Front Matter for Next Three Papers

• In Event: Moving Emergent Bilingual Students to the Center: Transforming Leadership Preparation in a District-University Partnership

Abstract

The following 3 papers by student graduates share the same purpose, modes of inquiry and data sources. Therefore, we will foreground those aspects here. Our total word count conforms to AERA’s requirements of no more than 500 words per paper (i.e., we do not exceed 1500 words total for these descriptions and the three papers that follow).
Purpose: Although much is known according to research about what elements need to be in place to support continuous improvement, we need to know much more than we currently do about how that change is actually brought about (Bryk, 2014; AERA Educational Change Special Interest Group, 2014). The purpose of this set of papers is to illuminate the mechanisms of change in a concrete way. Although each author has a personal story to tell – illuminating the key elements of the program that made the biggest difference in their particular circumstance and unpacking the workings of that change on a personal level – collectively they help us to understand the how the micro-processes of adult learning operate - specifically as pertains to leadership for social justice.
Modes of Inquiry: The authors are practitioner action researchers, sitting within the nested practitioner action research project of the instructor-partners (faculty members and district leaders, as described in Paper 1). Utilizing strategic inquiry (Panero & Talbert, 2013) as the organizing curricular frame, instructors led the authors—candidates in the leadership preparation program—to study their own teaching and leadership practice and that of their colleagues. This “inquiry stance” (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) generated rich reflections on practice (Schon, 1983) that form the heart of this collection of papers. Collectively, these authors have generated the “knowledge of practice” (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999) that is so elusive in our field.
Data sources/evidence: The authors were invited to write chapters for a book on our leadership preparation program, and as such to review their work and reflections over the course of the two years of the program. The authors were then guided to reflect upon and to articulate the following: Who were they when they entered the program; who are they now as leaders; and what made the difference? They were coached to go deeper into areas surfaced, to drill down to get at the nitty gritty. These conversations occurred with a coach (our symposium chair) with deep experience in our instructional model. The authors’ “conclusions” involved answers to these questions.

Author

• Nell Scharff Panero, Hunter College