Leading With a Community Schools Mindset: Competencies and Conditions for Transformative Leadership in Community Schools

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 4:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Leadership for Resilience and Equity in Rural and International Contexts

Abstract

This paper explores the leadership competencies and dispositions that cultivate a “Community Schools Mindset” and support sustainable implementation of the Community Schools approach in rural contexts. Drawing on qualitative thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with Community Schools principals and superintendents, along with analysis of implementation materials and documentation, our study identifies several key leadership traits: relational leadership, equity orientation, adaptive capacity, collaborative dispositions, systems thinking, and asset-based framing. These traits collectively foster the enabling conditions for Community Schools implementation, buy-in, and sustainability. Findings contribute to the development of a conceptual framework for Community Schools collaborative leadership and offer implications for leadership preparation, professional development, and education policy to strengthen systems-level transformation in less-resourced schools and communities.

Author

• Peter N. Knox, University of Vermont