Leading with Insight: Principals’ Community Knowledge and Policy Action for Multilingual Learners

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Leadership in Transition: Navigating Context, Community Engagement, and Equity Challenges

Abstract

We sought to understand the mechanisms underlying school principal decision-making about policies and program implementation specific to emerging multilingual learners (EML). Using interview data collected from 2022-2023 among principals (n=14) across California, we found that principals who demonstrated deep knowledge of their community were more likely to exercise autonomy and implement transformative policies that went above and beyond policy requirements and prioritized social justice. Meanwhile, principals who demonstrated a cursory understanding of their community were more likely to either implement policy in alignment with mandates, or to be noncompliant altogether. These findings highlight the importance of understanding a community’s needs for transformative school leaders to facilitate equitable access to resources and opportunities for EML students and their families.

Authors

• Andrea Louise Ochoa, Brown University

• Jae Won Claire Shin, Johns Hopkins University

• Rebecca A. Cruz, Johns Hopkins University