• EDUC 994: Advanced Internship in Education
• Semester: Fall 2006
• Professor: Dr. Dennis R. Dunklee
• Proposal
• Location(s):
  1. Washington Mill Elementary School -- October 19, 2006
  2. West Springfield High School -- October 24, 2006
  3. Chantilly High School -- October 25, 2006
• Objectives:
  I plan to use this internship opportunity to interact with public schools and school leadership to:
  • Observe institutional climate up-close;
  • Observe day-to-day organizational working of U.S. public schools;
  • Observe various leadership roles played by school administrators in their day-to-day work, i.e., managerial or bureaucratic, instructional, and political as described by Larry Cuban (1998) in his book, "The Managerial Imperative and the Practice of Leadership in Schools;" and
  • Develop potential research relationships with school administrators that may prove helpful during the data-collection phase of my dissertation.
• Activities/duties to be performed:
  I will be working with on-site administrators in the public schools to interact directly with individual school leadership styles and the resultant organizational climate, observe day-to-day standard operating procedures and leadership decision-making, and may be offer assistance in some of their day-to-day work during my time at the schools.

• Daily Log of Reflections
• Summary of Relection Logs
• Final Paper: Contemporary School Leaders: Politicians, Managers, Instructional Leaders, or Actors

• None

• None

         I visited an elementary and two high schools for my internship, however, I could not arrange a visit to a middle school despite an initial offer from the principal at Walt Witman Middle School and several of my phone calls. In any case, after trying to get in touch with him for three weeks, I gave up the idea of visiting the middle school. When I started visiting public schools, I had no prior direct exposure to any U.S. public school at all. The only picture I had in mind about public schools was based on the problematic depictions of the schools in Hollywood movies. Moreover, despite the fact that my major is Education Leadership, I had never seen or interacted with a public school principal on his/her job. My conceptual framework with regards to U.S. public school principals was based on Larry Cuban's (1998) description of three roles played by the principals in U.S. public schools, i.e. political, managerial, and instructional leader. After failing to get hold of the middle school principal, I planned on shadowing the principal and the assistant principal at Washington Mill Elementary School, the principal at West Springfield High School, and an assistant principal and deputy director activities at Chantilly High School.

Washington Mill Elementary School (WMES) and its Leadership:
         Overall the school seemed much friendlier and less scary than what I had expected. Very well managed and well resourced. Multiple classes at each level, classes for special needs children like Autism, small student-teacher ratio in lower grades, well managed gym, library, and other resources. Overall a positive attitude was visible all around and kids felt much more like kids than robots. The staff in the main office was also friendly and welcoming in their interactions with parents. Teachers were majority whites; however, there were some blacks, Hispanics, Asians including a Muslim teacher.

         The principal was everywhere. Her leadership skills were definitely visible in the whole school environment. She was a good manager and played a powerful political role. Her political skills were visible from her interaction with every segment of the school population and stakeholders. She had developed very strong relationships with her staff, students, parents, and community at large including local businesses. She was not the kind of person who liked micro-management; rather, she was a person who would very much like to delegate. She was a risk-taker in funding and many other decisions. She was definitely a product of her personal struggles in life -- a lady with a resolve. Moreover, after talking to her about different subjects and sharing my research agenda with her, I did realize that she had mixed various cultural traits, she observed in her interactions with Muslim Arab students and their parents, with Islam. However, she was much more forthcoming and open to diversity. Judging by Cuban's framework, she was strong in managerial and political role. I did not get enough opportunity to observe her instructional role.

         The assistant principal was a young, capable, and "data-driven" fellow. After spending some time with him, my impression was that he was struggling between what he learned in his graduate program about various aspects of schooling, and his personal observations during his day-to-day work. Good manager and skillful at playing political role. A good helping hand for his principal in carrying out different administrative, planning, management, and oversight tasks. Much more sensitive towards the issues of diversity and student needs. A product of typical system based on meritocracy. I also had an opportunity to spend time with an ex-teacher, who was groomed to be future assistant principal. She was more of a manager and instructional leader than a political person. Her exposure to different countries and cultures seemed to have influenced her views about different cultures, and made her much more sensitive to the other cultures than her other two senior peers.

West Springfield High School (WSHS) and its Leadership:
         My first impression about WSHS after visiting WMES was ... Wow! The hallways seemed crowded and buzzing with students of every color and race. I went to the main office first and did not find much welcoming tone at the main office. One potential reason may be that at WHES, I stood out being an adult and an outsider, however, at WSHS I did not. Anyway, while waiting for the principal, I picked up the floor plan and the student newspaper. I also observed the overall environment, peer-to-peer interactions, and student-staff interactions. The WSHS was much bigger, more impersonal, seemed familiar, i.e., much closer to the portrayal in the movies. Kids hanged in droves in hallways and around their lockers during lunch.

         After waiting for sometime, the principal showed up. He started chatting with the students sorting the newspapers. He was a friendly and welcoming person. One marked difference from the get go during this visit was the conscious effort by him to keep me as his shadow and introduced me to everyone we encountered. He introduced me to couple of his assistant principals, many teachers, program coordinators, and some parents. He allowed me to listen to him while talking over the phone with a parent - who wanted school to refund for his daughter's lost iPod that was confiscated due to policy violations, with the principal of another high school while sorting out the vandalism complaints after the football match the other night between that school and WSHS; and with his boss whom he provided his feedback about the potential candidate his panel interviewed for replacing one of his retiring assistant principal. He also took me to participate in a meeting with one of his assistant principal who briefed him on her investigation into 14 students who violated the policy on alcohol use during homecoming night, an appeal by the parents of one of the students from the group of 14 for overturning the 5 day timeout imposed by the assistant principal (myself, the principal, the assistant principal, the student, and her parents attended the meeting), and finally he took me to a meeting for AP training and brainstorming session. During every opportunity, He offered the details and the rational for what was happening or his decision-making. He was also much more cognizant of his role as an instructional leader, a manager, and his political role.

         The principal at WSHS was much different than the one I visited at WMES. The principal at WMES made sure that she was visible in her managerial and political role everywhere, while the principal at WSHS used mixed approach. In some places, he made sure that he was noticed and visible, while in other cases he avoided being visible. He was also cognizant about his instructional role. Although, he did not seem someone who liked to micro-manage, however, I felt he made sure that he was aware of what was going on without micro-managing. Personally, I feel that the difference in terms of the preferences for visibility between the two principals had to do with their gender differences. I felt that both were confident in their performances, however, WMES principal showed fighting spirit everywhere vs. the WSHS principal preferred getting things done his way without being noticed energetically everywhere. It was like he was confident, while the elementary school principal had to prove that being a woman, she could do a great job of administrating the school. My reading or the assumptions can be totally misplaced however. In any case, the principal at WSHS was very meticulous speaker (over the phone, in meetings, and in person); very confident about his capabilities and cognizant about his surroundings. His thoroughness was obvious from his filling me in on details/assumptions/background on his phone conversations, in conducting his meetings, in his interaction with teachers, and in the suspension hearing. He was so meticulous that I thought for a moment that he could have been a very good actor.

         I spent sometime with the activities coordinator, who aspired to be director activities someday, and was less political yet good manager. Afterwards, I spent some time with the assistant principal. She took me for several rounds and we had a good discussion on various topics. She attended a strict Catholic school for her K-8 schooling, and she did confirm her challenges with her high school transition. It took her one whole year to adjust, and it also affected her academic performance. Some of the reasons she mentioned for her transition challenges included: school size, added freedom, more opportunities for relationships, relatively lower quality education in Catholic school in Math and science, and Isolation. She was definitely strict on discipline, yet very compassionate lady. She was very well organized and a good note-taker. She was very proud of the quality of public education and very skeptical of the views that public schools were failing. She was also skeptical about NCLB, its motives and requirements. She was much more comfortable with her managerial and political roles.

         In short, my impression was that none of the female administrators had the inherent/implicit confidence of the principal at WSHS. He was very good politician/actor in giving the perception of participation/consideration to others' viewpoints, yet he was successful in getting what he wanted. He was also more cognizant about all the three roles. Moreover, I observed three things during my visits that have direct implications for my future research:

One, the high schools were large, impersonal, and less friendly as compared to the elementary school. Moreover, the staff at the main office seemed less forthcoming in both the high schools.

Three, one of the female assistant principal who moved from a Catholic K-8 school to public school shared her own struggles during her transition to high school. . It took her one whole year to adjust, and it also affected her academic performance. Some of the reasons she shared for her challenges included: school size, added freedom, more opportunities for relationships, relatively lower quality education in Catholic school in Math and science, and Isolation.

Four, I observed a Muslim girl with headscarf and loose dress, participating confidently in her P.E. class, running around with her peers, almost all of which were female and the instructor was also female. I do wonder if she would have been as comfortable if she had a male instructor or male peers in the drill however.

        [Click here] to see the list of competencies expecting to achieve.