Administrator Narratives of Leadership in a Diverse School

• In Event: Attending to Complex Lives in Communities

Abstract

We examine principal and vice–principal experiences in a diverse, urban K–8 school using a narrative inquiry approach to underscore experiences of curricular interaction among diverse students. Our purpose was to gain a glimpse into administrators’ stories of curriculum and teaching decisions and processes for educational leadership in an ethnically and socially diverse school. We emphasize school principals as lead teachers and explore challenges that administrators might encounter while implementing culturally-responsive curriculum and school practices that affirm student diversity and prepare students for an increasingly diverse global community. We argue that their experiences guide leadership practices and ways in which they are translated into pervasive school processes as a prime educational responsibility.

Authors

• Candace M. Schlein, University of Missouri - Kansas City

• Elaine Chan, University of Nebraska - Lincoln