Ten years and counting: salient doctoral program design and delivery  (Page 2/10)

In meeting the needs of a highly diverse society, Giroux (1994) recommended that schools of education need to encourage“teachers and administrators to undertake the language of social criticism, to display moral courage, and to connect rather than distance themselves from the most pressing problems and opportunities of the times”(p. 44). One of the pressing problems includes closing the educational disparity among ethnic and socioeconomic groups. As Reyes and Wagstaff (2005) stressed,“The most critical challenge to education today is to educate successful student populations that are ethnically and linguistically diverse often located in urban and underfunded schools”(p. 106). Inherent in this challenge is improving teaching and learning in schools (Elmore, 2005). The educational leader’s role includes establishing strong relationships with students, parents, and the community; building social capital for students; and creating a school community wherein all are respected and valued (Reyes&Wagstaff, 2005). For systemic changes to occur in school practices, policies, and processes to promote equity and excellence in schools, leadership at all levels is needed (Scheurich&Skrla, 2003).

What is needed in educational leadership programs

Kochan and Reed (2005) described the content and delivery that is needed in educational leadership programs stating,

The content and delivery of curriculum that will prepare individuals to build democratic environments must be infused with readings, experiences, and structures that foster democratic ideals. Thus, classroom texts and reading must come from diverse perspectives so that dialogue and discussion can include opportunities to develop listening skills, challenge beliefs and values, and engage in critiques of one’s own ideas and the ideas of others, questioning the status quo. (p. 80)

At the core of the questioning, values of equity and social justice are important (Scheurich&Skrla, 2003), as well as, an inherent belief among school participants that change can occur (Dantley, 2005). In the design of educational leadership program, dialogue and discussion serve as ways that participants can model collaboration and engage in the processes that are essential in successful school leadership (Kochan&Reed, 2005). As part of the process, professors can model“the type of community we are encouraging our students to create”(Kochan&Reed, 2005, p. 81). Dantley (2005) suggested,

Rather than filling current school leaders’heads with more technical knowledge, professional development opportunities might include times of reflection when leaders are compelled to deal with critical issues in a nonthreatening environment. What is absolutely essential is a new way of perceiving the activities and responsibilities of school leadership in terms of purpose and learning. (p. 43)

As Bates (1984) argued,“Language is not only a tool of critical reflection through which we may demystify our world but also the medium of action through which we shape it”(pp. 268-269). Anderson (1996) stressed,“This new administrative discourse must not only critique current practices, but also provide a vision of what a democratic school culture would look like”(p. 961).