Criticality and the Pedagogical Reconstruction of Leadership Standards in an Educational Leadership Classroom

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag

The article examines how education leadership students can develop critical perspectives on the content and assumptions embedded in the 2008 Florida Principal Leadership Standards (FPLS). Using textual analysis of 92 reflective student essays totaling 922 pages across five class sections (summer 2008 to spring 2009), the study explores how learners interpret knowledge claims and the standards’ substantial silence on ethics and equity. It offers six pedagogical and professional stances to guide faculty practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time55 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Theoretical Framework and Pedagogical Orientations

Teaching in Educational Leadership and Social Justice

Criticality and the Pedagogical Reconstruction of Leadership Standards in an Educational Leadership Classroom William R. Black Zorka Karanxha University of Southern Florida The authors describe their attempt to develop students’critical perspectives on the content and assumptions in the 2008 Florida Principal Leadership Standards (FPLS) through a reflective essay assignment in a class titled Ethics, Equity, and Leadership in Education. The authors conducted textual analysis of 92 student essays (a total of 922 pages) submitted in 5 sections of a class from the summer of 2008 through the spring of 2009. The authors describe ways students analyze knowledge claims in the FPLS in relation to the standards’considerable silence around issues of ethics and equity, which were central to the class: a) Standards are sufficient and helpful; b) Standards are insufficient, but helpful; and c) Standards are insufficient and lack critical elements. The article concludes with a discussion of how university professors and other professional development leaders might consider working within and, when strategically appropriate, against notions of standards representing comprehensive legitimate knowledge through six specific pedagogical and professional stances. . INTRODUCTION To question the beliefs is to question their authority; to accept the beliefs is evidence of loyalty to the powers that be, a proof of good citizenship. Dewey, 1991, p. 149 Educational leadership students have been described as nice, genuine, and committed to good citizenship (English, 2008; Marshall & Theoharis, 2007) . Students enroll in state approved standards-based educational leadership preparation programs in order to gain knowledge and meet administrative licensure requirements that signal their potential to be effective administrators. A prominent and extensive literature has blossomed around the purpose and development of principal licensure standards, particularly the ISLLC-based standards movement. Standards are often invoked as central elements of educational leadership program curricula and program improvement efforts (Anthes, 2004; Fry, O’Neill, & Bottoms, NCPEA Education Leadership Review, Vol. 14, No. 1– March 2013 ISSN: 1532-0723 © 2013 National Council of Professors of Educational Administration 2006) . However, as Dewey implies, we may have an obligation to question the authority of standards that guide principal preparation programs. As Assistant Professors new to a particular state context, we encountered standards that for us were inappropriately silent on issues of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, politics, ethics, and social justice. We pondered how to question the authority of the state standards as comprehensive representation of legitimate knowledge in educational leadership in our pedagogy. We wanted help students become advocate leaders when such an orientation was not included in standards that would be central to our programs’upcoming state-level program approval process. We approached this dilemma through a social reconstructionist pedagogical strategy utilized in one of our masters-level classes, Ethics, Equity, and Leadership in Education. The purpose of this article is twofold: First, we share our pedagogical approach to teaching the 2008 Florida Principal Leadership Standards (FPLS) and highlight myriad pedagogical tensions we encountered in our classrooms as we attempted to actively navigate stances of compliance with and resistance to knowledge represented in standards. This is illustrated in our description of a particular essay assignment and our analysis of 922 pages of 92 student essays produced in 5 sections of the Ethics, Equity, and Leadership class taught by the authors from the summer of 2008 through the spring of 2009. Second, we seek to publicly document our process of mutual adaptation to standards-based policy given the regulatory nature of program approval policy, and discuss strategic

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the article?

To present a pedagogical approach for teaching the 2008 Florida Principal Leadership Standards (FPLS) and to analyze tensions students experience when navigating compliance and resistance to standards-based knowledge.

How was the study conducted?

The authors conducted textual analysis of 92 student essays, totaling 922 pages, produced in five sections of an Ethics, Equity, and Leadership in Education class between summer 2008 and spring 2009.

Which gaps in the FPLS are emphasized as central to the classroom?

The class focused on how the standards largely remain silent on ethics and equity, which the authors connect to students’ analysis of standards’ sufficiency and critical content.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag