Education Dies in Darkness: How Principals Respond to New Realities

• In Event: 77.017 - School Climate in the Age of Trump: Educators' Responses

Abstract

This past ‘Post-Truth’ year has had a great impact on how educational leadership responds to social challenges. Previous studies have shown an increase in stress, incivility, and usage of false information among students across the nation over the past couple of years (Costello, 2016; Rogers et al., 2017; Will, 2017). Rogers et al. (2017) found that school leadership plays an important role in addressing these issues to ensure they do not become worse. My paper continues this work by investigating:
1. How principals respond to the spread of false information, political divisiveness, the opioid crisis, the vulnerability of immigrant youth, and gun violence at a student, staff, and community level?
2. To what extent do differences across region, political affiliation, and demographics of the school influence how principals respond to the issues listed above?

Our survey of a representative sample of U.S. public school principals asked them to share their responses to major issues in their schools including the spread of false information, political divisiveness, the opioid crisis, the vulnerability of immigrant youth, and gun violence. Survey
responses will be merged with data from the National Center for Educational Statistics, the U.S. Census, and other sources to provide information to analyze any relevant correlations among school demographics, social challenges, and best practices to address those challenges. Follow-up interviews with a sample of survey respondents will ask principals to explain their processes to various issues facing their school.

Preliminary results show that principals have a wide range of responses and actions to the issues listed above. With issues regarding gun violence, opioid abuse, and immigration a majority of principals tend to speak to targeted students on an individual level and provide or recommend counseling rather than address these issues to the entire student body. The opposite is true when responding to issues of incivility among students. Principals are more likely to speak to students as a group and develop school wide activities to build relationships across difference and foster civility.

In addition, a majority of principals around the nation have prioritized different forms of civic engagement among their students to create a better school climate. In fact, most principal in our sample have reported large student protests at their school. Principals in our survey often
used the student protest to educate students on the many challenges they face. A principal from California said, “although many may see these issues as disruptions to the educational process, they can be leveraged to teach children about their civic rights, responsibility, and democratic rights, as well as, to teach them how to use their voice in civil ways to be heard.”

As one of the few national surveys of principals’ responses to major current challenges, these results showcase how principals around the United States are taking active measures to address the new reality of gun violence, fake news, and incivility in their schools. Further analysis will be conducted when data collection is complete and will be written in the final paper.

Author

• Michael Ishimoto, University of California - Los Angeles