School Leadership for Authentic Family and Community Partnerships Research Perspectives for Transforming Practice

School leaders are increasingly called upon to pursue meaningful partnerships with families and community groups, yet many leaders are unprepared to meet the challenges of partnerships, to cross cultural boundaries, or to be accountable to the community. Alliances are needed among educators, families, and community groups that value relationship building, dialogue, and power-sharing as part of socially just, democratic schools. This book brings together research perspectives that intersect the fields of leadership and partnerships to inform and inspire more authentic collaboration.

Contributors from the fields of educational leadership, family engagement, school-community partnerships, and education for social justice come together to examine the role of educational leaders in promoting partnerships as a dimension of leadership for social justice. The volume offers a mix of empirical, conceptual, and reflective chapters with research representing qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches in urban, suburban, and rural schools. The chapter, "Conversations with Community-Oriented Leaders," includes candid advice from district and school-level administrators on this under-documented aspect of leadership. Situating leadership for partnerships within the leadership literature, this book proposes a model for addressing tensions embedded in home-school relations and leading schools toward more authentic relationships with stakeholders. This collection of original scholarly articles will be a unique resource for new and aspiring administrators and for researchers in both the fields of leadership and school-family-community partnerships.

List of Tables

Foreword by George Theoharis

Acknowledgements

PART I. LEADERSHIP FOR PARTNERSHIPS: DELINEATING THE FIELD

Chapter 1. Introduction: Why Leadership for Partnerships? Susan Auerbach

Chapter 2. Edging In: Locating a Focus on School-Family-Community Partnerships within the Scholarship of Educational Leadership Carolyn Riehl

Chapter 3. Conceptualizing Leadership for Authentic Partnerships: A Continuum to Inspire Practice Susan Auerbach

PART II. LEADING PARTNERSHIPS ACROSS DIFFERENCE: NAVIGATING RACE, CLASS, CULTURE, AND POWER

Chapter 4. Enlisting Collective Help: Urban Principals’ Encouragement of Parent Participation in School Decision-Making John Rogers, Rhoda Freelon, Veronica Terriquez

Chapter 5. Advocacy-based Partnerships, Special Education, and African American Families: Resisting the Politics of Containment April Ruffin-Adams and Camille M. Wilson

Chapter 6. Authentic Engagement with Bicultural Parents and Communities: The Role of School Leaders Edward M. Olivos

PART III. LEADING PARTNERSHIPS THROUGH POLICY AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 7. Policy Aspirations and Dilemmas of Implementation: Leadership for Partnerships in Ontario, Canada Joseph Flessa and Hélène Grégoire

Chapter 8. Creating Organizational Cultures of Family and Community Engagement: The Impact of District Policies and Practices on School Leaders Molly F. Gordon

Chapter 9. Parents as Action Learners and Leaders: Lessons for Administrators in Working with Families and Intermediary Organizations Janet H. Chrispeels

Chapter 10. Supporting Teacher Leadership for Partnerships: A Case Study of the School-Community Partnership Process Catherine M. Hands

PART IV. NEW CONTEXTS AND CHALLENGES IN LEADERSHIP FOR PARTNERSHIPS

Chapter 11. Target, Strategic Partner, Critical Friend? Relationships between School Leaders and Community Organizing Groups Sara McAlister, Heinrich Mintrop, Seenae Chong, and Michelle Renée

Chapter 12. Dynamics of Parent Involvement in Urban Charter Schools: Parents’ Perceptions, Principals’ Expectations, and Student Achievement Marc L. Stein, Ellen Goldring, and Claire Smrekar

Chapter 13. Conversations with Community-Oriented Educational Leaders Susan Auerbach

Chapter 14. Conclusion Susan Auerbach

Notes on the Contributors

Index

Susan Auerbach is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at California State University, Northridge.