Leading At-Risk Schools Through Phase Transitions and Probability Analysis: Educational Leadership in a Chaotic World

• In Event: Perspectives on Chaos and Complexity Theories in Education

Abstract

The recent COVID 19 crisis has created turbulent and uncertain futures for educational settings that resemble chaotic systems. As a result, it is perhaps one of the periods in our recent history that simultaneously puts a great deal of stress on chaos and complexity researchers but yet also provides unique and unprecedented opportunities for these same researchers to help others make sense out of the world. This paper incorporates the research of Prigogine (1980, 1996) on phase transitions and probability analysis to readdress epistemological challenges of leading educational institutions. In particular, this research focuses on K-12 settings defined as at-risk that were already suffering prior to the COVID 19 pandemic and which are even more at-risk moving into an unclear future.

Author

• Donald L. Gilstrap, The University of Alabama