0.1 Beyond convention, beyond critique: toward a third way of  (Page 11/12)

A third issue in the study of community is concerned with how pre-service principals should be prepared to connect the school community to the larger community that the school serves. Under the broad category of school-community partnership there are at least three alternative types of leadership a pre-service principal should learn about: (a) leading a school that offers school-based or school-linked community services, (b) leading a school in its participation in community development, and (c) leading a school that uses the community as a learning environment (Glickman, et al., 2010).

Knowledge about various models of school-community partnership is important but, like so many aspects of leadership for equity and social justice, field-based experiences should compliment theory. Students can visit or do volunteer work in “full-service schools” and reflect on their experiences; graduate classes can participate in community development projects; and pre-service principals can participate in appropriate activism to address cultural, social, economic, and political problems affecting marginalized communities.

A final issue of community is concerned not so much with aspiring principals’ future communal and community leadership but with communities of discourse within the principal preparation program. Given the volatile issues and conflicting views bound to emerge from discussions of equity and social justice, how should the professor manage discourse? To what extent should the professor guide discussion to predetermined conclusions that support equity and social justice? Sen (2004) proposes two guidelines regarding the consideration of claims (or denials) concerning human rights that can be applied to communities of discourse on equity and social justice: assertions should be subject to (a) the free flow of accurate information and (b) critical examination and open discussion. Sen’s (2004) advice on disagreements among proponents of human rights also can be applied to discussions about equity and social justice: variations in beliefs of those fundamentally committed to equity and social justice about how to describe or enact it should not be disconcerting to professors or students. None of us, not even the most committed, knows the perfect path to equity and social justice, or even exactly what they would look like if fully attained. It is Sen’s information, critique, and discussion that will best enlighten our journey toward the goal.

Accountability

Schools should be accountable for equity and social justice, but such accountability should be educative rather than punitive, and professional rather than bureaucratic, with the primary emphasis on self-accountability. Principals and teachers on study teams formed to assess the school’s progress in different areas of equity and social justice can use many of the same types of data gathering and analysis techniques as well as the culturally focused dialogue described in the earlier discussion on critique.