Contradictory Advice for Leaders: Challenging the False Promise of the Common Theory of School Change

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: Investigating the Principalship: The Nature and Consequences of Daily Practices

Abstract

the school reinvention needed to address persistent issues of social justice. Our work describes the challenging and essential work of nine activist school leaders (principals, district leaders, and teacher leaders) who resist a common, linear approach to school reform and instead navigate a deep dive into school reinvention. We analyze these struggles in daily, ongoing, important leadership work in terms of the contradictory advice leaders must navigate and the reframing they must do to lead school reinvention. In amplifying the voices and work of organizational stakeholders such as teacher, school, and district leaders, we provide an opportunity for collaboration and dissemination.

Authors

• Angela Breidenstein, Trinity University

• Frances Hensley, University of Georgia - Athens

• Jacy C. Ippolito, Salem State University