“Where I came from, Where I am Now, and Where I'd like to Be”: Aspiring Administrators Reflect on Issues Related to Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice

This study explores student reflections about issues related to equity, diversity, and social justice from an educational foundations course. Online reflections and course assignments were analyzed from 15 aspiring administrators for patterns. Findings indicate that (1) students were willing to engage and reflect on their experiences and cultural identity, (2) students used their worldviews as filters for these experiences, (3) students were not necessarily willing to experience discomfort for the sake of learning about difference, and (4) students thought about their identities in a range of distinct developmental ways. If educational administration programs are to prepare future administrators who are reflective practitioners and critical thinkers working for social justice, professors must prepare these individuals to acknowledge their cultural identity and its implications for the schools they lead, and professors must account for their students’ developmental differences in class.

White Racism, Antiracism, and School Leadership Preparation

This article emerges from a belief that an overwhelming majority of White school leaders do not have a thorough enough understanding of White racism or the ways in which they are perpetuating White racism in their schools, even though most are well-meaning individuals. The lack of understanding or awareness of different forms of racism and how White racism works is highly problematic. Indeed, it has appalling consequences, detrimentally impacting the lives and dreams of millions of children. In this article, we draw from both literature and experience to argue for the incorporation of antiracism in school leadership programs. We begin with the assertion that because Educational Administration programs function as important agents of socialization for our future school leaders, White racism in all its manifestations must be confronted in these programs. After building the case that racism is enacted by teachers and administrators in schools and demonstrating the harmful effects of White racism on both children and adults, we argue that racism is not being adequately addressed in educational administration programs. Subsequently, we offer guidance to our readers for promoting antiracism among future educational leaders.

Ethical Administration: An Oxymoron?

This article argues that education is a fundamentally moral enterprise and that educational administration needs to change in order to reflect ethics at its core, not at its periphery. It suggests that traditional educational administration is informed by the constructs of power and leadership and that it has developed a generalized knowledge-base on modest theoretical grounds. Together these elements preclude development of educational administration as an ethical enterprise by dominating the discourse and inhibiting the dialogue necessary for ethical decision making. The question of whether or not ethical decision making can take place within an organization is explored. Recommendations for curricular changes in educational administration programs are advanced with regard to putting ethics at the core of the curriculum instead of training in idiosyncratic particulars.

The Unspecial Place of Special Education in Programs that Prepare School Administrators

What is the place of special education in programs that prepare school administrators? In this article, we explore this question by: (1) reviewing selected contemporary literature including recent recommendations for improving educational administration programs; (2) reanalyzing relevant data from a national study; and (3) reporting the results of recent interviews with selected high school principals. The conclusion reached is that special education is treated inadequately (if at all) in programs designed to prepare school administrators. Based upon this body of information collected and our experience with our own principal preparation program, recommendations are discussed concerning why and how special education should have a place in these programs.

Women's Perceptions of Graduate Level Educational Administration Programs

Women in graduate programs have, in the past, been subject to a "chilly climate" (Hall & Sandler, 1982). Those in educational administration faced particular problems associated with the male orientation of the discipline (Edson, 1988). Has this diminished now that half of the students are women? Although there were many positive reports, the overall experiences for women in educational administration programs were often marred by discriminatory attitudes displayed by specific professors, negative responses to affirmative action initiatives voiced by fellow students, and resentment displayed by both male professors and male students toward female professors. In the students' perceptions, universities had done little to encourage women, although some had been able to take educational administration courses intended to address issues of gender or women's studies courses as part of program. Positive experiences were often associated with exposure to women mentors interested in qualitative research methods. Students' recommendations for improvement of educational administration programs centred around the inclusion of women in course content, the "upgrading " of particularly entrenched professors, and program changes to provide more flexibility. Students were also concerned with changing the school systems themselves, in order to improve job opportunities once they had completed their programs.