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This paper describes a research project that is the result of an ongoing partnership between a regional university and a small rural county in the southeastern United States. The goal of this community engagement initiative is to make purposeful connections between research, best practices, community needs, and community goals. Education researchers collaborated with the local school system to uncover the Best Practice Language (BPL) within a rural school district. For the purposes of this study, BPL is language that resonates with others and is used by members of the organization with consistent and promising outcomes. Furthermore, BPL is language with a meaningful design or pattern; and a resonating, inspiring, promising, and transformational quality. All five schools in the district were studied (2 elementary schools, 1 middle school, 2 high schools) and data were gathered using both quantitative and qualitative methods.With the BPL methodology, members of an organization are challenged to seek better ways to convey thoughts, ideas, priorities, functions, tasks, and even feelings. Members can begin to develop a heightened awareness of their own language and the “language of practice” around them. Structures within the organizational context can also begin to change, and every member of the organization is given a voice in the process.
This manuscript has been peer-reviewed, accepted, and sanctioned by the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA) as a significant contribution to the scholarship and practice of education administration. This Volume 10, Number 1, is archived in the International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation (IJELP), (Supplemental Link). Authors: Hal L. Holoman and Peggy H. Yates, East Carolina University

Introduction

At the outset of the 21st century, a confluence of social, economic, and political forces pose daunting new challenges to the nation’s continued vitality and make clear the need for higher education to assume new responsibilities. There is little question that higher education must be among the most important intellectual and creative resources assembled to address an array of critical challenges confronting society—including the sustainability of natural resources; the provision of health care for all in a growing, aging population; and the renewal of economic vitality across a wide demographic range, which entails helping more working adults acquire higher-level skills and knowledge, instilling core human values, and strengthening social structures to ensure that future generations experience lives of justice, equity, and fulfillment. Higher education must organize its resources for increased responsiveness to, and engagement with, society’s core challenges in the century ahead. The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (2008)

Seemingly insurmountable odds…high stakes…a hint of flattery…dire circumstances with gripping urgency. But is it compelling enough? What will it take for the academy and its members to collectively acknowledge and respond to such public—noble, practical, interpersonal, and multigenerational—purposes? And what if members of the academy bravely respond to even one of these core challenges—what would it look like—and how would other members of the community respond?

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Source:  OpenStax, Ncpea education leadership review, volume 10, number 1; february 2009. OpenStax CNX. Jun 05, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10630/1.9
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