Uel program Urban Educational Leadership Program Preliminary Hearing Document Updated
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- Curriculum Vitae............................................................................................................3
- Professional Goal Statement
- Required UEL Doctoral Program Coursework
- Total 27
- Total 18
- Total 45
- Classes Transferred in from Masters Degree (Completed June 2004)
- Total 30 4.0
- Autumn 2006, Winter 2007 and Spring 2007: Dissertation
- Coursework Summaries Summary of Coursework by Level (Before Transfer Hours)
- Total Doctoral Study at University of Cincinnati without Transfer Hours 117 quarter hours
- Total Study at University of Cincinnati including Transfer Hours 147 quarter hours
- Total Graduation Study at University of Cincinnati 147 Quarter Hours Committee Members
- Dr. Mary Brydon-Miller, Ph.D.
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Urban Educational Leadership Program Preliminary Hearing Document *Updated* Carri A. Schneider University of Cincinnati Spring 2006 Proposed Doctoral Committee Membership Dr. Kent Seidel- Chairperson Dr. Mary Brydon-Miller Dr. Roger Collins Dr. Mark Gooden
Curriculum Vitae
Professional Goal Statement It’s no secret that urban organizations, including schools face seemingly insurmountable obstacles in today’s society. Most would agree that the challenges are both numerous and overwhelming. However, it has been my experience that only a few agree that these challenges provide opportunities for learning which could ultimately lead to positive changes in our society at large. The bottom line is simply: something is not working. Whether or not we can move past this recognition of our problems to the greater and much more important question of how we can solve these problems seems to be the charge to future urban educational leaders like myself. In my opinion, the only way to move from the simple detection of a problem on to the more meaningful work of finding solutions is to keep certain principles in mind. It is my goal to become an urban educational leader who leads with the following principles. First of all, urban education needs strong leaders, not just effective managers (Sergiovanni, 2001). Merely being able to create a school budget, hire and supervise teachers and implement district and state standards is simply not enough. Leaders in urban education need to be able to create followership by working together with the school and larger community stakeholders to create a vision for the school or district (Owens, 2001). I agree with Barth (1990) in that “Leadership is making the things happen that you believe in or envision” (p. 124). It is both this process of creating the vision and the ongoing practice of working toward this vision that will help urban schools to embrace successes and create a dialogue for understanding and solving problems as they inevitably arise. Like many contemporary notions of leadership propose, I believe that leaders must be principle-centered (Covey, 1990). Leaders must both know themselves (Bennis, 2003) and know their communities in order to effectively lead them and to teach students, teachers, parents and community members the skills that they need to ultimately create their own capacity for problem-solving (Evers, 1982). Secondly, urban educational leaders will never succeed unless they actively engage in problem-solving with all of the stakeholders involved (Evers, 1982). Collaboration is essential to the success of urban educational organizations. It is my goal to be a collaborative leader. Schools need to create partnerships with community leaders and organizations, as well as community “followers”. All voices need to be heard. Students and parents need to feel ownership in the success of the school (Havelock, 1995). This will happen if the members of our urban communities are encouraged to take a more active role in the problem-defining and problem-solving processes that must take place if urban schools are to truly succeed. In order for urban educational leaders to create an environment of collaboration, principles of communication, trust and honesty must remain at the center of all practices in the school setting. We must lead with soul. As Bolman & Deal (2001) remind us, “The heart of leadership lives in the hearts of leaders” (p. 17). Next, I believe that urban educational leaders must redefine their notions of what constitutes “urban”. It’s my opinion that everyone has a stake in the success of our urban schools. For this reason, I have a broad definition of urban education that exceeds the boundaries of the city center. I believe that the city itself, in combination with its outlying areas, share a symbiotic relationship that often goes unnoticed and untapped. As an increasing number of people flee the city centers into suburbs and neighboring smaller cities, the city center loses not only financial resources, but also human resources that serve to increase the diversity and accompanying strength of the city as a whole. As the city continues to lose members, businesses follow. Soon, schools suffer. As neighborhoods deteriorate and the infrastructure to support a rich urban lifestyle continues to crumble, more people are forced to leave and the desire to move into the city ceases to exist. The situation creates a vicious cycle. It is this cycle that will only be broken with the cooperation of suburbs and cities (Rusk, 2003). Tapping into the resources that each has to offer the other seems to me to be a missing link in the chain of problem-solving strategies that currently exists in the dialogue about our ailing urban schools. It is another goal of mine to strengthen this link. Finally, we must realize that urban educational leaders are not limited to school administrators. In order for urban organizations to rise to a new level of achievement and success, shared leadership and collegiality (Fullan, 2001) must be the standard. I believe that leaders will naturally rise to the challenge if the environment supports them (Sergiovanni & Starratt, 2002). This means that students, parents, teachers, as well as community and business leaders, etc. will come to the aid of more traditional leaders like administrators if they feel as though they have a voice. As a future administrator, one of my goals will be to remain focused on the importance of giving credit to these voices. Ultimately, I believe that people have the capacity to solve their own problems. As leaders, we must act as facilitators for urban educational change and not experts. Knowing this, we must also expand our definition of education. I characterize education as more than formal knowledge derived from a textbook or linked to a state standard. Rather, I think we should challenge ourselves to view education as a more expansive process of learning how to collaborate with the human and natural systems around us to work toward a greater common good. Sergiovanni & Starratt (2002) call for such a “curriculum of community”, one which “intentionally and explicitly attends to the building up of knowledge, skills, and dispositions which comprise the work of becoming and sustaining a community” (p. 50). It is my goal to create such a community. Overall, I feel that it is also important to be realistic and not dramatic about the current status of our urban schools. While public perception supports the notion that urban schools are largely unsuccessful and inadequate, a closer look will show that there are many successes worthy of celebrating as well. As urban leaders, we must work to change the public perception by sharing our success stories and by speaking of our challenges as learning opportunities and not the end of the road. I feel that now more than ever an urban renaissance is possible. The desire is there. The next step is to challenge our constituents to work together with us to think about our problems and solutions differently. In doing so, we are likely to find new answers to old problems that will lead us in the right direction, together. While I did not teach in a completely urban district, I believe that this program is the right one for me as I set out to impact the lives of historically labeled and oppressed students. I was one of them. My hope for this program is that I can learn more about urban educational leadership and about myself on the path to making positive changes in our schools. My first step was to leave my job as a second grade teacher in a suburban school. This year, I have taken new opportunities such as acting as a graduate assistant at the University of Cincinnati and facilitating online courses in the Educational Leadership Distance Learning Program and working with educational policy in my role as an intern with KnowledgeWorks Foundation. While I’m still not sure what career path I will choose upon graduating next year, I am excited by the numerous possibilities open to me thanks to the fact that I have such a wide range of experiences so far in UEL. Overall, I know that I will be happy no matter where I am, as long as I am doing meaningful work in addressing the needs of America’s school children. My goals and the goals of the Urban Educational Leadership Program are much the same. Together, we will be a force that affects positive change. I strongly feel that I will be able to affect change by sharing my own vision with others as we take steps toward making our schools successful to all students. It is my goal to bring all of my dedication, enthusiasm, past experiences and vision to the Urban Educational Leadership program so that I may learn from the experiences of others as we all work together toward our common goals. Bibliography Barth, R. S. (1990). Improving schools from within: Teachers, parents, and principals can make the difference. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Bennis, W. (2003). On becoming a leader. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. Covey, S. R. (1990). Principle-centered leadership. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc. Evers, N. (1982). Change for school improvement. In J. L. Rebeck (Ed.), Children's success in schools. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. Fullan, M. (2001). The new meaning of educational change (3rd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press. Havelock, R. G. (1995). The change agent's guide (2nd ed.). Edgewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications. Owens, R. G. (2001). Organizational behavior in education: Instructional leadership and school reform (7th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Rusk, D. (2003). Cities without suburbs: A census 2000 update (3 ed.). Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press. Sergiovanni, T. J. (2001). The principalship: A reflective practice perspective (4th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Required UEL Doctoral Program Coursework
Description of Internship In August of 2005, I responded to an ad for an internship job opening that was forwarded on to me from a fellow cohort member. After four interviews, I was hired by KnowledgeWorks Foundation (KWF) as an intern in the Public Policy division. Since September of 2005, I have been working 20 hours a week at KWF to track state policy initiatives and report them to the Policy Team to guide their decisions on how best to address the current needs of Ohio’s public schools. Specifically, I am responsible for tracking and reporting state and national policies and initiatives that may affect schools in Ohio. Each week, I present my findings to the Policy Team at KWF. I also provide research and technical writing support for memos, position papers, Op. Eds., etc. I also produce PowerPoint presentations for our Policy Officers to use when they speak to various groups across the state. I have also had the opportunity to meet with several “key players” in educational policy at the Ohio Department of Education, Governor’s Office, other state and national Foundations. After I had completed my four month internship with KWF in December of 2005, I was invited to stay on as a staff-member. I continued to work for KWF part-time until June of 2006 when I left to focus on my research. I look forward to possibly returning to KWF in the future to build my knowledge, skills, and relationships in the educational policy arena. Research Tools
Dissertation
Research Agenda / Dissertation I left my second grade classroom and decided to enter the UEL program after witnessing numerous atrocities that silenced and marginalized a large percentage of the student population. As a teacher, I felt disempowered and unable to do anything about it. I began to notice a change in myself. It became very hard for me to go on teaching in that building, because I felt as if doing so forced me to act in disaccord with the values that brought me to teaching in the first place. It was also difficult for me to watch my initially positive and altruistic friends and colleagues slowly morph into less-caring, increasingly-apathetic teachers. When I left teaching in June of 2005, I vowed to work hard to learn more about what was happening to our school through my work in UEL and one day address these problems, power intact. As the opportunity to pursue action research in my former school came and went, along with other opportunities to do research with other groups such as the pre-service administrators in the online distance learning program, I’ve finally settled on doing a theoretical dissertation that addresses the broader issues underlying the frustrations that brought me to education in the first place. This summer, I will work on my comprehensive exams to formalize my research question. I know I will be looking at issues related to educational equity, social justice and educational policy. Specifically, I’m interested in the phenomenon of limiting educational equity conversations to ‘urban’ schools only. I hope to make the case that the responsibility for social justice and educational equity rests in the hands of all educational leaders, not just urban ones. Classes Transferred in from Masters Degree (Completed June 2004)
Schedule of Coursework by Quarter Autumn 2004
Winter 2005
Spring 2005
Autumn 2005
Winter 2006
Spring 2006
Autumn 2006, Winter 2007 and Spring 2007: Dissertation
Calendar of Events
Coursework Summaries Summary of Coursework by Level (Before Transfer Hours)
Summary of Coursework by Level (With Transfer Hours from Masters)
Total Hours in Graduate Study
Committee Members Dr. Kent Seidel, Ph.D. (Chair) Assistant Professor, Educational Administration 405B Teachers College Cincinnati, Ohio 45221 513-556-2006
Associate Professor, Educational Foundations 407B Teachers College Cincinnati, Ohio 45221 513-556-5108
Professor, Educational Foundations 404 Teachers College Cincinnati, Ohio 45221 513-556-3613
Associate Professor, Educational Administration 406B Teachers College Cincinnati, Ohio 45221 513-556-3533 Mark.Gooden@uc.edu Download 171.88 Kb. Share with your friends:
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