From
Heroes to Organizers Principals and Education Organizing in Urban School Reform
Abstract
Purpose: Educational
leadership is key to addressing the persistent inequities in low-income urban
schools, but most principals struggle to work with parents and communities
around those schools to create socially just learning environments. This
article describes the conditions and experiences that enabled principals to
share leadership with teachers and low-income Latino parents to improve student
learning. Methods: This study used interviews, observations, and documents to
examine the perceptions and experiences of the principals of three small
autonomous schools initiated by a community organizing group in California.
Data analysis was conducted in iterative phases using shared leadership, social
capital, and role theories as lenses to identify themes, triangulate across
data sources, and examine alternative hypotheses. Findings: Findings illuminate
how a design team process initiated principals into a model of shared
leadership with teachers and empowered parents that focused on deep
relationships and capacity building. Principals enacted this model of the
“principal as organizer” in the newly-opened schools, but they struggled to
navigate conflicting leadership role expectations from district administration.
Implications: Organizing approaches to education reform can cultivate shared
leadership in principals and the capacity to partner with empowered, low-income
Latino parents. District expectations and principals’ broader social networks
may be critical in navigating and sustaining such leadership. Further research
on districts that collaborate with community organizing groups may provide
promising insights into the development of a new generation of educational
leaders.
