Ethical Leadership: An educational leader integrates principles of cultural competency and equitable practice and promotes the success of every student by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner.
To me, Ethical Leadership requires understanding...
- A lack of information and knowledge does not equate with the lack of an opinion.
- Perception can triumph reality if school leaders do not build a base awareness rooted in experience and shared understanding.
- When procedures and communication do not match the vision or mission of a department or school, confusion occurs and trust is lost.
- One-on-one conversations take more time, but are more valuable than large group conversations.
- What is communicated one-on-one and in small groups should be reinforced in large group settings.
- Diligence, integrity, and a solutions mind-set are critical to change.
- When there is resistance, ask questions before promoting ideas.
- Speak and listen with intention. Each word has meaning. Each syntax implies context. In every situation, leaders should take the time to understand the definitions others place on words and the importance of the way messages are phrased. We should also understand what definitions we are applying to words when we speak, and what messages our phrasing conveys. Many conflicts of ideas are really misunderstandings of vocabulary.
Experience Artifacts: Gifted Planning, Budgeting, & Program Redesign
As district Gifted Education Coordinator, I was able to apply research of best practices to the district's current state of gifted programs in order to impact positive change. I spent time in classrooms with gifted students and their teachers, asked many questions of gifted leaders, administrators, parents, and students in the planning process, sought feedback about ideas, and presented concerns alongside feasible steps toward improvement.
Experience Artifacts: Communication & Support of Best Practices in Gifted Education
Two of the most misunderstood best practices for gifted students deal with accelerated learning and effective grouping.
- With accelerated learning, the misconception is that gifted students need to go through the entire grade level curriculum before moving ahead so they don't miss discrete skills. The reality is that these students can quickly fill in gaps for discrete skills in context when learning something new and appropriately challenging. Whole grade level acceleration is a practice that is often met with resistance. I worked with school administration and teachers to understand the realities of acceleration and go through an evaluation process for students whose parents or teachers think acceleration might be a better option than differentiation with their age peers.
- With effective grouping, the misconception is that homogenous grouping is not effective. This may be the case for many types of learners (although the research is much more complicated than I am discussing here), but research has shown time and time again that gifted students excel in homogenous groups. With many district and building administrators opposed to homogenous grouping for any student, I began an informative campaign about the Cluster Grouping model. This model allows gifted students to be grouped homogeneously within intentionally structured mixed-ability classrooms. Through this process, one middle school started a single-subject Cluster Grouping pilot and several other middle and elementary schools began the discussions necessary to consider this model for implementation in the future. Below are samples of communication pieces and models I created for teachers and administrators.
Experience Artifacts: Gifted Procedures & Forms Revision
Many of the forms used by schools for gifted students in identification and services did not align with new research or the newly developed district vision and mission. Part of my work was to revise old forms, beta test them with teachers, gifted site-coordinators, families, and administration, and revise again when necessary. Below is a sampling of some of the forms I revised, and a link to the district's public Gifted website, which I also revised to reflect current values and practices.
Experience Artifact: High School Proficiency-Based Credit for Younger Gifted Students
A small but growing number of gifted elementary and middle school students take high school courses online. As one of our first students to do so through John Hopkins prepared to transition to high school, I began helping the parents communicate with the counselor and administrator to convey the uniqueness of his previous learning. As the parents became increasingly disappointed with messages from the school about what type of credit the student would be awarded via the online learning courses in math, I consulted the Executive Director of Secondary Schools. When the initial response from the Executive Director and building Principal was to deny actual credit for fear of establishing a precedent, I found myself entangled in a complex advocacy situation. I was asked by the parents, and allowed by the administration, to write a letter for the student's permanent file. The letter explains his accomplishments, but does not give any recommendation about credits. The transcripts from the online institution should serve this capacity. The issue was not resolved to my satisfaction, but I feel it has been opened for future procedural consideration. It should not be left to individual schools or personnel to decide which students receive high school credit for which outside alternative learning experiences. A district should be able to let families know upfront their options and the consequences of those options.
Experience Reflection: Addressing Race
An educational leader I work with, who was starting a new high school principalship, had to address a race issue with a staff member on the leadership team. Below is the scenario, the principal's initial brainstorm of how to respond, and my thoughts on how I would respond.
Scenario: During the first summer leadership planning meeting, the only Black member of an otherwise white team repeatedly and in a joking tone began most comments with, "As the token black person, ______."
Principal Response Brainstorm: The principal initially brainstormed a one-on-one conversation with the staff member in which he states how uncomfortable the repeated comment made him feel, as a way to begin a conversation about how equity is a priority and race is not a topic he avoids.
My Response Idea: I thought this approach might make the staff member feel like her new boss already sees flaws in her professionalism and cause the focus to be overly negative. My idea would be to start a one-on-one conversation by stating, "I noticed during the meeting yesterday that you repeatedly said, '_____.' It seemed to me that is was lighthearted and said in a joking manner, but I'm curious if there are layers underneath the statement that I need to be aware of." My hope is that an honest dialogue would happen about racial equity issues, and that my leadership team member would see me as a partner in brainstorming ideas about addressing equity with my new staff.
Scenario: During the first summer leadership planning meeting, the only Black member of an otherwise white team repeatedly and in a joking tone began most comments with, "As the token black person, ______."
Principal Response Brainstorm: The principal initially brainstormed a one-on-one conversation with the staff member in which he states how uncomfortable the repeated comment made him feel, as a way to begin a conversation about how equity is a priority and race is not a topic he avoids.
My Response Idea: I thought this approach might make the staff member feel like her new boss already sees flaws in her professionalism and cause the focus to be overly negative. My idea would be to start a one-on-one conversation by stating, "I noticed during the meeting yesterday that you repeatedly said, '_____.' It seemed to me that is was lighthearted and said in a joking manner, but I'm curious if there are layers underneath the statement that I need to be aware of." My hope is that an honest dialogue would happen about racial equity issues, and that my leadership team member would see me as a partner in brainstorming ideas about addressing equity with my new staff.