Promise and Possibility for Aspiring Principals: An Emerging Leadership Identity through Learning to Do Action Research

This case study explored the promise and possibility of doing action research both for aspiring principals engaged in such research and for professors using it as pedagogy for teaching educational leadership. The study of a class of graduate students aspiring to be principals had a constructivist theoretical framework. The research design consisted of three tiers: tier one: a reflective self-study by the professor evaluating the pedagogy of developing action research team projects; tier two: an analysis of the self-evaluations of the aspiring principals on the pedagogy of developing action research team projects and its effect on their learning; and tier three: the perceived deep learning resulting from the action research topics. The study concluded that for aspiring principals, learning to do action research in teams has the potential for powerful impact on emerging leadership identity; on the focus on deep issues and first steps in transformational leadership; and on individual and mutual reflection and the development of professional learning communities. For university professors, action research melds theory and practice and is effective pedagogy for teaching leadership

Writing Reviews as a Way of Mentoring Fellow Authors

The Fall 2006 conference provided an opportunity to explore service to MWERA. In this article Merz and Batagiannis reflect on and extend how reviewers can serve the Mid-Western Educational Research Journal

Using the publishing hook to engage faculty in scholarly teaching

Our university’s SoTL Work Group members are offering this workshop as a blueprint for other centers and developers to implement in addressing certain pre-conceptions about SoTL work. In this workshop, we show how to use publication as the “hook” to get people interested in Richlin’s (2006) scholarly teaching process. Activities include a review of what journals consider when evaluating manuscripts, a critique of sample manuscripts, completion of a SoTL project worksheet, and discussion of venues for publishing

Obama 's Educational Policy:Disposition of Authenticity or the Politics of the Emperor's New Clothes

The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America resulted in a resurgence of hope for educators, desperately needed to counteract the deleterious effects of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) . Since the election, hope has dissipated as American educators have observed the contradictions between Obama's rhetoric of hope and authenticity and his policies and actions, including his appointment of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education. The author, an immigrant, who has served as teacher, principal, superintendent, and now university professor, believes in the American Dream and remains hopeful that if President Obama's leadership is informed by courage and authenticity, hope will re-emerge

Leadership Guided by Courage: A Challenge to Instantaneous Perfection

The search for magic bullets and quick fixes, that is, instantaneous perfection, reflects the insatiable thirst for immediate solutions. These demands in education, generally, and in educational leadership, specifically, result in limited, technocratic, rather than adaptive leadership. The No Child Left Behind Act (passed into law in 2002 in the United States) is a clear example of instantaneous perfection. This manuscript's methodology links theory and practice through personal observation as a school superintendent and as a college professor in deconstructing instantaneous perfection and leadership. Using the concept and analysis of courage, defined as wisdom, passion, and hope, suggestions are provided as to how to resist instantaneous perfection's dominant practices among educational leaders