Articles in this Issue
A Pre- and Post-Pandemic Analysis of Ethnic/Racial Differences in the Mathematics Performance of Texas Grade 8 Emergent Bilingual
Students: A Multiyear Comparison
Erik Torres, John R. Slate, and Cynthia Martinez-Garcia
In this Texas multiyear investigation, the Grade 8 STAAR Mathematics performance of Emergent Bilingual students was examined by their ethnicity/race. Five years of data, two prior to the pandemic (i.e., 2017-2018 and 2018-2019) and three post-pandemic (i.e., 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023), were obtained from the Texas Education Agency Public Education Information Management System and analyzed to ascertain the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. A higher percentage of Asian Emergent Bilingual students met the Approaches Grade Level standard, followed by White, Hispanic, and Black students in every year examined except for the 2021-2022 school year, in which White students had the highest percentage of meeting the Grade 8 STAAR Approaches Grade Level standard. For the Meets Grade Level standard, higher percentages of Asian students met the standard, before and after the pandemic, with Hispanic students having the lowest percentages. For the Masters Grade Level standard, in the years following the pandemic, a higher percentage of Asian Emergent Bilingual students met the standard, except for the 2021-2022 school year. Statistically significant differences were present for each of the five years examined on the Masters Grade Level standard.
Keywords: emergent bilingual students, grade 8 STAAR mathematics, ethnicity/race achievement gaps, COVID-19 pandemic effects, Texas public education data
Keywords: emergent bilingual students, grade 8 STAAR mathematics, ethnicity/race achievement gaps, COVID-19 pandemic effects, Texas public education data
Educational Leadership Goes to the Movies: Doctoral Students’ Reflection on Theory through Popular Film
Charles L. Lowery, Alessandra Fehrman-Prestipino, Andrew Fox, Dana Fox,
Tiffany House, and Aaron Palmer
This article explores how popular film can serve as a powerful pedagogical tool for advancing doctoral students’ theoretical understanding of educational leadership. Drawing on Dewey’s aesthetics and Hutcheon’s concept of poetics, the project positioned film as a medium through which metaphor, narrative, and symbolic representation disrupt conventional thinking and reveal new perspectives on leadership. Within a doctoral course on educational administration, students analyzed non-educational films, producing vignettes that examined characters’ leadership traits and organizational contexts through frameworks such as transformational, authentic, democratic, and social justice leadership. The collaborative process of synthesizing these reflections into a co-constructed manuscript exemplified experiential learning and collective knowledge-building. Analyses of characters such as Usnavi (In the Heights), Chuckie (Good Will Hunting), Simba (The Lion King), Conor O’Neill (Hardball), and Dalton (Road House) revealed both formal and informal leadership practices, underscoring the complexities of identity, power, ethics, and change. Findings highlight film’s capacity to engage students emotionally and intellectually, fostering moral imagination, critical literacy, and reflexive praxis. Ultimately, the study demonstrates how cinematic storytelling can bridge theory and practice, enabling educational leaders to reinterpret their roles with greater authenticity, creativity, and ethical awareness.
Keywords: educational leadership, experiential learning, moral imagination, theoretical praxis
Keywords: educational leadership, experiential learning, moral imagination, theoretical praxis
Administrator Influence on the Retention of Special Education Teachers: A Review Synthesis
Carol A. Mullen and Ellen R. Glaser
This review examined literature on special education (SPED) specific to the persistence and career intentions of teachers serving students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBDs). The research question guiding this analysis was, What factors influence SPED teachers’ intentions to continue teaching or leave their job? Peer-reviewed research from 2000 to 2025 was analyzed, resulting in 79 fully reviewed sources. House’s (1981) social support theory of managerial support was adapted for the review. We highlight administrator support, working conditions, and education policies as three contextual factors of social support that influence SPED teacher retention. Importantly, the interplay of these factors affects teacher persistence and career intentions. Administrator support was identified as a significant contributor to retaining SPED educators, as well as other factors such as teacher team efficacy. Understanding what affects SPED teacher retention, particularly those educating EBD populations, is critical to the field and its sustainability. Principals’ implementation of recommended strategies may reduce teacher attrition and, in turn, improve student outcomes. To create a more stable and effective workforce in SPED that addresses root causes of attrition, comprehensive approaches to policymaking are necessary.
Keywords: administrator support; collegial support; emotional and behavioral disabilities; retention, special education teacher
Keywords: administrator support; collegial support; emotional and behavioral disabilities; retention, special education teacher
A Home Away from Home: Navigating Success and Identity for Black and Hispanic Males in Community Colleges
Jill Channing, Jean Swindle, James Lampley, Mildred Perreault, Oluwatomilayo Adeniji, Francis Okeke, and Jocelyn Vernet
Persistent inequities continue to shape the educational trajectories of Black and Hispanic male students in community colleges, where underrepresentation and systemic barriers limit persistence and completion. This interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) explored how 27 Black and Hispanic male–identifying students at four southeastern U.S. community colleges make meaning of their educational experiences, success, and identity. Drawing on Harper’s Anti-Deficit Achievement Framework, Wood and Harris’s community college model of persistence, and Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth framework, the study identified four interrelated themes: (1) sense of belonging, (2) culturally responsive support and communication—including strategic filtering, (3) family and kinship capital, and (4) mentoring as a persistence engine. The phenomenological essence of participants’ experiences centered on validation—academic, personal, and cultural recognition enacted through relationships, family ties, and identity-affirming spaces. Findings reveal that students exercise agency through selective engagement with trusted people, messages, and environments that align with their goals and values. Implications call for equity-minded institutional redesign that embeds culturally responsive mentorship, validates students’ lived experiences, and builds systemic structures of belonging and care.
Keywords: Black male, Hispanic male, community colleges, persistence, validation, mentoring, belonging, culturally responsive communication
Keywords: Black male, Hispanic male, community colleges, persistence, validation, mentoring, belonging, culturally responsive communication
Examining the Relationship Between Higher Education and PK-12 Districts and Schools: Perceptions of Superintendents and Principals
Kaleb G. Patrick, Gregg B. Dionne, and Christopher White
Institutions of higher education (IHEs) and PK-12 schools and districts often operate within their own systems to promote student success while sharing a common interest in the professional development (PD) of educators. While collaboration does occur, these systems largely function independently, often without a unified set of goals, leaving significant opportunities for improvement. This study examines the perceptions of principals and superintendents regarding school and district PD needs and their potential collaboration with IHEs. Using a non-experimental design, the research employs quantitative analyses of survey data alongside qualitative insights. The findings reveal distinct PD needs across schools and districts, highlighting differences between principals and superintendents, as well as the interconnected nature of PK-12 challenges. Additionally, participants emphasize the importance of IHE faculty learning from PK-12 educators and provide valuable insights into potential avenues for collaboration at the school and district levels.
Keywords: superintendents, principals, teachers, professional development, higher education, partnerships
Keywords: superintendents, principals, teachers, professional development, higher education, partnerships
Making Dollars and Sense: Principals’ Resource Decision Making
Lena M. Bratt
Scholars and policymakers have often ignored the role that principals play in resource decision-making, especially if we look beyond budgets to more abstract items such as scheduling, role definition, and professional development. This article seeks to fill this crucial omission and to posit that when we look beyond school-level budgeting decisions, principals have a greater role than often assumed by researchers and policymakers. Each school leader brings their own sensemaking, which includes beliefs and experiences, to their allocation and use of resources in a school. Even when districts allocate the same resources to schools, principals may use them differently, changing their impact on student outcomes. Data collection included in-depth interviews and observations with principals and staff in three elementary schools in two mid-sized Midwestern districts to investigate how school leaders make resource decisions. I used an expanded definition of resources to answer the following research question: How do principals conceptualize how resources matter and allocate available resources? I found that principals' educational beliefs, context, and previous professional experience shape resource use and allocation, even when different than district intentions. My findings provide a foundation to understand resource decision-making in schools so that researchers, policymakers, and practitioners can think about how resources matter in a more nuanced way and the principal agency that contributes to varying instructional environments with implications for student outcomes and equity.
Keywords: school resources, principal decision-making, sensemaking, resource allocation, principal agency
Keywords: school resources, principal decision-making, sensemaking, resource allocation, principal agency
Equity in Practice: Leveraging Communities of Practice for Critical Reflection and Agency in Rural Educational Settings
Carrie L. Morris, Lyndsay B. Britt, and Jennifer James
Public schools in rural communities are often among the largest employers, positioning educational leaders as critical stewards of rural cultural wealth. By creating spaces for reflection and dialogue, leaders can challenge deficit-based narratives, foster agency, and promote more equitable practices. This paper draws on three participatory action research (PAR) studies in eastern North Carolina to examine how communities of practice (CoPs) support equity-focused leadership in rural schools. One study engaged an affinity-based CoP of six white women leaders reflecting on identity and leadership, while two examined principal-led CoPs in early college high schools centered on equitable discourse, access, and inquiry. Together, these studies demonstrate how well-facilitated CoPs create opportunities for critical reflection, collaborative problem-solving, and intentional action toward equity. Two key findings emerge: (1) equity requires praxis, where critical reflection informs shifts in leader and teacher practice, and (2) nested CoPs strengthen agency and sustain equity-focused change. These findings underscore the potential of CoPs as powerful mechanisms for cultivating inclusive, transformative school leadership while honoring the agency of rural educators.
Keywords: rural education, educational leadership, equity, communities of practice, teacher agency, critical reflection
Keywords: rural education, educational leadership, equity, communities of practice, teacher agency, critical reflection