A Stepping-Stone or Stumbling Block? Pathways to Principalship for Black and Latinx Assistant Principals

Leadership is pivotal in shaping students’ education, yet the role of Assistant Principals (APs) remains underexplored. Black and Latinx teachers, often aspiring to principalships, frequently advance to AP roles without subsequent progression. Grounded in Critical Race Theory, Racialized Organizations, and Job Choice Theory, this mixed-methods project seeks a comprehensive understanding of the challenges encountered by Black and Latinx APs as they aspire to progress to principalship. Partnering with the Wisconsin Education Career Access Network, the quantitative approach first explores trends in the labor market for aspiring Black and Latinx leaders. It provides a unique opportunity to unveil whether Black and Latinx APs apply to principalship but face lower hiring rates or are less likely to apply to such roles. Secondly, to gain a nuanced understanding of the experience of Black and Latinx educators as they transition from APs to principalship, we will conduct semi-structured, phenomenological interviews. This approach aims to explore challenges in career trajectories to principalship and delve into the impact of racialized institutional and systemic barriers within the labor market. Findings from this mixed-methods research endeavor aim to contribute valuable insights to the career advancement of Black and Latinx educators in leadership roles.

Dr. Minseok Yang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri.

Dr. Darrius Stanley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota.

Walking the Leadership Tightrope: Principals’ Experience of Work-Life Balance

Principals experience high levels of anxiety, frustration, and stress, often struggling with their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Balancing work-life responsibilities is critical, yet we know little about how school principals understand and navigate work-life balance (WLB). Building on boundary and spillover theories, we employed an interpretive qualitative research design and conducted in-depth semi-structured interviewed 10 school principals to better understand their experiences with WLB and its impact on their well-being. Our findings revealed that while principals themselves understand the importance of WLB, they shared that achieving it is challenging for individuals on their own. Instead, there is a need for a community of understanding and systematic support to help them achieve a better balance.

Dr. Andy Love has dedicated 20 years to various roles as an educator and currently serves as the principal of West Elementary in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Narrative Inquiry into Asian American Superintendency. Special Issue Research on the Superintendency

Given that Asian American students are the fastest-growing racial minority group in the United States, the underrepresentation of Asian American leaders has been identified as an equity issue in the field of education. Focusing on the under-researched and under-theorized Asian Americans in the superintendency, this qualitative study aims to explore narrative inquiries of the experiences of Asian Americans who were superintendents in K-12 school districts in the Midwestern United States. This study applies the theoretical lens of Asian critical theory to identify how Asian American superintendents in the Midwest have navigated, persevered, and pushed back against racial stereotypes and systemic marginalization in their professional experiences as racialized beings. This qualitative study used narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of five Asian American superintendents in the Midwest. Data collection was primarily based on semi-structured, in-depth, and individual interviews. Three main themes emerged: (a) I am already Americanized, (b) I have experienced racism, but I have responded differently, and (c) We have a work ethic, and we also have to be hard workers.By drawing attention to the Asian American superintendents that has received little attention in the scholarship, this study contributed to a new positionality and voice to the established knowledge about Asian Americans and educational leadership.

Seijoon Park is a Doctoral Student in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri.