Learning to Lead for Strong School–Parent Relationships: From Aspiring to Practicing Leaders

• In Event: 66.068 - Social Issues in Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership Programs

Abstract

While research suggests that strong relationships between schools and parents benefit schools, students, and families, and highlights schools leaders’ roles in building these relationships, studies of leadership preparation have largely not connected their recommendations to leaders’ effectiveness in terms of family engagement. In this inductive longitudinal qualitative study, we examine the connections between leadership preparation and practice around family engagement for eight new leaders who attended alternative preparation programs. Our findings address how these leaders’ visions and thinking about family relationships developed around issues of both organizational effectiveness and social justice, including shifts during their preparation and first leadership position and reflections on their preparation experiences. We conclude with implications for research and leadership preparation practice.

Authors

• Suzanne Schwarz McCotter, Montclair State University

• Katrina E. Bulkley, Montclair State University

• Christina Celfo, Montclair State University