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Williams, Doris Terry; King, JereannRural School Leadership in the Deep South: The Double-EdgedLegacy of School Desegregation.Rural School and Community Trust, Washington, DC.Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund, Pleasantville, NY.2002-00-0035p.

Publications Manager, Rural School and Community Trust, 1825K Street, N.W., Suite 703, Washington, DC 20006 (free). Forfull text: http://www.ruraledu.org/RS_Leaders_final.pdf.Reports Research (143)

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*Administrator Attitudes; Black Education; Change Strategies;*Educational Needs; Elementary Secondary Education;*Instructional Leadership; *Professional Development; *RuralSchools; School DesegregationAlabama; Arkansas; Louisiana; Mississippi; United States(South)

In March 2002, 20 principals, superintendents, andinstructional supervisors from the Delta and Black Belt regions of Alabama,Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi met in a Rural School Leaders WorkingGroup. They discussed issues, challenges, and opportunities for schoolleadership from their perspectives as experienced leaders in what arearguably the most difficult places in the country to operate a school. Thisreport summarizes their discussions on issues and concerned related toimproving student learning. Participants reflected on the history ofeducation in the South, from desegregation to the current emphasis on theracial achievement gap; examined common assumptions about the role ofprofessional development and instructional leadership in school improvement;defined and described "excellence" and what it means for school leadership;and identified six key impediments to educational excellence. These factorsare shortages of certified teachers and administrators, lack of parent andcommunity involvement, relevance of professional development to instructionaldelivery and student learning, lack of attention to preparing students for aglobal society, low expectations for student achievement, and resistance tochange. Participants listed critical topics for school leaders' training anddevelopment. Strategies for rural school improvement in the South arerecommended. Statistical profiles of student race, eligibility for freelunch, and teacher shortages in the four states are included. (SV)

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Rural School Leadershipin the Deep South:

The ,Double-EdgedLegacy of SchoolDergregation

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The Rural School and Community Trust is a national nonprofit organization rooted in rural America.The Trust works with a network of schools and community groups striving to improve the quality ofeducation and community life and to improve state policy on education. We work across the nation butespecially in those rural places distressed by historic patterns of poverty and racism or stressed bydeclines in population, major changes in population composition and fundamental economic change.

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Rural School Leadershipin the Deep South:

The Double-Edged Legacyof School Desegregation

By Doris Terry Williams and lereann King

4

Acknowledgements

This work is the collective thinking of a truly dedicated group of school leaders in the Delta andBlack Belt Regions of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi who came together as theRural School Leaders Working Group of the Rural School and Community Trust to discuss thechallenges and opportunities for school leadership within their regions. We extend specialthanks to Daisy Slan and Doris Smith for assisting us in forming the Working Group and inplanning the work session out of which this report was drawn. Members of the Rural SchoolLeaders Working Group include:

Willie Amos, SuperintendentHollandale School District (MS)

Brenda J. Barnes, PrincipalMartin Elementary School (AR)

Charles Barron, SuperintendentShaw School District (MS)

Phernando Bearden, Assistant SuperintendentTunica County School District (MS)

T.J. Butler, Jr., SupervisorWashington Parish School District (LA)

Thelma Cook, SuperintendentAltheimer Unified Schools (AR)

John Covington, SuperintendentLowndes County Schools (AL)

Vera Dunbar, PrincipalEden Park Elementary (LA)

Greg Grimes, Superintendent

Pointe Coupee Parish School District (LA)

Wanda Henderson, SupervisorIberville Parish School District (LA)

Shirley James, PrincipalSunset Elementary School (LA)

Andrea Jefferson, PrincipalClinton Elementary School (LA)

Angela Johnson, PrincipalChambers Middle SchoolHollandale District (MS)

Robin Lambert, ConsultantRural School and Community Trust

Johnnie McCalpine, SuperintendentPerry County Schools (AL)

Shirley Mc Cray, Acting SuperintendentSt. Helena Parish School District (LA)

Delsia Marshall, PrincipalJackson Elementary School (LA)

Barbara Poore, StewardRural School and Community Trust

Daisy Slan, SuperintendentEast Feliciana Parish School District (LA)

Doris Smith, SuperintendentWinona Public Schools (MS)

Ingrid Smith, Assistant SuperintendentYazoo City Public Schools (MS)

Edna Thomas, Supervisor

East Feliciana Parish School District (LA)

Shirley Turnage, StewardRural School and Community Trust

Elaine Venable, PrincipalCharleston Elementary School (MS)

Doris Terry Williams, Director of Capacity BuildingRural School and Community Trust

Facilitator: Jereann King

Administrative Assistant: Cheryl Robinson

5

Rural School Leadership in the Deep South:The Double-Edged Legacy of School Desegregation

Table of Contents

Page

List of Figures ii

Preface iii

Introduction 1

Statistical Profiles 3

Reflections on History 7

Assumptions about School Improvement 10

Excellence: What It Means for School Leadership 14

Challenges and Opportunities 17

Success: What Works and What It Tells Us about Leadership 20

Personal Problems and Challenge Statements 22

Conclusion 23

References and Selected Readings 25

6

Rural School Leadership in the Deep South: The Double-Edged Legacy of School Desegregation

List of Figures

Figure 1:Students Eligible for Free Lunch in Mississippi RSLWG Districts and Statewide 2000-2001

Figure 2:Students Enrolled by Race in Mississippi RSLWG Districts and Statewide 2000-2001

Figure 3:Percent Emergency Licenses in Mississippi RSLWG Districts and Statewide 2000-2001

Figure 4:Students Eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch in Louisiana RSLWG Districts and Statewide 2000-2001

Figure 5:Students Enrolled by Race in Louisiana RSLWG Districts and Statewide 2000-2001

Figure 6:Teachers Not Fully Certified in Louisiana RSLWG Districts and Statewide 2000-2001

Figure 7:Students Eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch in Alabama RSLWG Districts and Statewide 2000-2001

Figure 8:Students Enrolled by Race in Alabama RSLWG Districts and Statewide 1999-2000

Figure 9:Students Eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch in Arkansas RSLWG District and Statewide 2000-2001

Figure 10:Students Enrolled by Race in Arkansas RSLWG District and Statewide 2001-2002

Figure 11:Teachers Not Fully Certified in Arkansas RSLWG District and Statewide 2000-2001


Preface

Frigr rom its inception, the Rural School

I and Community Trust (Rural Trust)has sought to give ear to the diverse

voices of rural schools and communities allacross America. Those voices are most oftenunderrepresented or missing all together inimportant discussions about Americanpublic education. Yet, rural America hasmuch to contribute to the education debateand much to offer in the way of models ofgood practice.

On the basis of numbers alone, rural voicesdeserve to be heard. Nearly 25 percent ofAmericans (61.6 million people) live in ruralplaces and rural schools make up the largestproportion (24.7 percent) of public schoolsin the United States. Nearly one in five ruralchildren live below the poverty level, andAfrican-Americans and Hispanics who livein rural places are more likely to live inpoverty than their counterparts in innercities. (Rural Trust 2000)

In 1996, the National Commission onTeaching for America's Future broughtunprecedented national attention to thelooming teacher shortage in America and tothe importance of teacher quality inachieving positive outcomes from theAmerican school experience. Calling for acaring, competent teacher in everyclassroom, the Commission's work andrecommendations also brought a high levelof scrutiny to higher education institutionsand called for massive overhauls andaccountability in teacher preparationprograms. The Bush Administration's "NoChild Left Behind" campaign advanced thecall for highly qualified teachers andmandated some rather dire consequencesfor schools that do not measure up to thelegislated standards. Increasingly, thoughwith less public fanfare, researchers and

practitioners alike are sounding a similaralarm with respect to school leaders.

Several key questions form the core of thegrowing discussion of school leadership.How can we attract and retain new talent inthe school leadership role? How can weattract and retain more candidates of colorfor school leadership positions? How canwe help current school leaders improvetheir skills, particularly as related toinstructional leadership and whole-schoolimprovement? What, indeed, is the role ofschool leaders in improving the outcomes ofschooling, both for students and for thecommunities they serve? A question that isof particular interest to the Rural Trust andthe Rural School Leaders Working Group(Working Group or RSLWG) is: What arethe special challenges and opportunities forschool leadership within the context of theunique conditions and circumstances ofrural places?

Founded in 1995 as the Annenberg RuralChallenge, the Rural Trust works throughregional networks of more than 700 ruralschools and communities in 35 states. Webelieve that the conditions and experiencesof school leaders in the Delta and Black BeltRegions of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisianaand Mississippi offer powerful insights intoand important lenses through which toview and understand the challenges andopportunities for improving these and otherschools. In March 2002, with funding fromthe Wallace Readers' Digest Fund, the RuralTrust convened a Rural School LeadersWorking Group comprised of 20 principals,superintendents and instructionalsupervisors from those states to discuss theissues, challenges and opportunities forschool leadership from their individual andcollective perspectives as experienced


leaders in what are arguably among themost difficult places in the country tooperate a school. Their insights andarticulated needs are reflected throughoutthis report.

The data collected from the Working Groupare summarized in several findings withimplications for approaching rural schoolleadership in the South:

Leading efforts to improve studentachievement in response to state andlocal accountability standards requires asystematic approach that focuses on theparticular circumstances andrelationships within the school district.The process also requires extended timeframes and attention to organizationaland community culture.

Leading collaborative processes amongschools, parents, and communitiesrequires attention to the community'shistory, culture, resources, and networkof opinion leaders, and mustincorporate strategies for shareddecision-making and inclusiveownership of outcomes.

School leaders need a broad base ofknowledge and skills, which includes

Doris Terry Williams, Ed.D.Director of Capacity BuildingRural School and Community Trust

organizational development andmanagement; data collection,management and analysis; strategicplanning; advocacy; coalition andpartnership building; culturalknowledge and sensitivity; instructionalleadership and assessment; andcurriculum development.

School leaders can identify the issuesand challenges they face in their schooldistricts, but lack data and otherevidence, coalitions, plans, andstrategies for changing policies thatadversely affect their efforts to improveschool and student learning.

This is the first of a two-part reportintended to give a wider public voice toschool leaders in the Delta and Black BeltRegions. It is a first step in creating anetwork of rural school leaders andpartners committed to exploring andcreating new knowledge on rural schoolleadership and to designing practitioner-ledprofessional development initiatives toimprove the leadership skills of theRegions' novice, experienced andprospective school leaders. We fully expectwhat we learn here to serve as a model forschool leadership development in otherplacesrural and non-rural.

Rachel Tompkins, Ed.D.PresidentRural School and Community Trust

9


Introduction

T--1 he Rural Trust has a special

interest in the Delta and Black Beltregionsl, having developed and

supported significant partnerships withschool districts and community-basedorganizations there over the past six years.In addition, our own research, like that ofothers, depicts a host of challenges andopportunities for education in that area.

Alabama, for example, ranks very high inthe percentage of rural students who live inpoverty and in the percentage of students ofcolor attending its schools. Nearly half ofrural adults in the state have less than a 12thgrade education, and less than half of ruralschools have Internet access, among theworst rates in the nation on both counts.

Arkansas leads the nation in the percentageof its students who attend rural schools andis among the leaders in the percentage ofrural children in poverty. Rural teachersalaries are among the lowest in the nation,as is the rate of rural school Internet access.

More than half of Mississippi's populationlives in rural places, more than one-third ofits rural students live in poverty, and closeto half of its rural adults have less thantwelve years of schooling. Almost half ofthe state's rural school children are childrenof color. Demographics make it crucial thatMississippi address the issues of ruraleducation while conditions in rural schoolsand communities make it more urgent to doso than in any other state.

I The Black Belt, historically, was the soil-rich area in theSouth that supported plantation economics and slavery.Today, it is largely characterized by high poverty levels,high percentages of African American residents, and arapidly changing economy.

Louisiana has the third highest percentageof rural students in poverty in the nationand among the lowest average rural teachersalaries. It also ranks among the top tenstates in the percentage of rural adults withless than a 12th grade education. (RuralSchool and Community Trust 2000)

The obvious and highly publicizedproblems of low teacher quality and shortsupply, including significant curricula gapsand poor learning outcomes, are oftenexacerbated in rural communities by theirisolation from larger, more urban centersand centralized services, non-competitivesalary scales, inadequate facilities and lackof access to educational technology andother resources. At the same time, schoolsare often the last remaining publicinstitution, the central storehouse ofintellectual capital and the controllers of thelargest pool of public wealth in the placeswhere they exist. Struggling ruralcommunities, therefore, rely heavily upontheir schools to meet communitydevelopment and sustainability needs, thusplacing an even greater strain on schoolsthat are often struggling themselves.Helping rural schools and communities getbetter together is a major challenge toschool leadership in such places.

In the Delta and Black Belt regions, whereteacher, administrator and financialshortages abound, there is, unfortunately,no shortage in the distribution of problemsrelated to poverty, low educationalachievement, shifting economics, andchanging demographics. The ability ofschool leaders in the regions to respondadequately to educational challenges andopportunities is further complicated by theintricacies and nuances of historic andpersistent power relations, racism, prejudice

10


and the double-edged legacy of schooldesegregation. Ironically, these sameconditions provide the potential forinnovation, collaboration and communitybuilding that can simultaneously accrue tothe benefit of schools and communities.

The information in this report was gathered,primarily, from rural school leaderssuperintendents, principals, andsupervisors - in the Black Belt and Deltaregions of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana,and Mississippi. In March 2002, theseleaders gathered in Jackson, Mississippi, todiscuss the issues and concerns related toimproving student learning. Over thecourse of two days, they engaged in a seriesof interactive sessions facilitated by theRural Trust. They reflected on the history ofeducation in the South, examined commonassumptions about contemporary schoolissues, defined and described "excellence,"and identified challenges to andopportunities for improving studentlearning. Based on the discussions and theirown practical experiences, the groupgenerated a list of nine topics that theyconsider critical for school leaders' trainingand development. They also articulatednew questions concerning their personalchallenges in leading school improvementthat fosters student learning.

The inaugural session of the RSLWGprovided an important new forum forschool leaders from similar environments,faced with common challenges, to share,analyze, and synthesize their knowledge

and experiences. Participants wereencouraged to draw from their personalexperiences and to consider the broadersocial, political, and economiccircumstances of their districts. Theinformation gathered at this meeting hasbroad and specific implications for schoolleadership development, staff development,and school improvement policies.

In addition to the findings from the RuralSchool Leaders Working Group session, thisreport includes a brief bibliography ofselected literature on school improvement,and data intended to give a clearer pictureof the context within which Working Groupmembers work every day. Based on thefindings, the literature, and the data, severalrecommendations for next steps arepresented. The report is structured alongmajor topics of discussion on the WorkingGroup's meeting agenda. Processes used togenerate discussions at various points areincluded in shaded boxes throughout thereport. Major points, conclusions, orimplications of the discussion are presentedin boxed statements at the end of eachsection of the report.

We expect that the Working Group's effortswill ultimately attract and support abroader pool of well-trained principal andsuperintendent candidates in the hard-to-staff and low-performing school districts inthe rural Delta and Black Belt regions. It willsurely add to our understanding of theunique challenges and opportunities forschool leadership in these and other places.

11


Statistical Profilesy- 1 he following statistical profiles

present a view of the contextwithin which the RSLWG

members work. Data are presented by stateand district for those districts from whichWorking Group members come. Somecommonly examined indicators (e.g., testscores, per pupil expenditure) are notincluded because reporting is not uniformacross districts and states and comparisonsare difficult to make or misleading.

Mississippi

In Mississippi,3 54.87% of students wereeligible for free lunch in the 2000-2001school year, compared to 79.63% of thestudents in RSLWG districts. In twoRSLWG districts, over 90% of students wereeligible for free lunch. (Figure 1) Districtswith the highest percentages of studentseligible for free lunch also enrolled thehighest percentages of African Americans.

Eighty-six percent of students in RSLWGdistricts were African American, comparedto 51% for the state. Three of theparticipating districts had African Americanenrollments in excess of 98%. (Figure 2)

All but one RSLWG district had higherpercentages of teachers with emergencylicenses than the state as a whole (5.43%). Intwo districts, the percentage was more thandouble that of the state (13.92% and13.33%). Two of the districts with thehighest percentages of African Americanand free lunch eligible students also had thehighest rates of emergency licensed

3 Data on participating districts and the state weretaken from State and Local Report Cards publishedon the Mississippi Department of Education web sitefor the school year 2000-2001.

100%

90%

80%

Fiaure 1Students Eligible for Free Lunch in Mississippi

RSLWG Districts and Statewide2000-2001

70% ---60%

50%

40%

30% 420%

10%

0%2 3 6 tat ends

41:11strict:M

teachers. Two others had less troubleattracting licensed teachers. (Figure 3)

t.

Flaure 2Students Enrolled by Race in

Mississippi RSLWG Districts and Statewide2000-2001

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20 %

10%

0%2 3 4 5

Districts

State Districts

['African American ['Caucasian patters

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Figure 3Percent Emergency Licenses in

Mississippi RSLWG Districts and Statewide2000-2001

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%2 3 4 5 ti State

Districts


Louisiana

In Louisiana'', 58.6% of students wereeligible for free and reduced lunch in the2000-2001 school year, compared to 77.8%of students in RSLWG districts. In one ofthe six RSLWG districts, almost 91% of thestudents were eligible; in the five others,eligibility ranged from 74.5% to 79.2%.(Figure 4)

Among the Louisiana RSLWG districts,61.2% of the students enrolled were AfricanAmerican in the 2000-2001 school year,compared to 47.7% for the state as a whole.African American student enrollment rangedfrom a high of 92.6% in one district to a lowof 37.7% in another. (Figure 5)

All of Louisiana's RSLWG districts had highpercentages of students eligible for free andreduced lunches, regardless of racialcomposition. However, the districts withthe highest percentages of AfricanAmericans also tended to have the highestpercentages of eligible students. In thedistrict with the highest percentage ofCaucasian students (62%), almost 80% ofstudents were eligible for free and reducedlunches.

All but two of the RSLWG districts hadhigher than the state percentage of teacherswith emergency licenses (10.1%). Thedistricts with the highest percentages ofAfrican American students also had thehighest percentages of teachers who werenot fully certified. In one of the two districtswith the highest percentages of AfricanAmerican students, more than half of theteachers were not fully certified. In the

4Data for Louisiana districts and the State were taken

from the 2000-2001 State and District accountabilityreport cards published on the State Department ofEducation web site.

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

a.40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Figure 4Students Eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch in

Louisiana RSLWG Districts and Statewide2000-2001

2 3 4 5

Districts6 State Districts

remaining districts, the percentages rangedfrom 14.4% to 37%. (Figure 6)

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100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

EiglirglStudents Enrolled by Race in


12 3 4 5

DistrictsState Districts

°African American DCaucasian °Others

Figure 6Teachers Not Fully Certified In


60%

50%

40%

El 30%

20%

10%

0% 112 3 4 6

Districts6 7


Alabama?

Slightly more than 46%of Alabama'sstudents were eligible for free or reducedlunches during the 2000-2001 school year. Inthe two RSLWG districts, more than 91% ofstudents were eligible. (Figure 7)

As in Mississippi and Louisiana, thepercentage of African American students inAlabama's RSLWG districts (99%) in 1999-2000 was greater than that in the state as awhole (39%). (Figure 8)

Data on the percentage of Alabama teachersnot fully certified were not readilyavailable.

Arkansas8

Only one Arkansas district participated inthe RSLWG. In that district, some 93% ofstudents were eligible for free and reducedlunches in the 2000-2001 school year. In thestate, 45.7% were eligible. (Figure 9)

In the Arkansas RSLWG district, 97.2% ofthe students were African American in the2001-2002 school year, compared to 23.2%for the state. Less than one percent of thedistrict's students were Caucasian, andalmost two percent were Hispanic. At thestate level, 5.5% of students were of otherethnic origins, including 4.1% Hispanic, .9%Asian, and .5% Native American. In this

7 Data for Alabama State and Districts were takenfrom the 1999-2000 Annual SDE Report published onthe State Department's web site and from individualdistrict reports for 2000-2001.8 Data for Arkansas State and District were takenfrom the 2000-2001 reports published on the StateDepartment's web site.

14

100%

90%

80%

70%

t 60%50%

ir. 40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Flaure 7Students Eligible for FreelReduced Lunch

in Alabama RSLWG Districts andStatewide

2000-2001

i 2 State

DistrictsDistricts

I

100%DO%

80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%

Figure 8Students Enrolled by Race In

Alabama RSLWG Districts andStatewide1999-2000

2 StateDistricts

Districts

DAM= Anted:an OCaticasian 00thisr

100%

60%

60%

g 40%ti20%

0%

Figure 9Students Eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch in

Arkansas RSLW District and Statewide2000-2001

District

Districts

State


sense, Arkansas had the most diversestudent population of the four Delta andBlack Belt states. (Figure 10)

Consistent with the general trend, theRSLWG district, with a disproportionatelyhigh percentage of African Americanstudents, also had a high percentage ofteachers who were not fully certified. In thestate as a whole, 5.8% of teachers were notfully certified in 2000-2001, compared to27.5% in the RSLWG district. (Figure 11)

It is important to note that during the courseof the work with the RSLWG, theparticipating Arkansas school district cameunder state governance while its high schoolwas targeted for consolidation with aregional high school.

15

ti

Figure 10Students Enrolled by Race in

Arkansas RSLWG District and Statewide2001-2002

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%District

DistrictsState

ICIAtrican American OCauceslan Diespanic DAslan UNatNe American

3025

2015

ID

5

0

Figure 11Teachers Not Fully Certified in

Arkansas RSLWG District and Statewide2000-2001

I

District Districts State


Reflections on History

If you don't know where you're coming from, you don't know where you're going.--African Proverb

Tr-- he history of education in theSouth is full of contradictions

' glory and shame, success andfailure, emancipation and repression. Theconcentration of descendants of enslavedAfricans in the South through the presenttime makes that history particularlyrelevant to the task of building a sharedvision of the future.

In her article, Rural African Americans andEducation: The Legacy of the Brown Decision,Patricia S. Kusimo (1999) notes that thehistoric 1954 Brown decision had a profoundimpact on rural education for AfricanAmericans. The initial, and in someinstances, lasting response to the decisionby many white communities was towithdraw from the public education arenaand establish "white academies." ForAfrican Americans, it meant attendingwhite public schools at the expense oflosing African American schools, teachersand administrators. As the decision wasenforced, other forms of segregationtracking and "ability grouping" arose.

The re-segregation of schools via courseassignments and ability groupingchallenged the faith of African Americanparents in integrated schools. Says Kusimo:

A pattern develops in which low incomeminority students experience initial learningdifficulties in the early grades, then areevaluated as 'low-ability' and placed in lowtrack, remedial, or special educationprograms. When they get to high school, theyare mostly enrolled in vocational and generalprograms, while Whites and high-SES

students are most likely enrolled in academicprograms.

Like Kusimo, the Rural School LeadersWorking Group participants recalled arange of historical codes and events,beginning with the establishment ofRosenwald Schoolsil in the 1920s. AfterWorld War II and into the 1950s, theirtimeline of those codes and events capturesthe abandonment and abolition of publicschool laws in the South in response toBrown v. the Board of Education. The 1960swere marked by a flurry in theestablishment of "private white academies"and "white flight" from the public schools,as the federal government began in earnestto enforce school desegregation laws.

The often debilitating and all-invasiveviolence of the Civil Rights Movementformed a prominent bridge between the1960s and 1970s. Nowhere in the countrywas that violence more prevalent than inMississippi and Alabama. The impact wasimmediate, in that it often disrupted schoolsand was a constant source of stress and fear.It was also enduring, in that it made alasting imprint on the psyches of AfricanAmericans and Caucasians alike, clearlyestablishing the fact that the end of

II Conceived in the 1920s by Black educator Booker T.Washington and his Tuskegee Institute staff, theRosenwald program represented a massive effort toimprove Black rural schools in the South throughprivate partnership. The name came fromphilanthropist Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears,Roebuck and Company. Rosenwald offered matchinggrants to rural communities interested in buildingBlack schools.

16


segregation de jure did not mean an end tothe evils that had given rise to, justified andsustained it.

Group 'Process Note: A timeline activity guided theWorking Group's reflection onthe history of education in theDelta and Black Belt Regions.The goal was first to connectlocal events and situations tomajor historical occurrences,and then to analyze thecollective history for social andeconomic changes. The schoolleaders were asked to think ofimportant historical eventsrelated to education in theirschool districts or communities.They then wrote the event, theissue to which it related, andthe date of the event orcircumstance on a Post-it note,..They each placed their Post-itnotes on a prepared timelinethat started after the Civil Warand extended to the present.

Full desegregation came to most places inthe early 1970s. The decade saw the rise oftracking, student protests and suspensions.Violence continued as patterns of socialinteraction among African American andCaucasian students began to change. Therole of the school in the community beganto change as the distance between the twowidened. Social events, ceremonies andcelebrations that had once been centered inthe school were greatly modified or eveneliminated in an effort to reduce the risk offraternization across racial lines.

Homecomings and proms that had givenyoung people the opportunity to practicethe social graces were cancelled; studentswhose learning styles, status and

circumstance did not match the mainstreamwere labeled and given "special education."The 1980s saw a number of "first" AfricanAmerican superintendents, principals, andschool board members in manycommunities. Examples of discrimination,overlooking and dismissing "qualified"Black administrators, abound. The1980salso saw a rise in school consolidations andexpanded curricula.

Expanded curricula would become a part ofthe double-edged legacy of schooldesegregation. On the one hand, AfricanAmerican students would, technically, haveaccess to a wider range of academic coursesto which they had not had access in theirsegregated schools. On the other, many ofthem would be tracked into a host of low-level courses with fancy names, courses thatultimately ensured that they would neverachieve the academic standards of theirWhite counterparts who were far less likelyto be tracked in that way.

The 1990s ushered in a rise in schoolviolence, magnet schools, first femalesuperintendents, and teaching and schoolperformance and accountability standards.Technology was identified as both a tooland a reason for learning. Home schoolingand the slogan "No Child Left Behind"show-up in contemporary history.

The leaders' timeline revealed some clearpatterns across all of the target states:"White flight" in the 1950s and 1960s;tracking, special education and changes inschool/community relations in the 1970s;leadership struggles in the 1980s; and zerotolerance, new accountability standards andstate takeovers of schools in the 1990s and2000s.

One school leader reminded the group thatthe violence in schools that appeared on the

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timeline in the 1990s was nothing new. Herecalled that there has always been violenceassociated with the education of AfricanAmericans in the South, including duringthe early stages of desegregration, whenBlack school children as well as Blackschoolteachers required armed NationalGuardsmen to escort them to school.

The school leaders left blank the space onthe timeline for future visions. However,some of them voiced a vision that clearlyexceeds the minimal standards reflected instate accountability plans. They expressedtheir deep desire for African American andother historically deprived and oppressed

children to build a strong foundationthrough an education that supports themnot only as consumers of goods andservices, but as owners of the means toproduce them as well.

In many ways, the history and the currentcondition of education in the South is aboutrace. First, it was racial separation, thenracial integration. Now the focus is onachievement by race. Surely there arelessons to be learned from that history thatcould greatly inform any serious efforts tounderstand and close the current"achievement gap."

It is impossible to understand the dynamics of contemporary Southern rural educationwithout examining the double-edged legacy of segregation and the1954 Supreme Courtdecision in Brown v. Board of Education. Critical to this understanding is the examination ofplacement and assessment policies that sprang up after integration, and whether or not thosepolicies have served to create more or less equitable conditions for African Americans and otherminorities. Indeed, it would be a mistake to ignore the deep significance that school leadersascribe to issues surrounding the move from segregated to desegregated schools. The movedrastically shifted the social, political, and cultural underpinnings of education and of southernsociety overall, so much so until, even today, there is uncertainty about how to construct aneducational foundation that avoids the perils of this legacy. Many of our School LeadersWorking Group members carry fond memories of caring teachers, principals and communitiesthat had high expectations for their achievement and success in segregated schools. Thenostalgia about school life "back then" or "back in the day" is filled with proud stories ofsuccess. At the same time, most also carry less fond memories of outdated textbooks,dilapidated facilities, fewer course offerings and an overall unequal distribution of resources incomparison to other schools.

Is


Assumptions About School Improvement

-r p ,- hat school leaders need to know, / and be able to do in terms ofii school improvement or school

reform is debatable. It was importantduring the early formation of the RuralSchool Leaders Working Group to conducta general assessment of where this group ofschool leaders stands on a broad range ofissues. The literature on schoolimprovement suggested several importantareas on which to focus attention, includingprofessional development, instructionalleadership and leadership standards.

Group Process Note: To solicitparticipants' opinions and ideasabout selected schoolimprovement issues, workshopfacilitators lifted statementsfrom current literature relatedto leadership and schoolreform. Most of the statementswere adapted from or inspiredby SREB's Leading SchoolImprovement: Mud Research Saltsand addressed the commonlyidentified issues of professionaldevelopment, instructionalleadership, and leadershipstandards. Participants wereasked to "Take a Stand" on theissues by grouping themselvesaccording to the extent to whichthey agreed or disagreed witheach statement. They were thenasked to discuss and report outtheir general, understanding ofthe issue at hand.

Professional Development

Several of the discussion statementsaddressed various aspects of professionaldevelopment: teacher and administrator

preparation and student achievement,school leader access to professionaldevelopment programs, and school districtplans for developing leaders from within.

When asked about the relationship betweenslow school progress in raising theachievement level of all students and that ofteacher and administrator preparation,group members shared a range of opinions.A little over half of the group agreed that aschool's slow progress is related to theinadequate preparation of teachers andadministrators, the primary reason beingthat colleges and universities are notpreparing teacher graduates to functionfully in actual work roles. They also feltthat while graduates had some backgroundin educational theory, they lacked theunderstanding and skills of practice thatwould allow them to "hit the groundrunning."

Those who disagreed pointed out that manyvariables, in addition to teacher andadministrator preparation, knowledge andskills, impact school achievement. Theynoted that:

. . . it is pretty bold to say that teachers andadministrators are the sole persons responsiblefor this issue. Schools are microcosms of theircommunities, and there are other factorsinvolved in the level of achievement, inparticular the supports provided by the statesfor achieving major accountability standards.In short, there are too many factors involvedin this issue.

Some of the participants also connectedschools' slow progress in raising studentachievement to the lack of certified teachersand administrators.


Participants overwhelmingly felt that schoolleaders in the rural Black Belt have access toquality professional developmentprograms, sponsored by their Statedepartments of education and localuniversities. They said:

We do have access to professionaldevelopment. Schools in our area haveaccess because of grants and there is goodquality professional development goingon within those grants and making itpossible financially. The teachers haveaccess to extended professionaldevelopment.

We do have departments of professionaldevelopment and teachers andadministrators have access to it. Now themain thing about it is, do we do what weare supposed to do with it? Do we use aneeds assessment to identify what ouradministrators need as it relates tobuilding the district or whatever the casemay be? But if we do it right, the access isthere. But do we take advantage of it?

One group member had a convincingclarifying opinion, arguing that schoolleaders do not have access to "quality"professional development programs. Hesaw school finances as a contributing factorand defined the quality of professionaldevelopment in terms of the kind of accessand change needed in a specific school. Ashe saw it:

Having access oftentimes means your abilityto register, and to get there, and to participate.I think that oftentimes you find that therevenues you have in your budget forprofessional development activities for schoolleaders and teachers are often grosslyinadequate for you to have the kind of accessthat is needed to have quality professionaldevelopment programs that affect the kind ofchange that you need.

The most contested aspect of theprofessional development discussion had todo with whether or not school districts haveinternal plans for leadership development,systems for creating these plans, andaccountability for developing leadershipfrom within. While most of the participantssaid they have some kind of internal planfor leadership development, a significantnumber said they did not.

There are no plans in place in my district. Wetake teachers straight out of the classroom andtell them that "next month you are going to bea principal." There are no leadership[development] plans.

When I look at plans for leadershipdevelopment. I'm thinking of leadershipdevelopment where teachers are moving fromthe classroom to become principals andsuperintendents and instructional leaders forthe school district. And with the criticalshortage fof certified administrators] thatexists, not only in Alabama, but across thenation with the advent of huge numbers ofsuperintendents retiring and there is nobodyto replace them, and you look at the plan thatdistricts have in place to ensure thatindividuals have those kinds of opportunitieswithin, I think in some cases you find that tobe true and in some cases you find that not tobe true.

The district representatives who felt stronglythat they had internal plans in place forleadership development, and a system forcreating plans, directly linked the plan and theprocess of creating it to their state'saccountability plan.

We do have plans, and we have some sense ofa plan for development and for creating plans.And we are accountable for developing leadersfrom within because the state's accountabilityplan makes us accountable for developingthese leaders from within.

Most of the participants agreed, though,that there is a strong disconnect betweenthe development of professional


development plans and accountability forleadership development from within. Inother words, although some states requiredistricts to have professional developmentplans, there is little to connect those plans tothe actual development of new or existingschool leaders. Having a written plan inplace does not translate into an actualleadership development process.

Instructional Leadership

The overwhelming majority of theparticipating school leaders felt stronglythat 1) instructional leadership is anessential part of a leader's role; 2) mostcurrent school leaders have not learned tobe instructional leaders; and 3) the lack ofinstructional leadership negatively impactsoverall school achievement.

There is a shortage of administrators, andwhen we put them in there, they (we)don't have time to be instructional leadersbecause they spend much of their timefighting fires.

We believe that there are a good manyadministrators out there who have notlearned to be instructional leaders, but weunderstand that a lot of school leaderswork from a supervisory standpoint,

supervising tasks more so than anythingelse.

The inability of school leaders to carry outwhat they agree is a key function relative tostudent achievement is attributed in largepart to the excessive demands on their timeto attend to non-instructional related tasks.

Leadership Standards

Can leadership standards, by themselves,facilitate change? While the majority of thegroup felt strongly that having leadershipstandards "can" facilitate change, there wasconsiderable discussion about thehegemony of standards in a change process.

Having standards can facilitate change.Having standards by themselves will notfacilitate change.

We believe that having the standards canfacilitate change, but that's not all. Youhave to absolutely do something with thestandards.

Overall, the group agreed that standardsplay an important role in improving schoolleadership. However, they were notsatisfied with having standards as a stand-alone strategy for facilitating change.Leaders must have help in actualizing thestandards in their work.

Some states and districts clearly offer a great many professional developmentopportunities for both current and potential school leaders. However, school leaders haveserious concerns about the quality, timeliness and relevancy of many of those offerings.Professional development opportunities must be built around the principles of adulteducation, taking into account the adult roles and responsibilities of leaders as learners.They must be provided within the context of the work place and specifically related to theimmediate needs of the school and the school leader. Further, professional developmentopportunities must be seen as an integral part of school operations and must not bedependent upon outside funding.

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The goal of instructional leadership must go beyond improving studentperformance on standardized tests and against externally imposed standards. Mostimportant for children who have been historically underserved in the region's schools is thatit also be "emancipatory." That is, the goal of instructional leadership must be to providethe conditions whereby young people can overcome the negative effects of low expectations,assume more central roles in society as producers of goods and services and, thereby,change the conditions that impair their growth and the growth of their communities. Plansfor leadership development, whether existing or yet to be designed, must take this goal intoaccount. At the same time, leadership development must be made accessible to current andfuture leaders through non-traditional delivery modes, locations, and schedules.

111 Teacher and administrator certification and external accountability pressuresweigh heavily in the opinions and beliefs of rural school leaders. Externally imposedstandards should take into account, or at least allow for, locally defined standards relateddirectly to locally-defined needs and issues. The evaluation of school leaders must then bedirectly linked to those standards.

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Excellence: What It Means for School Leadership

Education means emancipation. It means light and liberty. It means the uplifting of the soul of man into theglorious light of truth, the light by which men can only be made free.

Frederick Douglass

tiring the 1980s, PresidentRonald Reagan launched theExcellence in Education

Movement in response to America'sperceived "crisis" in education. At thattime, the crisis was cast largely in terms ofAmerica's loss of its competitive edge inglobal economies. Low academic test resultsand the rising social issues that werenegatively impacting school environmentsand performance evidenced that loss.Today, the term "excellence" seems morecommonly focused on the performance ofschools and school personnel, evidencedalmost totally by student performance onstandardized academic tests.

But how do school leaders defineexcellence? What are the ingredients? Whatappearances does excellence take ineducational practices and environments?Most importantly for the Rural SchoolLeaders Working Group, what are theimplications for school leadership?

Group Process Note:Participants %vorked first individually tocomplete a grid answering threequestions: What arc the ingredients ofexcellence? What does excellence looklike? What are the implications for schoolleadership? They then came together insmall groups to develop a groupresponse on which they reachedconsensus. They reported to the largergroup only the consensus of their smallgroup.

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Ingredients of Excellence

The Rural School Leaders WorkingGroup identified the following as chiefamong the ingredients for excellence ineducation:

Strong leadership that advocates forchildren and insulates them from thenegative effects of internal andexternal politics; motivates staff andunifies them in a commitment to andpush towards whole-schoolimprovement; and identifies andworks well with parents and thecommunity, including key opinionholders

Clear, shared vision of the purposeand expectations of education in aparticular place and highexpectations of those responsible forproviding itadministrators,teachers, parents, students and thecommunity as a whole reflected ina well thought out and collabora-tively developed strategic plan

Sustained parental and communityinvolvement in the decision-makingprocess and shared accountabilityfor the outcomes

High quality, needs-based and locallyrelevant professional developmentdelivered in a timely manner,accessible to working professionals,and focused on school improvement


Adequate and equitable funding fromstate and local governments,supplemented by but not dependentupon funds from external sources

The Look of Excellence

Interestingly, much of what school leadersidentified as the ingredients for excellencewas also used to describe the look ofexcellence and the implications forleadership. Particularly interesting, though,is that academic achievement and studentlearning were far less prominent in thedescriptions of the "look of excellence" thanwere the more administrative-typefunctions managing systems, acquiringresources, evaluating teachers. This mightbe explained by the fact that many schoolleaders see themselves actually functioningless as instructional leaders than asmanagers and supervisors of systems andpeople, despite the fact that they believeinstructional leadership is a crucial functionfor school leaders to fulfill.

Implications for School Leadership

Several themes emerged from examiningthe ingredients and look of excellence forimplications for school leadership. Firstwere the attitudes, knowledge, and skillsneeded for effective leaders of "excellent"education.

Second, leaders of excellence in educationare effective in many different roles. Theymust, among other things, be

Visionaries, to focus and refocus thevision with an eye toward the futureneeds and demands of a localcommunity within a global society

Effective communicators withdiverse and often competingstakeholder groups

Facilitators of processes for shareddecision-making and sharedaccountabilityLeaders in bringing about parentalinvolvementEvaluators, effectively using data tomake decisions based on vision andmission, to maintain a focus onachievement and success, and,ultimately, to "get the job done"

Note that the facilitator role is essential inensuring that all stakeholder groupsactively participate in developing the visionand long-range plan for excellence, thatthey understand and support the plan, andthat they feel some sense of ownership andshared accountability for its implementationand outcomes.

Effective Leader Attitudes, Knowledgeand Skills

AttitudesWillingness to changeGood judgmentValuing of process

KnowledgeInstructional leadershipResource development to design,implement and sustain programs forchangeEffective and maximum use of availableresources

SkillsManagement (of people, resources andsystems)Ability to motivate peopleCollaborationCommunication with diversestakeholder groupsFacilitationLeadership developmentPlanningCreation of an environment for change

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U ExCellence in'education is more than providing young People the means to score well ona test. It is providing them the means to change their circumstances, to become informed andcontributing citizens in their place, and to unshackle their minds and lift their spirits. It is, in aword, emancipatory. A key to achieving this kind of excellence in schools is the ability of theschool leader to share the decision-making role, to elicit and facilitate the involvement ofmultiple stakeholder groups, and to bring such groups to consensus around a shared vision.Perhaps the greatest challenge here is ensuring that the voices of those who are mostimmediately impacted by but least often consulted in school matters parents and studentsare heard, validated and heeded.

U Adequate funding is key to achieving excellence in education. Current school fundingformulas often leave systems in low-resource communities struggling to provide basic comfort,supplies and instructional materials. Funding formulas must be redesigned to provide equitableand adequate resources for all students, regardless of where they live or of the economiccircumstances of their local communities. In addition, school leaders must have the attitudes,skills, and knowledge to make the best use of available resources, to blend multiple fundingstreams and focus those resources in a deliberate and well-coordinated fashion that best speaksto the attainment of educational excellence.

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Challenges and Opportunities

he Rural School LeadersWorking Group identified six keyfactors that challenge the ability to

achieve educational excellence in theirparticular environments. They are

1. Shortages of certified teachers andadministrators

2. Lack of parent and communityinvolvement

3. Concerns for shaping professionaland leadership development thatdirectly impacts instructionaldelivery and student learning

4. Lack of attention to preparingstudents for a global society

5. Low expectations for studentachievement

6. Resistance to change

Group Process Note: Participantswere asked to work in groups ofsix to identify what they hadobserved in their school districts aschallenges to excellence ineducatior0,.Then, as a group, theyconsidered the opportunities that aparticular. .challenge could present,and,'again;'considered theimplications for leadershipdevelopment.

Addressing the Teacher andAdministrator Shortage

School reform and improvement literatureclearly documents the issues regarding thelack of certified teachers and administratorsin school districts throughout the country.The realities of the well-publicized data onthis issue are seen in rural schools every dayin the form of long-term substitutes, out-of-

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field teachers, and teachers who areotherwise unqualified or under-qualifiedfor the teaching assignments they hold.They are seen in the growing inability ofthese schools to attract and retain strongleaders, and in the struggle of good leadersto motivate staffs and overcome thechallenges of low expectation and stressedresources.

An important part of the solution to thisproblem is to use aggressive recruitmentand salary incentives to attract and keepcertified staff. However, having access toadditional financial resources is only part ofthe solution. There must be a pool fromwhich to attract certified teachers andadministrators, and a means of supportingthem through the early years of theirprofessions and administrativeassignments.

RSLWG members see professionaldevelopment as an important means ofaddressing the teacher and administratorshortage issues. High quality and well-structured professional development canprovide opportunities for uncertifiedteachers and administrators to up-gradetheir education levels, improve their skills,and acquire certification. Given the barriersfor many individuals to follow traditionalcertification routes, school leaders stronglyemphasize the critical need for alternativecertification routes for both teachers andadministrators.

Involving Parents and theCommunity for Change

The lack of parental involvement is oftenviewed as apathy. However, WorkingGroup members recognize that the lack of

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parental involvement is generallyaccompanied by a host of barriers, fromtransportation and scheduling to fears ofintimidation and shame. The complexity ofthis issue is often underestimated, and, inmany instances, its solutions are notconsidered as an integral part of a school-wide strategic plan.

The school leaders see the conditions thatbar parental involvement, such as teenpregnancy and high illiteracy rates, asopportunities for effectively involvingparents in supporting their children'seducation, while impacting the veryconditions that are barriers to theirparticipation. For example, engagingparents in early childhood curriculumdevelopment is an opportunity to teachthem language skills appropriate for schoolsuccess. Offering parenting, adult literacyand basic education classes in the schoolcan provide another avenue for parentinvolvement. Providing childcare and otherrelevant services while parents participatein these activities is critical.

The implications for school leaders are: 1) tolead a participatory process to define andmake explicit parental roles and schools'expectations and 2) to collaborate and buildsupportive partnerships that can help put inplace those things that would enable parentparticipation.

School leaders understand the importanceof the voices, eyes, and opinions ofinfluential community members. Thechallenges of community involvementprovide opportunities to organize andeffectively utilize the power of key opinionleaders and to include them in the decision-making process. This is particularlyimportant for smooth transitions wheninitiating new policies and changes withinthe school. Some of the school leaders seetheir role as identifying major community

players and having a working relationshipwithin clearly established boundaries. Thelong-term goal for both parental andcommunity involvement is to promotesocial changes in families, schools, andcommunities.

Shaping Professional Developmentfor Instructional Delivery

On the issue of professional developmentfor instructional leadership, the schoolleaders' primary concerns relate to thepotential impact of professionaldevelopment on the quality of instructionaldelivery. Inconsistent with their notion thatschool leaders should be stronginstructional leaders, but consistent with thereality that quality instruction is typicallyseen as the sole responsibility of theclassroom teacher, they did not considertheir own learning needs and skillsdevelopment at this time but that of theirteaching staff. They were particularly keenon the need for staff development that isfocused on and relevant to classroompractices. Teachers need to be adept atstudent-centered curriculum development.The leaders' task, then, is to motivateteachers to set learning goals and to planand implement follow-up to their staffdevelopment activities.

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Educating for Change by Envisioningthe Future

School leaders in some districts arechallenged by the need to educate studentsfor a global society, especially since there islimited use of computer technology bysome teachers. The concern relates to"education from a future worldperspective" and to preparing students forjobs that currently do not exist. How do weenvision the technical skills that will becritical to the workforce in the next twodecades? How can teachers explore and


model the use of computer informationtechnology in their classrooms?

One group of school leaders views theincreased use of computer informationtechnology as an opportunity to explorethese questions. For them, it means creatingand supporting a broad frame of learningthat enhances teachers' abilities to providestudents with a variety of technologyenhanced learning experiences.

Conquering Low Expectationsthrough Motivation

Expecting and accepting low educationalachievement is a pervasive attitude thatsometimes shrouds entire communities. It isespecially problematic when a community'spopulation is significantly AfricanAmerican, and the attitude becomes bothinternalized and externalized. Many of theschool leaders connect the "lowexpectation" syndrome to southern schooldesegregation. Reflecting on their own earlyeducation experiences in segregatedschools, where teachers, principals, andparents held high expectations forachievement, these leaders struggle withideas for reclaiming from a past era a spiritof success. They identified the need for"motivation" to be seen as an essentialprocess and a goal in long-range planning.Overcoming the internalized attitude of lowexpectations is a priority if school districtsare to raise achievement levels and meetaccountability standards.

Moving Beyond Resistance to Change

A systematic approach to instituting changeis of paramount concern to school leaders.The need for and resistance to change filtersthroughout school performance, operations,and policies, and affects students, teachers,administrators, school board members, andthe community as a whole. Nepotism andexternal political pressures figure heavily inthe resistance to change. A situation such asreplacing ineffective yet influential teachersand administrators can become a majorproblem for a school leader, tying upenergy and resources, damaging long-standing relationships, and threatening jobsecurity. Leaders need effective strategiesfor changing attitudes, instructional rolesand school board policies, and forimpacting how change is actuallyimplemented once new policies and rolesare set. One possible strategy for movingbeyond resistance is to identify and supportthose in the system who are least resistantto change and to use shared leadership anddecision-making processes to include themin the change process.

Resistance to change is often couched interms of limited resources. Therefore, schoolleaders see the need for more informationand knowledge about funding sources, forstaff skilled in grant writing and forstronger linkages between their fundraisingand development activities and thevisioning and strategic planning process.

Facing the challenges to excellence is not so simple as setting and reaching to attainstandards. It invariably means overcoming resistance to change, advocating for and craftingnew policies, taking new actions, and implementing new strategies. It often means confrontingold adversaries, challenging old practices, and altering old relationships. Leaders who aresincere about their roles must see themselves as change agents, identify those around them whoare most open to and ready to embrace change, and make them full partners with keyleadership roles in the change process.

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Rural School Leadership in the Deep South: The Double-Edged Legacy ofSchool Desegregation

Success: What Works andWhat It Tells Us About Leadership

he initial meeting of the RuralSchool Leaders Working Group

intentionally focused on thechallenges to excellence in their

local places. Hence, much of the focus ofthis report is on the negative aspects andconditions of the work. It is important tonote, however, that all of the leaders had agreat deal to say about their successes,about what is working for them and why.Many innovations are under way, and thereis great hope for the future of educationwithin the regions. A small group of leaderswere asked to take center stage and, in astructured conversation, share some of thesuccesses that have been achieved undertheir leadership.

Group Process Note:Four school leaders volunteeredto take center stage among theirpeers in a Fish Bowl exercise totalk about what was working forthem. They were asked to use aspecific incident in which theywere conscious of themselves aschange agents leading a changeprocess. The audience thendiscussed the implications ofwhat they had heard for whatschool leaders will need to knowand be able to do in order to leadsuccessful change efforts in their-local places.

One leader talked about implementing theGreat Expectations Program, which engagesyoung studeng in activities to build self-concepts and school appreciation. Anothertalked passionately about two areas inwhich his leadership made a difference,personnel evaluations and instructional

delivery. First, he made explicit that overallschool and student performance was tieddirectly to principal and teacherperformance. He then worked withprincipals to make sure they understood theimportance of being instructional leaders intheir schools. He stressed that teachershave to learn to teach across the curriculum,and that it is the principal's responsibility tomonitor and provide appropriate supportfor teachers to provide quality instruction.

A third school leader shared a success storythat was five years in the making. Shetalked in great detail about the stepsinvolved in improving instructionaldelivery. Hired to improve instructionaldelivery in her local system, she spent ayear observing classroom instruction todetermine what the priorities were forstudent achievement. After identifyinglanguage arts as an area for improvement,she formed a team of teachers to researchthe problem and to identify successfulmodels within other schools. She requestedsupport from the superintendent formeeting and travel times. The team workedtogether for two years, gatheringinformation and visiting other schools. Thedata were compiled and synthesized,whereupon the team developed its ownframework for improvement. The teachersinvolved on the team were the modelteachers, and their classrooms became pilotsites for instituting the new framework.After refining the model, she and theteachers were then ready to extend its use toother classrooms. Reflecting on theexperience, she felt that it was important tohave enough time and to involve teachers inactively solving problems related toteaching and learning.


Finally, one superintendent talked aboutleading an inclusive process with keycommunity members, the Board ofEducation, teachers and other schoolpersonnel, students and parents, businessleaders, and social service agencies.Essentially, representatives from the entirecommunity were involved in creating avision for education in the district and indeveloping a strategic plan to reach thevision. The participant talked about thedynamics of the process, why it wasimportant to have "buy-in" from the entirecommunity, and what it meant to bringpeople through a process that resulted in adocument, a strategic plan, of which thecommunity had ownership.

These are only a few examples ofparticipants' successes and of theirexperiences with leading change in theirschool districts. The entire group was thenasked to think about what they heard asimportant elements of leadership during the

testimonials, and to consider, based on whatthey had heard, what topics would need tobe included in school leadershipdevelopment training. The groupbrainstormed a list of topics, and thenunderscored the following nine as criticalfor school leaders' training anddevelopment:

1. Data usage to inform decision-making

2. Classroom observation andevaluation

3. Standards-based education4. Needs driven, job-embedded

professional development, based onexpected student outcomes

5. Strategic inclusion for communityinvolvement

6. Cultural sensitivity training thatconsiders history and the uniqueaspects of the local place

7. Time management8. Business and fiscal affairs9. Collaborations and partnerships

School leaders greatly appreciated the opportunity to hear from others about whatwas working in their schools and school systems. The sharing was perhaps made moremeaningful by the fact that success was happening in hard places and situations that werenot unlike theirs.

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Personal Problems and Challenge Statements

ven though the school leadershad shared personal stories andidentified critical topics for

leadership development, they had not hadan opportunity to think specifically abouttheir individual challenges and theparticular problems they faced. Participantswere asked to write their personal challengestatements and to identify questions theyhad about their particular problem, theinformation or data they needed to helpthem understand the problem, and otherissues that needed consideration.

The statements that the leaders generatedexposed some topics that had not surfacedearlier classroom discipline, issuesconcerning local school boards of education,adjusting to different cultural personalities.

The issue of classroom discipline surfacedmost clearly when a relatively newprincipal talked about her experiences withTeach for America teachers. In her district,as in many others, most of these teachersare young and White. Compared to otherclassroom teachers, they tend to have themost difficulty in classroom managementand discipline. The principal observed that:

While Teach for America teachers are welltrained in instructional delivery and areinnovative in their practices, they most likelydon't have the skills, know how and

experience to run a well-disciplinedclassroom.

The challenge of discipline and Teach forAmerica teachers also raised the issue ofcultural sensitivity and diversity in schoolsettings. Different cultural norms andexpectations, between schools andcommunities, teachers and parents, AfricanAmericans and Caucasians, and now agrowing number of Hispanics, causetensions around appropriate discipline,teaching and learning styles, andinteractions with community people andparents. Policies ranging from the numberof excused days for family deaths torequirements for parent involvement areinterpreted through cultural values andbeliefs. Considerably more culturaldiversity training and awareness are neededat all levels of the school and community.

Several of the school leaders werepersonally and professionally challenged bythe politics of the local school board. Theissue is primarily related to board roles andresponsibilities and the tendency of boardsto micromanage superintendents and localschool affairs. There is also concern aboutschool board and individual school membermisuse of their powers to influence hiringand firing of teachers and administrators.

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Conclusion

ural school leaders from the Deltaand Black Belt regions have a firm

understanding of theeducational challenges to and opportunitiesfor improving student learning. However, anumber of elements converge to makeleading change difficult: the complexity ofthe historical legacy,.the challenges ofresponding to the rising stakes and externalpressures of accountability with limitedresources, the frustration of building lastingpartnerships to impact educationalachievement, the timeliness of professionaltraining and development for teachers andadministrators, and the recognition of theirown learning needs. Solutions are noteasily defined and implemented.

The data collected at this meeting resultedin several findings with implications forapproaching rural school improvement inthe South:

1. Leading efforts to improve studentachievement in response to state andlocal accountability standardsrequires a systematic approach thatfocuses on the particular circumstancesand relationships within the schooldistrict. The process also requiresextended time frames and attentionto organizational and communityculture.

2. Leading collaborative processesamong schools, parents, andcommunities must take intoconsideration the community'shistory, network of opinion leaders,and strategies for building inclusiveprocesses and ownership ofoutcomes.

3. School leaders need a broad base ofknowledge and skills in areasincluding organizationaldevelopment and management, datacollection and management, the useof data to inform decision-making,strategic planning, advocacy,coalition and partnership building,instructional delivery andassessment, and curriculumdevelopment.

4. School leaders can identify theissues and challenges they face intheir school districts, but lack dataand other evidence, coalitions, plans,and strategies for changing policiesthat adversely affect their efforts toimprove school and studentlearning.

Based on these findings, the following nextsteps are recommended:

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1. In developing an action plan, theRural School Leaders WorkingGroup should prioritize its list oftraining and development topics,select the top two or three, andprovide intensive teaching andlearning support through trainingactivities and institutes over the next18 months.

2. School leaders should follow up onthe questions they articulated as partof their personal challengestatements and devise an actionresearch project to (1) address theparticular challenge and (2) use as aschool-wide model for building


knowledge, expertise, and problemsolving.

3. School leaders involved in theinitiative should decide on policyadvocacy issues and goals and agreeon processes for collecting data andadditional information to supportpolicy changes.

4. Resources should be available tosupport school leaders in datacollection and to develop casestudies that document aspects oftheir particular change andleadership efforts for studentimprovement.

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Overall, the inaugural meeting of the RuralSchool Leaders Working Group providedan important opportunity for school leadersfrom similar environments, faced withcommon challenges, to share, analyze, andsynthesize their knowledge andexperiences. The meeting was a first step increating a network of rural school leaders inthe South committed to exploring andcreating new knowledge on rural schoolleadership issues. The school leaders in thisgroup will have another opportunity tocontribute their experiences, ideas, andknowledge at the fall Rural School LeadersWorking Group meeting in which they willbegin to design a practitioner-led leadershipdevelopment program for school leaders.


References and Selected Readings

Anderson, J. (1988). The education of blacks inthe south, 1860 - 1935. Chapel Hill:University of North Carolina Press.

Finnan, C. and Swanson, J. (1996). Schoolimprovement and action research: Twoparadigms. Paper presented at theannual meeting of the AmericanEducational Research Association, NewYork.

Gibbs, T. J. and Howley, Aimee (2000).World-class standards and local pedagogies:Can we do both? ERIC Clearinghouse onRural Education and Small Schools.http://www.ael.org/eric/digest/edorc008.htm

Darling-Hammond, L. (1998). Teacherlearning that supports student learning.Educational Leadership, 55(5).

Harrington, S. and Laible, J. (1998) Thepower and the possibility of leadingwith alternative values. InternationalJournal of Leadership in Education,1(2),111-135.

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Kusimo, P. (1999). Rural African Americansand education: The legacy of the Browndecision. ERIC Clearinghouse on RuralEducation and Small Schools.http:/ /www.ael.org/ eric/ digest/ edorc984.htm

Beeson, Elizabeth and Marty Strange (2000).Why rural matters: The need for every stateto take action on rural education.Washington, DC: Rural School andCommunity Trust

Southern Regional Education Board (2001).Leading school improvement: What researchsays. MPR Associates Inc. Berkeley, CA

The North Carolina Rosenwald SchoolsCommunity Project. (2002). We arebuilding on a strong foundation: Thehistory & legacy of Rosenwald schools inNorth Carolina, Raleigh, NC.

Rural School and Community Trust1825 K Street, N.W. Suite 703Washington, DC 20006(202) 955-7177 phone(202) 955-7179 faxwww.ruraledu.org

Rural Schools and CommunitiesGetting Better Together

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r.

U.S. Department of EducationOffice of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI)

National Library of Education (NLE)

Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

NOTICE

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