Texas State Presenting at UCEA

Thursday, November 19

014. GSS Session 10 - Analyzing the Policy and Politics of Education and Educational Leadership

Graduate Student Symposium --- Paper Session
Time: 3:30 to 4:40 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Coronado D1

Teaching, Learning, and Leading in the Militarized Border of Rio Grande Valley: A Policy Analysis.
Jocabed G. Marquez, Texas State University; Samuel Garcia, Texas State University

015. GSS Session 9 - Teacher Leadership Policy, Politics, and Practice

Graduate Student Symposium  --- Paper Session
Time: 3:30 to 4:40 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Coronado E1

Pivoting as a Metaphor for the Pedagogical Relationship.
Jeffry King, Texas State University

019. GSS Session 15 - Exploring Identity in Education Career Paths

Graduate Student Symposium --- Paper Session
Time: 4:50 to 6:00 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Coronado D1

Re-imagining Evaluation and Assessments Through Experiential Learning and Action Oriented Research.
Yvette Cantu, Texas State University; Patricia A. Rocha, Texas State University; Yvonne Hernandez, Texas State University; Alicia Hill, Texas State University

Friday, November 20

024. Jackson Scholars Network Presentations: Beyond the School Walls: Negotiating Social and Community Contexts in School Reform Efforts

Paper Session
Time: 9:00 to 9:50 am
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Gas Lamp B

Educational Leadership for Community Development.
Samuel Garcia, Texas State University

031. Jackson Scholars Network Presentations: Leading in a Changing Social Context: School Principals and the Challenge of Reform

Paper Session
Time: 10:00 to 10:50 am
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Floor Banquet - Grand Hall A

Stories of School and the Storied Lives of Latina/o Elementary Principals: A Narrative Inquiry.
Patricia A. Rocha, Texas State University

049. Visual Methods and Community Engagement in Educational Leadership Research, Preparation, and Practice

Symposium
Time: 12:00 to 1:10 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Seaport F

Digital Storytelling as a Research Methodology in Communities.
Chris Janson, University of North Florida; Matthew Militello, East Carolina University; Francisco Guajardo, University of Texas Pan American; Miguel Angel Guajardo, Texas State University

Evaluative and research processes have been used to understand individual and community development. New methods and tools have emerged as inquiry has sought to hear from communities whose members might have been silent. Digital storytelling has been a useful tool to engage people, and to preserve and share diverse voices. We define digital storytelling as a participatory action research methodology that can promote democratic inquiry, social justice ends, and community improvement. Digital storytelling allows communities to become self-correcting, anticipate problems, and seek innovative, sustainable solutions. Digital storytelling is a process of engaging the community.  We outline a framework for digital storytelling as a research methodology and as a pedagogical tool in leadership preparation programs. We then provide a number of digital stories as examples.

057. Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Civil Liberties

UCEA Annual Convention --- Paper Session
Time: 1:20 to 2:30 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Gas Lamp CD

Reconstructing and Reimagining the Work of Instructional Coaches: A Feminist Perspective.
Lyn Denise Crowell, Texas State University; Sarah W. Nelson, Texas State University

The work of instructional coaches has been described through many metaphors; however the voices of the women doing the work have not been included. This paper unveils the views of six coaches. We recognized that the role of coaching role is highly gendered. Leading us to ask how do instructional coaches position themselves within school improvement efforts? Using feminist poststructuralist deconstruction of the data the voices of the coaches was heard and their work reimagined.

065. Thinking through the P-20 Pipeline from Engagement to Access and Success

Paper Session
Time: 1:20 to 2:30 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Seaport H

Context is Key: School Leaders’ Approaches in Establishing Dual Enrollment Opportunities in South Texas.
Melissa Ann Martinez, Texas State University; Fernando Valle, Texas Tech University; Laura Jean Cortez, University of Texas at Austin; Luis Ponjuan, Texas A-&-M University; Victor Saenz, University of Texas at Austin; Maria Esther Rodriguez, Educate Texas-RGV Focus

Increasingly, school districts, school leaders, and higher education institutions are focused on offering more dual enrollment courses and opportunities for high school students across the country. This study examined the various approaches of school leaders in South Texas as they established and sought new dual enrollment opportunities for their students, in a region historically underserved and underfunded in both K-12 and higher education.

076. Mentoring as a Cultural Act: Considerations for How We Are Mentored and How  We Mentor

Critical Conversations
Time: 2:40 to 3:30 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Seaport C

In this session two faculty of color will engage participants in a critical conversation regarding culturally responsive mentoring occurring in the field, what it looks like, and how it can be used to support current and future doctoral students and faculty of color. Qualitative data examining successful aspects of the presenters’ mentorship experiences, both as mentees and mentors, as well as the experiences of their mentors will serve as the catalyst for this conversation.

Chair: Melissa Ann Martinez, Texas State University

Participants: Melissa Ann Martinez, Texas State University; Patricia Guerra, Texas State University

Saturday, November 21

106. Supervision and Instructional Leadership SIG

Meeting
Time: 7:00 to 7:50 am
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Seaport C

Chair: Steve P. Gordon, Texas State University

Participants: Ann Sundstrom Allen, Western Carolina University; D. Kay Brocato, Mississippi State University; Kim Kappler Hewitt, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Wafa Hozien, Central Michigan University; Kathleen Topolka Jorissen, Western Carolina University; Ian Mette, University of Maine; Martha N. Ovando, University of Texas at Austin

116. New Directions for Leadership Preparation

Paper Session
Time: 8:00 to 9:10 am
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: La Jolla AB

Preparing Leaders for the Schools We Need: Redesigning a Superintendent Preparation Program.
Barry Aidman, Texas State University; Denise Collier, Texas State University

Faced with changing contexts, growing demands for accountability, and competition from online providers, educational leadership preparation programs must provide high quality, convenient, cost-effective, and relevant instruction and experiences in order to fulfill their missions. This qualitative case study examines how one university responded to this compelling need by redesigning its superintendent preparation program. The results highlight key factors that contributed to the redesign, critical changes to the curriculum and delivery model, and ongoing efforts for improvement.

117. Exploring the Complexities of Instructional Leadership

Paper Session
Time: 8:00 to 9:10 am
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Old Town AB

Pedagogy as Tension: Leadership Implications for a Post-Standardized Education.
Jeffry King, Texas State University

This paper challenges educational leaders to begin to re-imagine the place and practice of pedagogy as tension within the learning environment. Rather than defining pedagogy by standardized processes and products, educators need to recognize pedagogy as situated within the tension between pedagogical elements and actors. A post-structural theoretical framework identifies six elements as participants in the creation of pedagogical tension. These six elements are then applied to the context of educational leadership.

131. Leadership Standards and Evaluation

Paper Session
Time: 10:40 to 11:50 am
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: La Jolla AB

The New ISLLC Standards, Competing Pyramids, and the Improvement of Educational Leadership Preparation.
Steve P. Gordon, Texas State University; Karen Taylor Backor, Schreiner University; Susan M Croteau, Texas State University

This paper compares educational leadership preparation program content suggested by the new ISLLC standards to traditional program content; uses multiple literature reviews in subfields of educational leadership to expand on the skeletal nature of the ISLLC standards and describe a program of study designed to meet the standards; compares program content suggested by the ISLLC standards to 50 current principal preparation programs; and identifies areas of the reform movement that the standards do not address.

134. Reframing Community Partnerships in Education: Uniting the Power of Place and Wisdom of People

Symposium
Time: 10:40 to 11:50 am
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Seaport B

Ecology of Organization: Families, Schools and Social Groups as Mediating Forces for Development.
Miguel Angel Guajardo, Texas State University

The second ecology of knowing is the organization. The CLE leadership development process focuses on building a deep understanding of the organization, or the school, through building relationships with others in the organization, as well as identifying and building organizational assets. This meso frame is critical to honor our commitment to being a public people. We grow up in organizations and as educators and know that families, schools, churches, and other social collectives become mediating entities between the self and the larger society. These institutions and groups are critical to welcoming young people to the world, and the CLE plays this role for youth and adults alike. The CLE also serves as a mediating force for participants between many variables. It mediates between old understandings and new conceptions; passivity and engagement; obedience and empowerment; the status quo and a life of action; and, ultimately, oppression and liberation. This paper highlights digital storytelling (Community Stories) and data examining the organizational ecology.

138. Research Capacity Building Mini-Workshop: Incorporating LGBTIQ Topics into Broader Research Designs within Educational Leadership

Innovative Session / Mini-Workshop
Time: 10:40 to 11:50 am
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Seaport H

The purpose of this mini-workshop is to provide resources and build capacity for meaningfully incorporating LGBTIQ topics into existing research designs in educational leadership. The session welcomes researchers who have not yet incorporated LGBTIQ into their research designs and who are interested in doing so. Following a presentation of possible strategies, participants will collaborate in working groups to develop specific methodological strategies for their current research projects. Workshop presenters will offer peer guidance as needed.

Research Capacity Building Mini-Workshop: Incorporating LGBTIQ Topics into Broader Research Designs within Educational Leadership.
Michael Patrick O’Malley, Texas State University; Colleen Capper, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Catherine A. Lugg, Rutgers University; Jason P. Murphy, Rutgers University

This proposal is for an Innovative Session/Mini-Workshop. There is one proposal and one abstract for the session. ABSTRACT: The purpose of this mini-workshop is to provide resources and build capacity for meaningfully incorporating LGBTIQ topics into existing research designs in educational leadership. The session welcomes researchers who have not yet incorporated LGBTIQ into their research designs and who are interested in doing so. Following a presentation of possible strategies, participants will collaborate in working groups to develop specific methodological strategies for their current research projects. Workshop presenters will offer peer guidance as needed.

Chair: Tanya Alyson Long, Texas State University

140. Hope for Equity for Urban Schools

Paper Session
Time: 2:00 to 3:10 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Balboa A

How Superintendents Use Stories to Promote Positive Change.
Barry Aidman, Texas State University

Stories have the potential to help people connect, develop genuine understanding, and unite around common purposes (Fisher, 1984; Guber, 2011). This paper reports the results of a qualitative case study that examines if, how, when, and why superintendents intentionally use stories as a leadership strategy. Preliminary results indicate that many superintendents use storytelling purposefully in order to develop relationships, build community, promote a culture of improvement, clarify key expectations, and support positive change.

168. Preparing Aspiring Leaders for the Reality of Leading a Social Justice Agenda

Critical Conversations
Time: 3:20 to 4:10 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Seaport H

Chair: Patricia Guerra, Texas State University

Evidence indicates leaders for social justice face considerable barriers and risk being normed back into the status quo, demotion, or dismissal. This critical conversation examines ways in which faculty can better prepare aspiring leaders for advancing social justice in this hazardous context and encourage their persistence. Drawing from their research/experiences, participants will discuss existing barriers and share strategies for preparing aspiring leaders for these realities, identifying additional supports that would strengthen their preparation efforts.

172. Personalizing Education for All Students

Paper Session
Time: 4:20 to 5:30 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Gas Lamp A

Creating Legacy through an Ethic of Care and Justice: Black Teacher Leaders’ Praxis.
Rosalind M. Oliphant, Texas State University

Drawing from a qualitative study this paper describes a framework that focuses on creating an ethic of care and justice for school improvement (Siddle Walker & Snarey, 2004). It describes how to apply this framework to learn about self and praxis. Through the narratives and work of Black teacher leaders, the paper aims to promote reflection and awareness for creating healthy transcultural spaces at schools.

174. The Daily Work of District Leaders in Advancing Equity

Paper Session
Time: 4:20 to 5:30 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Gas Lamp CD

Voices From the Field: Stories of Social Justice Superintendents.
Mark T. Weems, Sam Houston State University; Sarah W. Nelson, Texas State University

The proposed paper reports the findings of a qualitative case study that explores how two school superintendents exercised Social Justice Leadership (SJL) in a complex contextual setting influenced by educational policy changes, demographic change and cultural conflict centered on race and ethnicity. We will link themes that emerged during the inquiry to the literature on SJL, and use Valencia’s (1997) Deficit Thinking Model and Bourdieu’s (1992) concept to doxa as interpretive lenses.

183. General Session III: Ed Talk on “The In-Between Spaces: Living, Working, and Learning Across Borders”

Special Session
Time: 5:40 to 6:50 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Seaport DE

Chairs: Natalie A. Tran, California State University, Fullerton; Irene H. Yoon, University of Utah

Participants: Lee Francis, Texas State University; Olympia Kyriakidis, Lakeside Union School District; Miguel Angel Guajardo, Texas State University

In keeping with the Convention theme, this EdTalk will highlight people who represent and work “across borders” (geographic, linguistic, generational, and organizational) and who transform them into unique open border spaces. Each participant has interrupted these borders that separate children, teachers, youth, elders, practitioners, scholars, communities, and nations. By doing so they have not simply broken through borders, but also worked to bring communities from the margins to the center. Bridging these distances can be a daunting task and one that requires a set of skills that were not included in our training as educational leaders or scholars. This session will provide insight into the many borders that exist and how to work across them to best advocate for and inquire with schools, community, and children.

198. Women of Color Developing Their Leadership Identities

Paper Session
Time: 8:00 to 9:10 am
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Gas Lamp A

Extraordinary Women in Texas: A Phenomenological Study of Mexican American Female Superintendents.
Sonia Rodriguez, Texas State University; Charles Slater, California State University, Long Beach

The Mexican American woman’s ability to access the superintendency is not keeping pace with the increase of the Hispanic population. By 2020 the Hispanic population in Texas is expected to outnumber the White population (Texas State Data Center, 2008). At the time of this study, there were 1, 144 superintendents in Texas, 911 were male, 233 were female and only 14 were Latina. This study captures the voices of seven Mexican American female superintendents.

Sunday, November 22

201. Assessing the Impact of Leadership Performance

Paper Session
Time: 8:00 to 9:10 am
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: La Jolla AB

The Impact of Principal’s Actions on High Performing Hispanic Schools.
Christine Kent, Education Service Center 13; Sarah W. Nelson, Texas State University

As changing demographics have shifted Texas to a majority-minority state, Texas public schools have struggled to address the needs of both the changing population and the longstanding disparities in educational achievement between racial and ethnic groups. This study reveals a relationship between principal mindset and sustainability of school improvement efforts. The results of this study have implications for policy-makers, those who prepare educational leaders, and researchers of school improvement practices.

204. Ecologies of Engaged Scholarship: Stories from Activist Academics

Symposium
Time: 8:00 to 9:10 am
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Seaport B

Chairs: Stella Flores, Vanderbilt University; Sophie Maxie, University of North Florida; Rudy F. Jamison, University of North Florida; Keon Whaley, University of North Florida; Kaiwipuni Lipe, University of Hawaii-Manoa; Miguel Angel Guajardo, Texas State University

Participants: Francisco Guajardo, University of Texas Pan American; Leslie Ann Locke, University of Iowa; Matthew Militello, East Carolina University; Marjorie C Ringler, East Carolina University; Lawrence Hodgkins, North Carolina State University; Chris Janson, University of North Florida; Catherine A. Lugg, Rutgers University; Lee Francis, Texas State University; Michael Marie Munson, Montana State University

The purpose of this symposium is to explore the ontologies and multiple entry point of activist academics’ working spaces as they engage in higher learning. We use qualitative methods that include biography, life history, auto-ethnography and other forms to highlight the ecologies of activist academics in the field of teaching, learning, and leading in public schools, higher education, public policy, and community development.

215. Connecting Research and Improved Practice

Paper Session
Time: 11:00 am to 12:10 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Gas Lamp CD

Re-imagining Assessment and Evaluation: Disrupting Prior Beliefs Through Experiential Learning.
Yvette Cantu, Patricia A. Rocha, Yvonne Hernandez, Alicia Hill, all Texas State University

This proposal highlights a qualitative self study that focused on doctoral students’ transformational experiences in a doctoral evaluation and assessments class. The study employed experiential learning theory (Dewey, 1938) as its theoretical framework. Written reflections and a reflective discussion were utilized for data collection. The initial findings highlight a disruption of prior beliefs about evaluation and assessment and a reimagining of what evaluation and assessment can look like as school leaders, researchers, and as faculty members.

221. Breaking it Down: Critical Approaches to Policy Analysis

Symposium
Time: 11:00 am to 12:10 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Seaport F

We are often asked to recommend examples of critical policy analysis, and, over the years, we have developed a list of such exemplars. This activity has made us increasingly aware of an important gap in the field. In this symposium, we bring together a group of critical educational policy scholars to unpack critical policy analysis. Each scholar will share an example of qualitative critical policy research, making her/his methods and application of theory explicit.

Public Educational Policy as Performance: A Queer Analysis.
Michael Patrick O’Malley, Texas State University; Tanya Alyson Long, Texas State University

This policy study understands the social reality of schooling as created through both discursive processes, such as educational policy, and performativity. Performativity is the continued bodily and structural repetition of those discursive arrangements via enactment by social institutions (Butler, 1990). Analysis focuses on performativity of the body politic, with attention to how emergent transgressive discourses of queer equity within educational policy are taken up, enacted, and contested in the public sphere (St. Pierre, 2000). Specifically, this policy case examines the process through which one public school district located in a state with high opposition to LGBT equitable educational policy nonetheless became the state’s first district to successfully introduce such policy in regards to domestic partnership benefits. The study is framed through a queer theoretical lens in order to make visible and problematize the socio-political constructions that frequently render the design of queer inclusive educational policy for K-12 schools a Sisyphean task (Author, 2015; Lugg, 2006; Lugg & Murphy, 2014; Robinson & Espelage, 2012; Sedgwick, 1990). Data sources are a sample of 74 state level print media articles from 2006-2014 reporting on the development, implementation, and state-wide struggle over the 2012 adoption of domestic partnership benefits by this district. Findings address: 1) patterned public representation of queer inclusive educational policy as hetero-exclusive, 2) re-stratification of heteronormative social organization through disciplinary mechanisms such as fiscal sanction, 3) socially transformative leadership through systematic engagement across multiple and intersecting differences, 4) building district social justice capacity through structural efforts in professional development, hiring, and community engagement, and 5) demonstrated codes of knowing and not knowing within the field of educational leadership regarding queer inclusion. Implications inform equitable educational policy development via an intersectionality framework (Author, 2015; Capper, Theoharis & Sebastian, 2006) and challenge observed silences within educational leadership research and principal preparation practices.

249. Mujeres Guerreras/Warrior Women: Latina Scholars Talk Life, Balance, & Leadership

Critical Conversations
Time: 3:10 to 4:00 pm
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt: Seaport C

Chair: Monica Byrne-Jimenez, Hofstra University

Participants: Rebeca Burciaga, San Jose State University; Erica Fernández, University of Connecticut; Rosa L. Rivera-McCutchen, Lehman College CUNY; Patricia A. Rocha, Texas State University; Adriana Villavicencio, New York University

The educational trajectories of high achieving Latinas is like passing through the eye of a needle (Gándara, 1982). For every 100 Latinas who begin elementary school, less than one percent complete a doctoral degree (Burciaga, et al., 2010). This session seeks to create a space for Latina scholars to share experiences and develop a professional network. To strengthen the pipeline into the professoriate for communities of color, then Latina faculty must be supported.