Equity Policy to Equitable Outcomes: A study of high school principals’ leadership perceptions and practices toward minority student enrollment in advanced academics.
Open AccessThe purpose of this qualitative study is to describe how high school principals in diverse public schools perceive their leadership practices (role) within open enrollment policy environments to improve minority student enrollment in advanced academics. The study also describes the leadership practices of principals to this end. Data were collected by a semi-structured interview protocol. Open-ended questions were used with the goal of gaining insights from the perspectives and actions of 14 high school principals. Analysis of interview data revealed six key findings: 1) principals are driven by their personal context, beliefs and perceptions as identified by reflective experiences of their personal educational backgrounds; 2) principals’ leadership journey types of how they came into the role as a principal plays a role in how principals approach and carry out the work of equity and access; 3) principals recognize inequity that exists in impacting student enrollment; 4) principals place high value on students participating in advanced courses for students beyond high school; 5) although principals are functioning within open enrollment policy, they realize barriers that must be mitigated as these barriers; 6) principals take leadership actions which are significant, multi-layered and complexed to remove barriers and creating sustainable outcomes for minority student achievement. These findings indicate that there are specific mindsets and actions that principals leading for equity enact to increase minority enrollment in advanced academics.
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