Miami University - the Graduate School
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MIAMI UNIVERSITY - THE GRADUATE SCHOOL CERTIFICATE FOR APPROVING THE DISSERTATION We hereby approve the Dissertation of Kamara Sekou (Paul D. Collins) Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________ Richard Quantz, Director _______________________________ Raymond Terrell, Reader _______________________________ Peter Magolda, Reader _______________________________ Yvette Harris Graduate School Representative ABSTRACT RITUALS OF EMPOWERMENT, DISEMPOWERMENT, AND CRITICAL TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP AT A SCHOOL IN TRANSITION by Kamara Sekou (Paul D. Collins) Despite over forty years of integrated public education in the United States of America there has continued to be an unsatisfactory outlook on education for increasingly large numbers of children of African descent. This issue has led many educators, parents, and concerned citizens such as those at The Marva Collins Preparatory School of Cincinnati (MCPSC) to implement alternative strategies in order to provide quality educational spaces within their communities. Independent schools have been one of the avenues used by African-Americans in pursuit of better educational opportunities in a complex and ethnically pluralistic society. Specifically, this study explores the ways that parents, students, administrators, teachers, and school support staff at an independent day school ritualize aspects of critical transformative leadership in their transition to an independent boarding school. This study focuses on an elaboration and exploration of distinguishing characteristics of critical transformative leadership as well as how these characteristics manifest in this educational setting at such a critical juncture in its development. This study is organized into three parts for a more coherent and accessible document. Part one (I) provides an introduction, a review of related literature, and the theoretical and methodological frameworks guiding this study. Part two (II) encompasses the historicizing of blacks and education in the city of Cincinnati, as well as “inside stories” on daily life at MCPSC during the 2000-2001 school year. Finally, part three (III) entails a critical analysis of the research data with implications and recommendations for the significance of this study. With the above stated in mind, theories of leadership in the United States of America have been articulated, discussed, and debated in the field of education for as long as schools have existed in this country. Much of the discourse usually stemming from technocratic, business models of administration have been thoroughly scrutinized leading to very different ways of conceptualizing what educators such as Thomas Sergiovanni refer to as “leadership for the schoolhouse” (Sergiovanni, 1996). Recent educational leadership discourse on transformative leadership have offered new hopes and possibilities to educational leaders and theorists who are interested in practicing a critically oriented, ethic of risk for the betterment of America’s schools. Studies of this critical ethnographic nature are vital in an epoch in which Carlson and Apple (1998) have identified as “these unsettling times” in American education. RITUALS OF EMPOWERMENT, DISEMPOWERMENT, AND CRITICAL TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP AT A SCHOOL IN TRANSITION A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Educational Leadership by Kamara Sekou (Paul D. Collins) Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2002 Dissertation Director: Richard Quantz © Kamara Sekou (Paul Collins) 2002 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I Situating the Study......................................................................................1 Chapter 1 Introduction.................................................................................................2 Chapter 2 A Review of Related Literature.................................................................9 African-American Schools (Independent and Boarding).............................9 “The Marva Collins Way”............................................................................11 Ritual............................................................................................................14 Transformative Leadership Theory..............................................................17 Power............................................................................................................19 Chapter 3 Theoretical and Methodological Framework...........................................22 Methodology: Qualitative, Critical Ethnographic Research.........................22 Data Collection and Methods.....................................................................23 The Ethnographer..........................................................................................24 The Research Site..........................................................................................24 Gaining Access..............................................................................................24 Obtaining and Recording Data......................................................................26 PART II Historicizing the Setting and a Three Phase Description of Daily Life of Stakeholders at the Marva Collins Preparatory School in Their Transition to an International Boarding School.............27 Chapter 4 The Setting Cincinnati, “The City”.....................................................................................28 iii Historicizing African-Americans and Education in Cincinnati.......................30 The Marva Collins Preparatory School............................................................42 Chapter 5 Phase I: Inside Stories on the First Term at MCPSC.................................49 Introduction......................................................................................................49 Getting Out of the Gates: The First Day of School..........................................49 The Fourth Grade Classroom...........................................................................57 The 5/6th Grade Classroom...............................................................................74 The 7/8th Grade Classroom...............................................................................83 Downtime: Lunch & Recess.............................................................................100 Chapter 6 Phase II: Weekend Rituals.............................................................................114 Introduction.......................................................................................................114 “Prepping for Power”........................................................................................115 Monthly Parent/Teacher Meetings....................................................................126 Chapter 7 Phase III: Inside Stories on the Second Term at MCPSC...........................139 Introduction........................................................................................................139 The Bell Rings for Round Two: Situating MCPSC after Winter Break................................................................140 Staff Relations....................................................................................................144 Student Relations................................................................................................164 Parent Relations..................................................................................................184 So Hard To Say Goodbye...................................................................................185 PART III Analysis of Discursive Encounters: Making Sense of Things........................195 iv Chapter 8 Critical Transformative Leadership Theory and Curricularizing...............196 Introduction.........................................................................................................196 Some Underlying Interests and Assumptions of Critical Transformative Leadership Theory and Independent Schools.....................................................................................196 Vying for Transformation by Moving “Outside” The Public School Arena: Civic Courage and A Transformative Ethic of Risk........................................................198 A Fundamental Assumption of Critical Transformative Leadership Theory: Demystifying Transformative Democracy...............................................199 Vulgar Independence, or, Just, Certain Other Forms of Hegemonic Constraints...................................................200 Curricularizing at MCPSC: Establishing Philosophical and Pedagogical Clarity – In Search of Transformation.......................................201 The MCPSC Pedagogical How (Rhythm, Language, & Exposure through Public Performance)..............201 The MCPSC Philosophical What (Neo-classicalism, & The Rudiments of Book Knowledge)....................206 Acknowledging The Real.........................................................................212 Chapter 9 Ethnographic Themes Introduction...........................................................................................................214 The Double Edged Nature of the MCPSC Image Situated in the Politics of Leadership...................................................................214 MCPSC, Imaging, and Faculty Recruitment............................................216 MCPSC, Imaging, Student Recruitment, & Possible