District Leadership for Emergent Bilinguals: At the Crossroads of Specialty and Leadership

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Leadership for Emergent Bilinguals: National Perspectives From the State, District, Principal, and Teacher Levels

Abstract

Purpose
The district-level K-12 bilingual leader is at the helm of language programming decisions for bilingual staff, emergent bilingual (EB) students and their families, yet their position(ing) within districts is newer and evolving (Author, 2016). This inquiry illuminates the overlap between leadership, bilingual education and general education (Lashley & Boscardin, 2003), challenging historic leadership models centered on building principal preparation (Author, 2014; Levin, 2005; Wiemelt & Welton, 2015). This presentation details a bilingual leadership paradigm for district leadership that centers resistance, creativity and advocacy for EBs.

Theoretical framework
This study pairs critical theory (Freire, 1986; Morrow & Brown, 1994; Palmer, Snodgrass Rangel, González, & Morales, 2014) and Bourdieu’s (1984) capital to examine different preparation pathways of district bilingual leaders. Using dialogic action (Freire, 1986) and critical reflection to inform praxis (Palmer, et. al, 2014), participants examined their conceived marginalization as leaders, differentiating between the types of symbolic capital (status that is ascribed) and social capital (status that is negotiated) experienced and exercised as bilingual district leaders.

Methods
This participatory mixed methods study uses a sequential transformative design with a survey and two semi-structured interviews (Canales, 2013; Mertens, 2009; Zacharadias, Scott, & Barrett, 2013). The survey identified leaders’ preparation and skills, types of language models they employed and coordinating rationale. Semi-structured interviews focused on survey outcomes and their relationship to bilingualism. Survey and interviews were mixed, analyzed and shared with participants for their future work.

Findings
The interstices of leadership, bilingual education and general education demonstrate the leadership facility of bilingual district-level leaders with varying levels of instructional and leadership preparation. Two types of leaders were identified: Bilingual leaders trained as 1) bilingual or English learner (EL) specialist and thereafter as an administrator; and 2) monolingual-English principals who moved into the leadership role with no bilingual/EL licensure or expertise. Leaders prepared as specialists and administrators have the highest level of preparation and the greatest longevity in their roles, but possess little symbolic capital to accomplish robust bilingual programming. In contrast, leaders prepared as building principals possess high symbolic capital within their established principal network, allowing principal-prepared-monolingual leaders to quickly enforce legal compliance, but invoking a subtractive orientation toward EBs. The specialist-trained bilingual leader, lacking symbolic capital invoked social capital among bilingual teachers and parents, working on the periphery to accomplish bilingual aims for their students by privileging bilingual teacher hires and quietly establishing bilingual courses without principal consent.

Scholarly significance
A leadership paradigm for bilingual education district leadership is presented that examines the axis point between general education, bilingual education and leadership. At this intersection is resistance, creativity and advocacy, dynamically centering the identities of EBs. Resistance to principals’ symbolic capital among the specialist-trained bilingual leaders had distinct logics, approaches and outcomes, circumventing the pressure to implement English-monolingual programming, leaving spaces for bilingual leadership advocacy. As there is no formal preparation combining bilingual education specialty and leadership in the US and few state policies require this dual preparation (Author, 2016), this study addresses the gap for this critical and emerging role.

Author

• Trish Morita Mullaney, Purdue University