Chapter 8: A Critical Examination of The Educational Leadership Standards: A Community Organizing Perspective

Principals are regarded as essential to maintaining high-performing schools that meet the academic and social-emotional needs of students. As leaders of school sites, principals often take on “boundary spanning” roles (McAlister, Mintrop, Chong, & Renee, 2012). These high-level positions are responsible for internal responsibilities such as managing budgets, instructional leadership, supervising personnel, fostering positive school climates, and external competencies often broadly defined as community relations. However, these hefty responsibilities can be quite taxing on new school leaders. Further, educational leaders are faced with ever increasing demands on their time and are expected to have an array of specialized skills and wide-ranging areas of expertise. They are also expected to deploy these skills as resources shrink and school level accountability linked to academic performance of students is ramped up. This is particularly true in urban school districts where existing accountability efforts in education reform have led to rigid and punitive turnaround policies ranging from school reconstitution to closure. In some of these more reform-fatigued communities, external support and pressure from the communities surrounding schools as well as district leadership can be a source of support and frustration for educational leaders. Furthermore, in many urban communities, school reform is imbued with the politics of race and social class. Not only are school leaders expected to possess the traditional leadership skills, they must also have the political acumen to navigate their public facing role in their interactions with families and community members. This can be daunting as many new educational leaders must learn such skills and dispositions on the job.