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Background:Educational leadership perspectives are missing from existing literature related to school shootings, which have been dominated instead by experts in criminal justice, law enforcement, and psychology.Purpose:In this article, we systematically review the literature base on educational leadership related to school shootings in the United States to identify gaps and develop an education-specific, leadership-specific research agenda for the United States.Methods:This exploratory-topographical review follows standards for systematic research reviews in educational leadership. Through reviews of 16 core educational leadership journals, and online scholarly search engines for research and keywords, we identify gaps in the current inter-disciplinary literature.Findings:We learned that the research base on school shootings is multidisciplinary, with scholars across seven different fields taking different approaches. Second, we found that while many scholars are addressing the problem of school shootings, the research base on school shootings from education researchers and specifically within the field of educational leadership are limited.Implications:We discuss three ways in which educational leaders and leadership scholars can inform school shooting research via emphasizing relationships, school–community partnerships, and meeting the needs of the marginalized. We propose preliminary recommendations for an education-specific, educational leadership U.S. research agenda, and suggestions for preparation programs.
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Leading Elementary School Science: Taking a Multilevel Distributed Perspective to Explore Leadership Practice
Purpose:Most empirical work using a distributed perspective to frame research on leadership practice uses the school as the unit of analysis, focusing on how leadership is stretched over people and aspects of the situationwithinschools. This study investigates leadership practice for elementary science, using a multilevel distributed framework, to understand the interrelationships among educational leaders operating at various levels—from classrooms, to schools, to educational systems, and, beyond, to the educational sector.Research Methods/Approach:Using an embedded, comparative case study design, we analyzed leadership practice for elementary science reform in 13 school districts in the U.S. as leaders worked to bridge from the Next Generation Science Standards learning ideals to classroom instruction. Data collection included interviews, observations, and documents.Findings:Leading elementary science reform involved three core components of leadership practice: (1) garnering attention for science in a situation that prioritized the instruction of English Language Arts and mathematics; (2) cultivating and channeling essential relationships not only within the system but also in the broader education sector to access the resources needed to (re)build an educational infrastructure for elementary science instruction; and (3) supporting the use of educational infrastructure in everyday practice in schools.Implications:This study makes the case for using a multilevel distributed leadership perspective to frame studies of leadership practice to understand how efforts at different levels interact in shaping the practice of leadership.
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- PAR ID:
- 10525300
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Educational Administration Quarterly
- Volume:
- 60
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 0013-161X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 418-451
- Size(s):
- p. 418-451
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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