer insight into how whiteness informs SAPs' response to racialized incidents and advocacy for Students of Color. We explicitly speak to SAPs in student involvement roles, as we all have experience studying and working in these functional areas. Dr. Kaleb Briscoe is a Black cisgender woman and assistant professor of higher educational leadership. As a scholar, Kaleb's work problematizes oppressed and marginalized populations within higher education through critical theoretical frameworks and qualitative methodological approaches. She explicitly focuses on interrogating issues of race, racism, and racialized incidents and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Dr. Crystal Garcia is a Latina and white cisgender woman and assistant professor of educational administration. Her research focuses on the mechanisms through which racially minoritized students experience campus environments, with a particular focus on sorority and fraternity life (SFL). Ashley Swift is a Black, cisgender woman and member [End Page 588] of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. She currently serves as an assistant director for the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life at a PWI. Through research and practice, we have given much thought to the ways whiteness informs how student involvement SAPs respond to racialized incidents and offer suggestions for practitioners moving forward. THE PROBLEM: WHITENESS Whiteness is Embedded in Everything Whiteness is pervasive in all aspects of higher education and student affairs, especially student involvement (Beatty & Garcia, 2022; Briscoe & Jones, in press). In Kaleb's work on SAPs' experiences with campus racial climate at PWIs (see Briscoe, 2022), she found that SAPs who work in SFL, campus activities, and student organizations acknowledged that when racialized incidents occurred, institutional leaders often engaged with the campus community from a "business as usual" mindset. There was an expectation that SAPs of Color, often Black SAPs, would counsel Students of Color through these issues, yet their white peers were not asked to do this labor. Even further, the burden of racism caused SAPs of Color to experience racial battle fatigue. Indeed, campus administrators do not consider how these practices uplift whiteness and harm staff; instead, staff are asked to be on the ground during racialized incidents with little to no training. Understanding Color Evasiveness in Student Involvement Researchers have described the concept of color evasiveness as intentional efforts by white people to avoid recognizing the ways race is weaponized to create systems that privilege whiteness (Annamma et al., 2017). All too often, SAPs engage in color evasiveness, particularly when racialized incidents occur on campus, by avoiding responding to the issue or by communicating broad statements that do not name acts of hate and discrimination. Rarely do these statements directly name the actions as racist or recognize that these are not individual...

Struggling for Authentic Human Synergy and a Robust Democratic Culture: The Wellspring Community for Women in Educational Leadership

In this paper we will introduce a community of women educational leaders, theirstruggles for personal and professional accountability, and their inquiry toward thedevelopment of leadership wisdom in a democratic culture. Such leadership wisdomis not the norm in today's educational organizations. Influenced by the work ofresearchers, educational leaders, and professors of educational administration,traditional leadership has been based on hierarchical thinking and prescriptive skillsthat have promoted the status quo (Davies & Foster, 1994; Maxcy, 1994). Thispaper tells the story of a group of women educational leaders who are supportingeach other as they challenge tradition and explore the application of democraticleadership in educational settings. Their story is a result of the analysis of datacollected over the first three years of the Wellspring Community's existence.

The Dearth of Technology Leadership Coverage

This study focused on understanding the extent to which technology leadership is discussed, framed, and given voice in the fields of educational leadership and educational administration. To do this, we collected data and conducted content analyses on conference programs from three leading professional organizations in the field and on a selection of professional journals spanning 1997 to 2009. We found 2.12% of American Educational Research Association presentations had a technology leadership focus, compared to 2.94% for the University Council for Educational Administration and 7.40% for the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration. After determining the 25 most often-cited journals in the field, we found that 43 articles in these journals had a focus on technology leadership, most often centering on technology integration, staff development, and technology policy. Suggestions for moving forward are included.

Virtual Teams and Their Leaders: A Paradigm on Achieving Learning Agility

This paper provides a brief historical background on the redefinitions of school leadership preparationprograms in a particular state (Illinois) in the United States. The paper chronicles the collaborations,challenges, and accomplishments of a professional organization, from the period of 2001 to 2010. Setin the context of concerns about school leadership preparation at the national level, the paper focusesprincipally on the work of the Illinois Council of Professors of Educational Administration (ICPEA) as itengaged with multiple stakeholders at university and state levels to strengthen school leadershippreparation.

Linguistic forms and educational policy: the influence of Basil Bernstein

Linguistic forms and educational policy: the influence of Basil Bernstein

Forming Collaborative Partnerships on a Statewide Level to Develop Quality School Leaders

In 2004, the New Jersey Department of Education mandated that all leadership preparation programs in the state align with the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortia standards. In response, 17 preparation programs established a chapter of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration. In this article, we describe how this chapter helped build a collaborative professional learning community across the state. The collaborative work revealed that field practitioners challenged our values and beliefs and also made substantive contributions to revising preparation programs. Now more in touch with how to improve preparation programs to meet the accountability press, we continue the dialogue with our field partners.

Linking Competency-Based Assessment to Successful Clinical Practice

Competence is essential for health care professionals; graduates must meet the responsibilities associated with a particular position. At one community college, nursing faculty have used a competency-based approach to educate and evaluate associate degree nursing students. The nursing curriculum is designed to allow for the inclusion of laboratory experiences for each nursing course and requires students to complete a clinical performance examination before advancing to the next level. The examination is designed as a clinical scenario with three to four responsibilities completed in random order. Critical elements developed by faculty are used to assess student competence. The increase in graduates' abilities to complete these skills has been valuable to both employers and graduates. Since 1992, with the implementation of a competency-based curriculum, the program's NCLEX-RN pass rates (98%) have been consistently above the national and state averages.

Dare public school administrators build a new social order?

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss how public school administrators with a social justice perspective have an obligation to permeate society beyond their schools and how they might address the perilous politics associated with advocating social change. Using George Counts' landmark 1932 speech, Dare the School Build a New Social Order? as the conceptual lenses, it examines the relevancy of Counts' words for contemporary school leaders and professors of educational administration.Design/methodology/approachWhile this article is historical in tone, the paper proposes pursuing a critical hermeneutic rather than a strictly historical approach.FindingsThe paper finds that there are similarities between the present‐day call for social justice and the earlier Social Reconstructionist movement that Counts' manifesto sparked. Both movements have invited educators, and particularly the professoriate, to think more expansively when it comes to US public education, society at large, and the influence of educators in shaping a more democratic and just country. But Counts goes much further than most adherents of the current‐day social justice movement. He stressed that educators must see themselves as political actors, who can shape their political environments through their teaching, as well as by participating in other venues.Practical implicationsFor contemporary educational leaders, they may be working in far less hospitable settings than their twentieth‐century predecessors. Administrators are under fierce accountability and fiscal pressures, while coping with a larger political environment that is polarized and fearful. And the internal environment of school administration favors a “managerial” approach. Consequently, embracing a social justice ethic invites a degree of risk‐taking.Originality/valueThis paper examines the relevancy of Counts' words for contemporary school leaders and professors of educational administration and highlights implications for school leaders.

Dare professors of educational administration build a new social order: social justice within an American perspective

Dare professors of educational administration build a new social order: social justice within an American perspective

Mentoring and tutoring within administrative internship programs in American universities

The article presents a significant national research project conducted by the authors and sponsored by the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration. It analyzes the varying aspects of administrative internships in American universities today. Professors of Educational Administration from around the nation were surveyed on‐line and at the NCPEA 2002 annual conference held in Burlington, Vermont. This article targets the utilization of mentoring and tutoring of administrative interns by both university supervisors and P‐12 campus and district mentors. Additional variables related to mentoring and tutoring administrative interns include time constraints, finances, structures, accreditations, and other barriers to success. Strengths, weaknesses, and commonalities are analyzed as well as conclusions, implications, and recommendations for further research.

The Why, How, and What of Mentoring

Based on his own experience mentoring a new teacher, Mr. Trubowitz offers valuable tips for those considering entering into this challenging and mutually enriching relationship. THE PRACTICE of mentoring new teachers is spreading widely. School systems are finding that beginning teachers who have access to intensive mentoring are less likely to leave teaching. With the growing acceptance of the need to mentor novice teachers comes the danger that schools will attempt to implement mentor programs without paying adequate attention to the factors that create mentor/mentee relationships that provide growth and satisfaction for both participants. Simply bringing two adults together is no guarantee of success. If the mentor/mentee relationship is to be productive, the following questions will need to be addressed. How Do People Become Mentors? The way in which someone becomes a mentor influences how that person will work with a mentee. If administrators pressure an experienced teacher into working with a novice, the likelihood that resentment will taint the relationship is high. If individuals become mentors because they see honor and prestige coming from the role, the interests of the new teacher may not be well served. If a mentor is selected to fix a problem teacher or to help implement district office directives, the road to professional development may be a rocky one. Applying rigid criteria to mentor selection may result in a limited approach to new teacher development. For example, it is often recommended that districts require mentors to be either currently teaching or only recently retired. The assumption is that only someone familiar with the system in which the novice is teaching can be of help. Mentors may find it valuable to have direct experience in the mentee's environment or one that is similar. However, there may be a downside for the novice teacher's professional development if a mentor who has experience in only one or two schools adheres to the status quo, focusing on survival skills and eschewing innovation. This approach to mentoring will merely reproduce existing practices rather than move toward positive change. People with broad backgrounds, who are unaware of existing bureaucratic strictures, may make suggestions free from traditional thinking. I was rejected as a mentor for new principals because I had not been a school administrator in recent years, even though I had been both a principal and a professor of educational administration. Despite the fact that for over 20 years I had been the director of the Queens College collaboration with the Louis Armstrong Middle School in Queens, New York, and that part of my role was to serve as a counselor to the school's principal, the district chose to go with recent experience. However, I was allowed to mentor a new teacher, even though I had been retired longer than the three-year limit imposed on mentors, because district personnel familiar with work I had done for them on other occasions chose to make an exception. The task of mentor selection goes beyond simply taking inventory of such desirable mentor characteristics as being professional, positive, collegial, responsive, supportive, empathic, and nonjudgmental. Unless these qualities are applied to the relationship in a sensitive and imaginative manner, they mean nothing. Districts need to identify people of maturity, insight, experience, and interest to guide newcomers on their path to professionalism. And mentors need programs to prepare them, so that they don't get caught up in jargon, don't use mentoring to gratify personal needs, and don't view mentoring as a simplistic, mechanical process. What Are the First Steps? When working with a new teacher, the mentor's first task is to read the mentee. For many new teachers, the immediate goal will be survival. In these cases, the mentor needs to provide specific suggestions, to focus on minimal norms of expected behavior, and to discuss how to handle the first day and the first week. …

The Ethics of Change

This case is designed for use in courses that explore ethics or issues related to the change process. The superintendent in this case is faced with a decision that could facilitate the adoption of much needed reform in the district. This decision would not only assure better learning and brighter futures for thousands of students but avert his own firing. At risk is the self-respect of a single person. This case can be used as a springboard to a discussion of professional ethics as well as the consequences of the change process. The case was developed for the Missouri Professors of Educational Administration through a grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2003.

The Penetration of Educational Leadership Texts by Revelation and Prophecy: The Case of Stephen R. Covey

The writings of Stephen R. Covey and his best-selling work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, are beginning to be included in a broad range of texts marketed to educational leaders, including textbooks for the formal preparation of school administrators at the university level. Despite its unprecedented popularity, Covey's work is not research based nor is it scientific. Its epistemological claims are grounded in Christian prophecy and revelation. Covey's work neglects to meet even the most minimal standards of academic scholarship and should not be the content of any curriculum that professes to be based on empirically verified science. As long as educational practitioners and professors of educational administration remain unaware of the deeply metaphysical nature of Covey's works, they will continue to mistake or substitute revelation and prophecy for science. In so doing they run the risk of forfeiting claims about the “scientific preparation” of educational administrators, which has long been the hallmark of professional schools.

Children and Reading Tests (Advances in Discourse Processes Series, Vol. LXV)

Children and Reading Tests (Advances in Discourse Processes Series, Vol. LXV), by Clifford Hill and Eric Larsen. Stamford, CT: JAI Press, Inc., 2000. 425 pp. $73.25, cloth. $39.50, paper. The Advances in Discourse Processes Series is one of the most well-regarded research series in both linguistics and education. This most recent volume has maintained the high standards of the series by presenting a thorough and detailed analysis of how the minds of young children function while taking typical multiple-choice reading tests. The authors are Clifford Hill, who is Gates Professor of Language and Education as well as Director of the Program in African Languages at Columbia University, and Eric Larsen, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Educational Administration at Teachers College, Columbia University and former senior editor of an elementary language arts series. Hill and Larsen have worked and published together on the topic of reading tests since 1983. Studies of how children's minds work while taking tests are difficult do for a variety of reasons. Determining the thought processes of anyone presents the difficult challenge of drawing inferences from self-reports and linguistic analyses of tasks. Determining mental functioning of children is further complicated by limitations in how much a young child can articulate about language and thought processes. There are further political complications when real test items are used since test-makers have some history of refusing publish detailed accounts of actual items-especially when results throw doubt on the validity of the items. In the late 1970's, Hill gained access test that had been pilot tested for the second edition of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, but was subsequently not used in the published tests. Hill argues that the items are typical and were rejected for matters of maintaining balance in the various categories of the final test rather than because the items were especially problematic or unusual. (Test-makers traditionally begin with double quadruple the items they will actually use once items have been winnowed for ability discriminate student performance as well as represent different types of reading material.) In the 25 years since receiving access the test items, Hill, Larsen, and generations of Columbia graduate students have used these items gather a treasure house of detailed interview information from hundreds of 8-10 year-old students. These students have been tested with these items and interviewed, in-depth, on their thought processes for varying sub-samples of the items. Some of the data was gathered as part of National Institute of Education funded grants; some as part of doctoral dissertation research and others as part of Hill's class projects. The objective of the present volume is to gather together and integrate all that work that has accumulated around the original corpus of test material (p. 12). The integrated data allow for comparisons of performance by European American, African American, and in some cases Hispanic and Asian American students. Each of the 22 test items is given it's own thorough analysis drawing upon extensive student interview data as well as more traditional linguistic analysis of task language. Test items and student responses are examined in detail at multiple levels using multiple perspectives. These perspectives include: * analyses of the cognitive processing demands created by the wording and constraints of the multiple-choice tasks; * analyses of the matches and mismatches between children's world knowledge (including ethnocultural knowledge) with item choices and interpretations, and * analyses of the metalinguistic demands needed puzzle out correct test choices as compared what is known about children's metalinguistic awareness. Special attention is given the differing comprehension challenges presented by: truncated narratives, excerpted narratives, narratives with gaps, the need shift reference frames when considering different item foils, and problems caused by such subtleties as changing registers and polarities between passages and foil choices. …

Leadership in Evolving Democratic School Communities

Theorists have suggested that the practice of democracy is very hard work and current research on schools attempting more democratic practices such as site-based governance verify the complexity of the task. This article describes the values and associated behaviors of seven school administrators who foster and sustain democratic practices in schools engaged in restructuring. These school administrators reject the centrality of the principal's role and prominently display values that support equity, inclusion, mutual influence, and candor. Their values and associated behaviors lead to some provocative questions for professors of educational administration.

Is Your School Sick? Five Threats to Healthy Schools

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsThomas DiamantesDeborah Grubb is chair of the Department of Leadership and Secondary Education and Thomas Diamantes is an assistant professor of educational administration, both at Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky.

Factors Associated with Student Loan Default among Different Racial and Ethnic Groups

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeView correction statement:Erratum Additional informationNotes on contributorsJ. Fredericks VolkweinJ. Fredericks Volkwein is director of institutional research and associate professor of educational administration and policy studies, Alberto F. Cabrera is associate professor of educational administration and policy studies, Bruce P. Szelest is associate for institutional research, and Michelle R. Napierski-Prancl is a doctoral student at the State University of New York at Albany.Bruce P. SzelestJ. Fredericks Volkwein is director of institutional research and associate professor of educational administration and policy studies, Alberto F. Cabrera is associate professor of educational administration and policy studies, Bruce P. Szelest is associate for institutional research, and Michelle R. Napierski-Prancl is a doctoral student at the State University of New York at Albany.Alberto F. CabreraJ. Fredericks Volkwein is director of institutional research and associate professor of educational administration and policy studies, Alberto F. Cabrera is associate professor of educational administration and policy studies, Bruce P. Szelest is associate for institutional research, and Michelle R. Napierski-Prancl is a doctoral student at the State University of New York at Albany.Michelle R. Napierski-PranclJ. Fredericks Volkwein is director of institutional research and associate professor of educational administration and policy studies, Alberto F. Cabrera is associate professor of educational administration and policy studies, Bruce P. Szelest is associate for institutional research, and Michelle R. Napierski-Prancl is a doctoral student at the State University of New York at Albany.

The Future of Educational Administration is behind Us*

Scholars and practicing administrators face rapid change and information overload in their respective roles in educational leadership. These forces are pushing professors of educational administration to stress skills in mixed scanning and visioning to future school leaders. These critical skills will assist these leaders to navigate through the currents of complex social change and political waves of criticism, conservatism, and greater cries for accountability of the education dollar. The challenges these forces bring require school administrators to quickly frame problems, use targeted information, and inspire others to share a vision about schools which serve all children and youth. To develop these school leaders for the years ahead, professors must model and teach students to be visionary men and women who center their lives on the following three anchors: the capacity to care deeply for others, the ability to communicate a clear message in simple, persuasive words, and the commitment to persist under the most difficult of circumstances.

Next Steps: Adaptation and Use of an Established Organizational Model in Training Principals

Today's school principals are confronted with increasing and often conflicting demands for effective and accountable performance. Many of those demands center on essentially impersonal managerial tasks such as strategic planning, documentation and evaluation, while others focus on the humanistic imperatives of showing concern for others, nurturing staff talents and empowering faculty. The author has found the Getzels-Guba model of organizational social system functioning (Getzels and Guba, 1957; Getzels, 1958) to be a practical conceptual base for adaptation as a teaching tool to be used with principalship trainees in addressing such conflicting demands. The Getzels-Guba model as adapted by this writer has proven effective as an analytical aid used by graduate students in understanding the practical dynamics of the school leadership functions of the principal. The school is viewed as a social system, the functioning of which results in observable organizational behavior. The model is divided into an impersonal nomothetic dimension comprising the institution, role and expectation, and a highly personal idiographic dimension consisting of the parallel elements of the individual, his/her personality and his/her operative need-disposition. Simultaneous activity along both dimensions results in observable behavior with which the principal must deal. Although Getzels focused on the idio-graphic/nomothetic dynamics involved as existing within the individual, the author of this article has expanded the basic concept to include such interaction both within the individual and between individuals. Three types of possible conflict arising from the internal dynamics of the model were identified by Getzels: role conflict, personality conflict, and role-personality conflict. Each, as expanded and adapted by the present writer, is discussed in reference to its applicability to principalship training. The point is emphasized to students that by facilitating effective interface of the nomothetic and idiographic dimensions of the school social system, the principal can minimize the negative effects of conflict and help release the creative energy needed to attain organizational effectiveness. Emphasis is placed on experiences in using this adapted model with principalship trainees, their reactions to its applicability, and practical suggestions to facilitate its use as an aid in teaching. The author concludes by advising professors of educational administration to consider rational expansion and adaptation of existing models, theories and paradigms essential to their task of linking theory with practice.

The Impact of Departmental Research and Teaching Climates on Undergraduate Growth and Satisfaction

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsJ. Fredericks VolkweinJ. Fredericks Volkwein is director of institutional research and adjunct professor of educational administration and policy studies at SUNY — Albany, and David A. Carbone recently received his Ed.D. from SUNY — Albany and is employed at the law firm LaBoeuf, Lamb, Liby, and MacRae, Newark, N.J.David A. CarboneJ. Fredericks Volkwein is director of institutional research and adjunct professor of educational administration and policy studies at SUNY — Albany, and David A. Carbone recently received his Ed.D. from SUNY — Albany and is employed at the law firm LaBoeuf, Lamb, Liby, and MacRae, Newark, N.J.