Fostering Inclusive Culture through Partnerships with Nonprofits

NELP Standards place a particular emphasis on “the leaders’ responsibility for the well-being of students and staff as well as their role in working with others to create supportive and inclusive district and school cultures” (Preparing for the National Educational Leadership Preparation (NELP) Program Review: A Companion Guide, 14). This concept, that of working with others to create inclusive district and school cultures, necessarily means that school leaders are required to look at organizations and leaders in the community to foster positive growth. Because of this, there is a fertile ground upon which to investigate the benefits of partnerships with other nonprofit organizations in a school district. Mcmillian, Wolf, and Cutting (2015) found that the more rural an area, the more positive impact nonprofit organizations have on the local economy. The school district plays a vital role in leading the quality of the impact from nonprofits. Often, the public-school system is not only the largest nonprofit organization in a particular community, but it is also the largest employer as well. Considering, among other things, the potential mutual benefit of partnerships between schools and other nonprofit organizations in a community, a list of seven interview questions was developed and interviews were conducted with 18 nonprofit representatives located across the state of Texas in urban, suburban and specifically rural locations to develop a greater understanding of the perspectives of individuals who work in nonprofit organizations as they relate to characteristics embodied by school leaders and guided by the NELP standards

Talk or Walk: School Principals and Shared Instructional Leadership

Beginning in March of 2020, public school educators at all levels were thrown into a situation in which they were required to drastically alter pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning. The move from classroom-based instruction to a virtual platform, whether synchronous or not, was too often done on-the-fly and with mixed results. With the realization and acceptance, albeit grudgingly, that web-based, internet-based, and/or virtual platforms need to be greatly expanded to the population and may become the norm for public education, there clearly exists a need for an expanded definition of instructional leadership. The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions of school administrators regarding the role of the professionally trained school librarian in the K-12 environment with respect to campus change processes and activities that relate to collaboration between the librarian and the classroom teacher. To investigate this purpose, the researchers elicited data from specific questions on the Principal Technology Leadership Assessment Survey that were overtly related to the purpose of the research

Leadership through Chaos and the Demand for Resiliency

One of the sobering takeaways from the international pandemic is the concept of “new normal.” Indeed, many were entranced with the phrase in its advent, but over the last many months, the phrase has become one about which people have grown tired or weary. In some ways, new normal is a lens through which one can look at an organization\u27s culture. That is, to what extent do the values and beliefs that are collectively held by those who are invested in an organization succumb to force from without the organization in times of crisis? In other words, despite stresses placed upon an organization from its surroundings, how does an organization adapt to maintain its primary purpose and meet the needs of its stakeholders? Giving voice to and understanding the thoughts and experiences of various stakeholders involved in public education offers insights into organizational culture. In this article, we present perspectives of the experiences of stakeholders (campus administrators, teachers, parents, school staff) who interact with public educational organizations on personal and professional levels in a climate that can best be defined as uncertain and chaotic. Of particular interest is the commonality of the various thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about different yet shared experiences through a global pandemic. Discussion questions addressed educational and personal impact, related to education, of COVID-19. Questions altered to address issues related to each of the stakeholders. While specific questions were constructed to each of the stakeholder groups, common inquiries that supported discussion are below: How has COVID-19 most significantly impacted your role? How has COVID-19 impacted relationships externally in the school community? How has COVID-19 changed or otherwise impacted communication with parents and the community? How has COVID-19 changed or otherwise impacted relationships internally within the school community

A Principal’s Dilemma: Instructional Leader or Manager

This study focuses on the emphasis principals’ place on the design and delivery of curriculum and instruction on individual campuses and the extent federal regulation has impacted principal behaviors as instructional leaders. The transformation from the principal’s role of manager to that which is inclusive of instructional leadership is due to the steady increase of the regulations governing the accountability system culminating in No Child Left Behind. In fact, “ … one in three principals says implementation of NCLB is the most pressing issue he or she is facing” (Sergiovanni, 2009, p. 44)

Educational Accountability and Equity: Superintendent Perspectives

Educational equity is understood as the recognition of a school system to ensure resources to safeguard that all students have equitable access, opportunity, and outcomes (Galloway & Ishimaru, 2015). Yet inequity persists in the American educational system. School accountability remains at the forefront of education policy to ensure equitable achievement between students from all backgrounds regardless of race, ethnicity, family income, linguistic background, and ability (Krejsler, 2018; Skrla, 2001). This article reflects a qualitative approach to understanding public school superintendent voices regarding experiences, feelings, and beliefs related to our ongoing era of accountability in a changing social environment. This study examines the results of interviews of 13 public school superintendents in a large metropolitan area and identifies emergent themes in superintendent thinking as it revolves around school accountability. These themes are couched in larger discussion of educational equity

The Road Less Traveled: Why Black males Choose Alternative Routes that Lead to Education

This study uses critical race theory and qualitative interviews to understand the perspectives of 10 Black males that have entered the field of education through non-traditional routes. It seeks to highlight the rationale for not choosing education as a first option, what eventually led them into the field, and finally how educational leaders might better recruit. As the field continues to evolve with demographics still heavily favoring women, decision makers in school districts, universities, and alternative certification programs need to understand the best methods to recruit and retain Black males in education. The findings of this research will benefit these stakeholders and their constituents and inform practitioners, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic and current teacher shortage

Social Media Practices of School Administrators: The Time is Now

The educational disruption caused by COVID-19 increased awareness of the value of organizational resiliency/sustainability and the critical need for administrators to provide timely communication among all stakeholders. If preparation programs are to provide administrators with the skills and knowledge to effectively use social media as a communication tool, we must explore the practices and perceptions of school administrators’ use of social media to communicate with stakeholders and to identify their recommended social media communication practices. The Social Media as a Tool to Effectively Communicate with Stakeholders Survey and interviews were used for data collection. Findings are focused on comfort levels, perceived effectiveness, benefits, concerns, and recommended practices reported by the school administrators who participated in the study. While, social media was found to be an effective communication tool that can promote and support positive public relations, there were noted gaps in self-efficacy and best practices of the reporting administrators. Research literature, preparation programs, and practicing administrators will equally benefit from the outcomes of this study

Early Priming Minimizes the Age-Related Immune Compromise of CD8+ T Cell Diversity and Function

The elderly are particularly susceptible to influenza A virus infections, with increased occurrence, disease severity and reduced vaccine efficacy attributed to declining immunity. Experimentally, the age-dependent decline in influenza-specific CD8+ T cell responsiveness reflects both functional compromise and the emergence of ‘repertoire holes’ arising from the loss of low frequency clonotypes. In this study, we asked whether early priming limits the time-related attrition of immune competence. Though primary responses in aged mice were compromised, animals vaccinated at 6 weeks then challenged >20 months later had T-cell responses that were normal in magnitude. Both functional quality and the persistence of ‘preferred’ TCR clonotypes that expand in a characteristic immunodominance hierarchy were maintained following early priming. Similar to the early priming, vaccination at 22 months followed by challenge retained a response magnitude equivalent to young mice. However, late priming resulted in reduced TCRβ diversity in comparison with vaccination earlier in life. Thus, early priming was critical to maintaining individual and population-wide TCRβ diversity. In summary, early exposure leads to the long-term maintenance of memory T cells and thus preserves optimal, influenza-specific CD8+ T-cell responsiveness and protects against the age-related attrition of naïve T-cell precursors. Our study supports development of vaccines that prime CD8+ T-cells early in life to elicit the broadest possible spectrum of CD8+ T-cell memory and preserve the magnitude, functionality and TCR usage of responding populations. In addition, our study provides the most comprehensive analysis of the aged (primary, secondary primed-early and secondary primed-late) TCR repertoires published to date