Learner-Centered Leadership for Language and Culturally Diverse Schools in High-Needs Urban Settings | Arizona State University
Leadership Issues and Challenges
Arizona is one of the most urban states in the US. The majority of its 4.7 million inhabitants live in the Phoenix Metro area, which contained in the last census 2.6 million people, and is listed as the sixth largest city in the US. Arizona is also experiencing population growth. Arizona observed a 40 percent growth in population between 1990 and 2000, and experienced the second highest growth in the nation during this ten-year period.
Arizona ranks sixth nationally in the percent of Hispanics in its total population (Hispanic Outlook, 2001). With immigration and high birth rates, the population of Hispanics grew by more than 88 percent between 1990 and 2000 (2000 Census). While 25 percent of the population of Arizona is Hispanic, nearly 37 percent of the youth of Arizona are Hispanic and of the children born in the year 2000, approximately 40 percent were Hispanic (ADHS, 2000).
Arizona is in the unenviable position of having the highest high school dropout rate in the nation, with more than twice the national average (NCES, 2001). The average annual school dropout rate for Arizona, calculated in accordance with the NCES CCD is 9.8 (NCES, 2002). Within the general student population of the state, Hispanics comprise 34 percent of the 893,446 students served by public schools in the state. According to the Arizona Minority Education Policy Analysis Center report, for every 100 Hispanic 9th graders, fewer than 58 graduated last year (AMEPAC, 2002). It is clear that complex issues face the population of Arizona students, among both English and non-English speaking students, throughout their school careers.
District Superintendents in all four high-needs districts echo this concern; they have few well-qualified educational leaders left in their principal’s and assistant principals’ offices. They are concerned that in the coming years, as the current incumbents retire, there is no systematic method to ensure that there will be well-qualified prospects waiting in the wings to replace them. They also express concern that less experienced principals and assistant principals in their districts need professional development for the dynamic, challenging, standards-based learning environment that they administer. The professional development component for assistant principals and principals will assist in ensuring that the rich knowledge base of principals approaching the end of their careers is passed on to the next generation of educational leaders who are entering the principalship.
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e-Lead provides information on professional-development programs for school leaders that have submitted detailed information and that also meet certain standards-based criteria. Programs listed at the e-Lead website are not endorsed by either the Institute for Educational Leadership or Temple University's Laboratory for Student Success.