Effective practices of high school principals\u27 leadership in developing traditionally underrepresented students\u27 higher education and future career readiness

Political initiatives in response to government reports have focused on students’ preparation for higher education and their future careers, and students fall short. School districts and school programs give attention to the application of instructional practices to ensure students’ college and career preparation, providing professional development in various instructional methods that address Language Arts and Math skills development, and students fall short. Teachers work tirelessly to use instructional strategies that develop students’ critical and computational thinking, communication, collaboration, and creative skills, and students fall short as research indicates that students entering higher education continue to require remedial classes before beginning their college degree programs. This qualitative study design’s purpose was to analyze the effective practices that early college high school principals employ that influence the academic achievement of students traditionally underrepresented in higher education. Thirteen (13) research participants’ responses to leadership style, challenges, and solutions in program planning, development, and implementation with their recommendations yielded sixty themes of practices and strategies employed by early college high school principals. This study’s results corroborate the literature on effective educational leadership practices that affect student achievement and inform educational leadership practice for underrepresented student populations in higher education. Implications for further research address the academic needs of other underrepresented student populations in higher education, including students with moderate to severe educational needs, foster youth and homeless youth

How Middle and High School Principals Provide Culturally Responsive Leadership for Underrepresented Students in Stem: a Qualitative Comparative Case Study

This study explored how principals who have experienced success in working with underrepresented students in STEM have challenged inequitable practices and transformed the culture of their schools so that all students can thrive. A purposeful sampling strategy was used to identify four principals who served as the cases for the study. The research revealed that culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) behaviors and practices were regularly used by the principals to provide a STEM program that was responsive to the needs of underrepresented students. The principals in the study formed a critical consciousness by engaging in self-reflection about their leadership practices and displaying courageous leadership when confronted by attitudes, behaviors, and mandates that compromised the ability of their schools to provide high quality STEM instruction for all students. The principals engaged marginalized students by fostering positive relationships with students, providing students with voice, maintaining high expectations for all students, and securing a culturally responsive curriculum. The principals empowered community involvement in their schools by developing strategic partnerships, enlisting STEM role models and mentors for minoritized students, and fostering meaningful relationships with parents and community members. The principals developed a culturally responsive teaching staff in their schools by hiring for mission, leveraging professional development, encouraging teachers to reflect on their attitudes and practices, and promoting an equitable and inclusive school environment. The findings from this study suggest that culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) is efficacious for increasing the interest, persistence, and success of students who have been minoritized in STEM

Adolescent Literacy and the Achievement Gap: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go From Here?

Reviews research and program initiatives focused on improving adolescent academic achievement by targeting literacy. Provides ideas for collaboration and coordination of funding efforts to improve the literacy achievement of under-performing adolescents

College Recruitment of Low-Income Underrepresented Minority Students

The relationship between the use of discriminatory recruitment procedures against low-income unrepresented minority (URM) students at four-year private institutions based on enrollment managers’ and college recruiters’ beliefs, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions was this study’s focus. Specifically, the following were investigated: (a) how enrollment managers perceive their role in recruiting low-income URM students, (b) how college recruiters understand their role in recruiting low-income URM students, (c) the effective strategies enrollment managers use to prepare recruiters for recruiting low-income URM students, and (d) the differential impact in recruiting low-income URM students versus their counterparts. A supporting factor explored further in this study is how college choice plays a part in this student population’s motivation to seek higher education. Purposive sampling was used in this study to identify four four-year universities in the United States and to identify enrollment manager and recruiter participants from these institutions. Data were collected through semistructured interviews regarding enrollment managers’ and college recruiters’ roles, document analysis of strategic enrollment management plans, and institutional enrollment data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. For this multicase study, nine enrollment managers and college recruiters with experience in admissions and recruitment were selected. Through narrative analysis, five themes were developed: the enrollment manager career, the college recruiter career, the low-income URM students, the recruiting of low-income URM students, and professional development. The findings indicated minimal discrimination in the recruitment procedures used based on enrollment managers and college recruiters’ beliefs, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions about this student population and that this student population receives more hands-on guidance and support in the recruitment processes at these institutions than their more affluent peers. Results further reflected how enrollment managers and college recruiters’ beliefs about the hindering obstacles low-income URM students face influenced their behavioral intentions to cater more to this student population in the recruitment process. A recommendation for enrollment managers and college recruiters is to use servant and authentic leadership to support low-income URM students in the recruitment process. Keywords: recruitment, underrepresented minority (URM) student, enrollment management, student of color, college recruitment, private university, college choic