What’s Your Excuse? Sensemaking About Chronic Absenteeism in a Rural, Latinx High School

Nationwide, over seven million students are chronically absent from school each year, impacting academic success and future job earnings. Latinx high school students have among the highest absentee rates across all racial groups. Using critical sensemaking theory, this qualitative case study examines how school, district, and community leaders make sense of chronic absenteeism in their diversifying local high school. This study is situated in Hensonville Secondary School (a pseudonym), a small, rural high school in Iowa serving a predominantly Latinx student body. Findings reveal that persistent deficit narratives placed upon Latinx and/or low-income students drive the perception of absentee students as “others” that do not fit the expectations of the educational leaders or of the broader community. Power and privilege in the district were evident as white educational leaders blamed Latinx students and those from low-income backgrounds for chronic absenteeism while minimizing the institutional and contextual factors that may be contributing to low student attendance. Collaborative partnerships are increasingly being used to address chronic absenteeism, and we also investigate these efforts in Hensonville. white educational leaders in diversifying rural communities, and the leadership preparation programs educating these future leaders, must rely on culturally relevant/responsive strategies in order to best support their students and reduce chronic absenteeism.

Exploring the Association Between Short-cycle School Improvement Planning and Student Achievement in Underperforming Schools

Some governments require that educational leaders working in underperforming schools create school improvement plans (SIPs) to guide change efforts. Extant research describes two common approaches to SIPs: (a) a “traditional” approach where leaders create a single plan for an entire academic year, and (b) a “short-cycle” approach where leaders create two plans during an academic year (e.g., one for each semester). Despite widespread appeal, surprisingly little research has been conducted on SIPs and their influence on outcomes of interest. Nearly all studies investigate the traditional approach, and no published studies examine the potential influence of short-cycle SIPs on outcomes of interest (e.g., student achievement). In response to these gaps, the purpose of this study was to explore potential associations between short-cycle SIP quality and student achievement in English/language arts (ELA) and mathematics. We used a publicly available rubric to score 389 short-cycle SIPs on 12 planning domains and then employed a correlational design to examine potential relationships between short-cycle SIP quality and student achievement. Results concluded that short-cycle SIP quality increased over time, but despite small, positive relationships between increased short-cycle SIP quality and increased student achievement, there were no statistically significant impacts. Given the number of factors found to influence student learning, these results are unsurprising, but nevertheless encouraging. We close by discussing how educational leaders might need training to best leverage the short-cycle approach and how future research efforts can continue contributing to a sparse, but growing knowledge base on school improvement planning approaches.

The Use Culturally Proficient Professional Development to Enhance Learning Transfer

The National Staff Development Council recommends that principals devote 10% of the school budget and 25% of teacher time to professional development (PD). While PD requires time, it is crucial that the time be organized, carefully structured, and purposefully led to avoid the waste of human and financial resources. Despite the millions of dollars spent on professional development nationally, student learning outcomes continue to stagnate or dwindle, discipline issues continue to skyrocket, and teacher moral plummets. This may be due, in part, to leaders paying little attention to learning transfer. Culture plays a key role in one’s ability to learn because learning is a social endeavor. Because our schools worldwide are more and more diverse, professional development that is grounded in culture is paramount for educators whose goal is to improve learning outcomes for all students. Because attending professional development does not necessarily equate to the implementation of knowledge or skills, this conceptual paper proposes a Culturally Proficient Professional Development (CPPD) framework that includes a Multidimensional Model of Learning Transfer (MMLT). The MMLT and its rubrics aim to be culturally responsive tools that school leaders in PK-12 schools can use to organize, deliver, and assess professional development offerings while also enhancing learning transfer and improve educators’ cultural proficiency. Considering culture as the main enhancer or inhibitor to transfer is innovative and useful because schools spend large amounts of money and resources on PD, yet the money invested does not often produce the desired outcomes.

Starting Small: A Descriptive Case Study of Principal Competencies That Support the PreK-K-3 Continuum

Research and theory suggests that children and families are best served by a preschool to third grade approach (PreK−3) to early childhood education that is aligned, integrated, and based on developmentally appropriate practice. Because of the recent expansion of publicly funded preschool programs, principals are becoming increasingly responsible for overseeing these programs, and, as instructional leaders, play a critical role in establishing working conditions and creating organizational capacity to support teachers’ professional growth. Unfortunately, however, early childhood education is rarely addressed in principal preparation programs and principals are often unfamiliar with the science of child development. Using a qualitative case study design, the current study describes how one school principal began to lead a PreK−3 community at her school by examining data collected across a two-year period as the principal led a professional learning community with preschool, transitional kindergarten, and kindergarten teachers. The PreK−3 Learning Communities Competencies for Effective Principals developed by the National Association of Elementary School Principals were used to identify the thoughts, behaviors, and actions of one principal as she engaged in this work. Results from this study further discourse in the field as to what this approach looks like in practice and call attention to the need for structural changes in preschool and elementary settings.

Educational Leaders’ Perceptions and Uses of School Climate Data

National interest in using school climate as an accountability measure makes it important to understand how school leaders view and make use of school climate data. The purpose of this study was to investigate how school and district administrators use climate data in Virginia, where a statewide school climate survey is annually administered. School principals ( N = 283) completed surveys concerning their use of the school climate results for their school. Simultaneously, semi-structured interviews were conducted with school division leaders and school administrators ( N = 10) to deepen our understanding of how the school climate results were being used. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify patterns in the data. Study results reflect a consensus by educational leaders on the utility of receiving school climate data in order to make data-based decisions to improve outcomes for students. Participants provided thoughtful and constructive feedback on the importance of student relationships, perceptions of student subgroups, comparing their data with other schools, and ways to facilitate data-based decision-making. Participants also expressed a desire for additional support in understanding statistical results and generating recommendations for school improvement. These findings suggest that increasing the clarity and comprehensiveness of school climate data reports and providing support for interpreting the results will increase educational leaders’ ability to use school climate surveys.

A District’s Journey of Transformative Leadership: Moving Beyond Open Access to the Improvement, Inclusion, and Success of Students of Color in Advanced Placement

Leadership is a critical component of creating and sustaining a school culture that promotes the inclusion and success of students. The purpose of this study was to examine how school leaders helped to enact and sustain a reformed Advanced Placement (AP) culture designed to increase participation and success of students of color. Building on existing work of transformative leadership, this study describes the experience and challenges of educational leaders in understanding how leadership practices change the AP culture. The case study method examined one mid-sized urban district in Southern California that utilized transformative leadership. The methods included 15 open-ended interviews with educational leaders in a variety of capacities (i.e., district leadership, school administrators, counselors, and teacher leaders). The findings demonstrated critical components leading to deep and meaningful cultural change in AP. The analysis showed leaders in this district, who sought equity, were driven to create meaningful change, and were grounded in the community. Being grounded in the community had a great impact in promoting a transformed culture at the classroom, site, and district level.