Leadership in Diverse Schools: An Examination of Early College High School Principals in North Carolina

The purpose of this qualitative, multi-site, multi-case study was to examine how three early college high school principals in North Carolina promote the success of the first generation, students of color and low-income students they serve. The study examined these principals through a conceptual framework of democratic, socially just, culturally responsive leadership. Findings show that two out of the three principals demonstrated the qualities and characteristics of democratic, socially just, culturally responsive leaders. Additionally, each principal led their school based on the values and beliefs each held about student achievement, access, equity and educational opportunity. The study has implications for the skills, dispositions and knowledge principals of diverse school should have in order to promote the success of their culturally and linguistically diverse students

Fostering Leadership Capacity in Three South Carolina High Schools: An Exploratory Study

Some states include fostering teacher leadership in principal evaluations, so principals need to provide opportunities and mentor or coach their staffs to assume leadership roles. Yet, less is known about the specific ways principals develop the leadership capacities of others. In this exploratory study we examined how principals in three South Carolina high schools intentionally fostered the capacities of leaders to enhance their schools’ organizational capacities. Our research questions were: 1) How are emerging leaders identified and selected by their principals? 2) How do principals foster leadership capacity in these leaders? Data collected for this multi-site qualitative study consisted of artifacts and semi-structured 60-90 minute interviews. All interviews were transcribed and analyzed by the research team inductively and deductively using NVivo 10. Our findings indicated that principals selected leaders who: indicated a desire to go into formal leadership roles; had good interpersonal skills and rapport with students and parents; demonstrated persistence and willingness; were effective teachers; had strong personalities; and had a particular skill or knowledge. Our findings for the second question indicate that principals fostered leadership by: mentoring and coaching others to leadership; scaffolding opportunities to lead; and trusting leaders to make the right decision

Early College High School Principals as Democratic, Socially Just, Culturally Responsive Leaders

The purpose of this qualitative, multi-site, multi-case study was to examine how early college high school principals promote the success of the first generation, students of color and low-income students they serve. The study examined three early college high school principals in North Carolina through two lenses: the traditional role of principals and a conceptual framework of democratic, socially just, culturally responsive leaders. The study used semi-structured interview and focus groups as the primary data sources. Additional data sources included documents, state databases and observations. The research questions guiding the study were: How do early college high school principals promote the success of the first generation, lower-income students and students of color? How do early college high school principals demonstrate the qualities and characteristics of democratic, socially just and culturally responsive leaders? Six broad themes and thirteen subthemes emerged from the data. The themes and subthemes that emerged were Access and Equity (target student population, application process and special education and ESL students); Academics (retention rate, standardized Tests, “The 5th year” and graduation rates/degrees Earned); Culture and Climate (safety/student discipline and school culture and climate; Managing the Organization (finances, staffing, instruction, and vision and mission); Relationships (outside the school and inside the school) and Identity. The findings were interpreted and situated in the context of the extant literature and the democratic/socially just/culturally responsive leadership conceptual framework. Implications for policy and practice, study limitations, recommendations for future study and the conclusion were also presented