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Access Type
WSU Access
Date of Award
January 2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Curriculum and Instruction
First Advisor
Thomas C. Pedroni
Abstract
In 2009, a major metropolitan urban school district in Southeastern Michigan, under state emergency management, implemented a massive school restructuring plan affecting 100+ elementary, middle, and high schools. The consequences of the plan included a high turnover rate of staff and students, violence at local school campuses, low morale among teachers and principals, and forced early retirement for many. The consolidation/merger process presented challenges for principals of merging schools who needed to adopt new leadership behaviors to manage their new school communities. This study aimed to identify Culturally Responsive School Leadership behaviors employed by three urban school principals and its impact on curricular decisions, students, parents, and community engagement levels. These principals created positive schooling experiences, increasing African American and Hispanic students, parents, and community engagement amidst challenges and while leading under state emergency management. The research focused on three principals’ implementation of Culturally Responsive School Leadership behaviors that contributed to positive educational experiences and increased engagement levels. The research revealed that: 1) participants showed various critical self-reflections on leadership and decision-making, 2) participants recognized the significance of integrating students' indigenous social-cultural capital and community epistemologies, 3) participants were aware of the socio-economic status of their students and community, understood they could not continue with the limited historical role of schools, had to change the narrative by involving their school, creating overlapping spaces between the school and the community while using school spaces for students, parents, and community needs, 4) participants were aware of the historical marginalization and understood their communities’ lived experiences by employing their activism and advocacy to help their students and communities with social justice issues they were experiencing, 5) participants' leadership background, personal experiences, and identities impacted their leadership behaviors, and 6) participants exhibited courageous leadership during uncertain times, fierce charter school competition, accountability, job insecurity, and neoliberal policies. The results of this study suggest Culturally Responsive School Leadership, specifically tailored and in harmony with the needs of African American students, parents, and communities, creates positive educational experiences and increased engagement.
Recommended Citation
Hearn, James A., "Case Study: Culturally Responsive School Leadership Employed During A Massive School – Merger/consolidation In A Large Southeastern Michigan Urban School District During Austere Times" (2024). Wayne State University Dissertations. 4020.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/4020
