Keeping the Promise

The Editors: Dennis Carlson is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and affiliated with the Center for Education and Cultural Studies at Miami University. He received his Ph.D. in educational policy studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is the author of several books, including (most recently) Leaving Safe Harbors: Toward a New Progressivism in American Education and Public Life (2002). He is currently President of the American Educational Studies Association.C. P. Gause, a former elementary teacher and K-12 school administrator, is currently Assistant Professor of Educational Administration in the Department of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. He received his Ph.D. in educational leadership from Miami University. He recently was guest editor of a special issue of the Journal of School Leadership on «Edu-tainment,» and has published articles on youth, identity, and popular culture.

• Contents: Dennis Carlson/Charles P. Gause: Introduction – Dennis Carlson: Are We Making Progress? The Discursive Construction of Progress in the Age of «No Child Left Behind» – Michael W. Apple: Schooling, Markets, Race, and an Audit Culture – Richard A. Quantz: Leadership, Culture, and Democracy: Rethinking Systems and Conflict in Schools – Jackie M. Blount: Some Historical Tensions about Sexuality and Gender in Schools – Valerie Scatamburlo-D’Annibale/Juha Suoranta/Peter McLaren: Excavating Hope among the Ruins: Confronting Creeping Fascism in Our Midst – Catherine A. Lugg: Sissies, Faggots, Lezzies, and Dykes: Gender, Sexual Orientation, and a New Politics of Education? – Michael E. Dantley: Re-Radicalizing the Consciousness in Educational Leadership: The Critically Spiritual Imperative toward Keeping the Promise – Joanne Chesley: Student Engagement and Academic Achievement: A Promising Connection – Camille Wilson Cooper/Charles P. Gause: «Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?» Facing Identity Politics and Resistance When Teaching for Social Justice – Charles P. Gause/Ulrich C. Reitzug/Leila E. Villaverde: Beyond Generic Democracy: Holding Our Students Accountable for Democratic Leadership and Practice – Kathleen Knight Abowitz/Kate Rousmaniere: Margaret Haley as Diva: A Case Study of a Feminist Citizen-Leader – Rochelle Garner: Unpacking on a Long Journey Home: A Lesson on Race, Identity, and Culture – Lauri Johnson: Making Her Community a Better Place to Live: Lessons from History for Culturally Responsive Urban School Leadership – Lori Chajet: The Power and Limits of Small School Reform: Institutional Agency and Democratic Leadership in Public Education – Michelle Fine: Resisting the Passive Revolution: Democratic, Participatory Research by Youth – Stephanie A. Flores-Koulish: Media Literacy: An Entrée for Preservice Teachers into Critical Pedagogy? – Glenn M. Hudak: Leadership-With: A Spiritual Perspective on Professional & Revolutionary Leadership in a Digital Culture – Linda C. Tillman: Halls of Anger: The (Mis)Representation of African American Principals in Film – James Trier: Critically Examining Popular Culture Representations of Educators.

«…This book addresses the crisis of democratic public education and public life in America. The authors focus on how dominant leadership models have failed schools and universities, and discuss the kind of democratic leadership needed in unsettling times in America [in order to] reclaim the notion of «the promise.» In this case, the promise has to do with public education that levels the playing field rather than reproduces inequalities, that recognizes difference without «othering» it, and that establishes the condition for a democratic habitus. This book…provides a set of recommendations and analyses that [are essential] for those interested in progressive educational change, and in nurturing responsible, honest, and enlightened educational leadership in our schools and universities.» (Carlos Alberto Torres, Professor, Social Sciences and Comparative Education; Director, Paulo Freire Institute, University of California-Los Angeles)«It is not often recognized that school leadership was a central, explicit concern in the first graduate program in social foundations of education at Columbia Teachers College in the early 1940s. This book, more than any other I can think of, brings together social critique, democratic theory, and school leadership practice in ways that extend that original agenda. Each well-chosen chapter makes a valuable contribution to addressing the central questions posed by the editors: ‘In an age when the democratic promise of public education is «at risk,» what is the responsibility of educational leaders? To whom and for what are they responsible?’ Every school leadership program in the nation should be addressing these tensions, and this volume is unique in its ability to help them do so.» (Steve Tozer, Professor and Coordinator, Ed.D. Program in Urban Educational Leadership, University of Illinois-Chicago)«…Up to this point, if I wanted my graduate students in educational leadership to learn about different conceptual and epistemological perspectives on education, I sent them to professors in curriculum and instruction. Now we have this outstanding collection of chapters, authored by scholars who cut across disciplinary boundaries, to help us rethink educational leadership in an age of accountability. Because notions of leadership should be of concern to all educators, regardless of position, this book should be required reading not only in every educational leadership program in the country, but in every education department. It moves beyond simplistic critiques of accountability and leadership, and deftly reveals the complexities of leadership in ways that will enrich students’ conceptual thinking and push the bounds of their own research and practice.» (Colleen Capper, Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, University of Wisconsin-Madison)