Learner-Centered Leadership for Language and Culturally Diverse Schools in High-Needs Urban Settings | Arizona State University
Obstacles
The most enduring challenge is connecting university research and theory with demands of educational leadership practice. The potential is there, but both researchers and practitioners are hesitant to engage with each other due to negative experiences in the past. As an example, participants were asked to examine a dress code scenario as part of one workshop in order to talk about leadership versus management. The responses from the practitioners to the scenario tended to be typical management responses (follow policy) rather than leadership responses (adaptive work where we grow) that university faculty hoped to generate. Another situation occurred where practitioners were promoting a food service training program for middle school students. University personnel viewed the program as a form of tracking for minority (particularly Hispanic) students. A gap does exist between the university and district participants, so one of the difficulties will be to bridge this gap. The second difficulty will be to get university and district participants to walk over the bridge once it is built.
The major barrier is time. The project team needed to modify its initial calendar, because the planning of specific activities and workshops by teams required more. The hope of the team is to do more with less.
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