UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Dodson, Kyle
Dept./Program:
College of Education and Social Services
Year:
2010
Degree:
Ed. D.
Abstract:
The current state of public education in most urban centers across America is widely acknowledged as being in a state of crisis. And since the vast majority of the young people attending these schools are members of the Black or Latino Diaspora, it seems reasonable to use the tenn "urban" to refer to schools where most of the students are either Black or Latino. And in these urban schools the statistics of how students are performing paint a frightening picture. As measured by the National Assessment of Educational Practice (NAEP), by twelfth grade black students are on average four years behind those who are white or Asian in basic academic skills. Hispanics only perform negligibly better.
Due to the way that this difference in performance splits pretty neatly with Blacks and Hispanics on one side and Whites and Asians on the other, it has become commonly referred to as the Racial Achievement Gap in education. This dilemma might not be so tragic if the only place the discrepancy showed up was in the NAEP data. But the yawning gap persists across just about any measure of achievement that one might choose. If we look at kindergarten data, we see that the racial disparities exist even before children first show up to school. Researchers at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) closely examined the data from an assessment given to a representative group of 22,000 pre-kindergarteners and Black and Hispanic children tested in the lowest quartile at twice the rate of white students.
All of this raises the question of what, if anything can be done to address this tragedy? The answer is much more than what currently takes place in most schools. Although many chafe at the idea, schools can be viewed as businesses. There are customers, laborers, management, and stakeholders. And as with any organization, the results depend disproportionately on the quality of the leadership. We currently have ample evidence that in schools that have strong, visionary leadership and skillful management, incredible things happen for the most vulnerable kids.
Using the research methodology of Scholarly Personal Narrative, this dissertation will explore the status of leadership and management in urban, public, prek-l2 education. By merging scientific research, statistics, examples provided by exemplary schools, and my own personal narrative, I will develop a model of school leadership that synthesizes the best leadership and management practices across different contexts.
Due to the way that this difference in performance splits pretty neatly with Blacks and Hispanics on one side and Whites and Asians on the other, it has become commonly referred to as the Racial Achievement Gap in education. This dilemma might not be so tragic if the only place the discrepancy showed up was in the NAEP data. But the yawning gap persists across just about any measure of achievement that one might choose. If we look at kindergarten data, we see that the racial disparities exist even before children first show up to school. Researchers at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) closely examined the data from an assessment given to a representative group of 22,000 pre-kindergarteners and Black and Hispanic children tested in the lowest quartile at twice the rate of white students.
All of this raises the question of what, if anything can be done to address this tragedy? The answer is much more than what currently takes place in most schools. Although many chafe at the idea, schools can be viewed as businesses. There are customers, laborers, management, and stakeholders. And as with any organization, the results depend disproportionately on the quality of the leadership. We currently have ample evidence that in schools that have strong, visionary leadership and skillful management, incredible things happen for the most vulnerable kids.
Using the research methodology of Scholarly Personal Narrative, this dissertation will explore the status of leadership and management in urban, public, prek-l2 education. By merging scientific research, statistics, examples provided by exemplary schools, and my own personal narrative, I will develop a model of school leadership that synthesizes the best leadership and management practices across different contexts.