Download 2205-8167-1-SP - Education Policy Analysis Archives

August 3, 2015
Dear Dr. Fischman:
We are submitting a manuscript entitled “Equitable Leadership on the Ground: Converging on
High-Leverage Practices” for consideration in Education Policy Analysis Archives. The
manuscript represents original, unpublished research that is not under review elsewhere.
Our study takes up a longstanding debate about the Interstate School Leaders Licensure
Consortium (ISLLC) standards, which guide state licensure and practicing administrator
expectations in over 40 states. The manuscript is particularly timely, given the standards are in
the process of being “refreshed” by the Council of Chief State School Officers. We argue,
alongside other critical scholars, that the ISLLC standards give limited attention to equity. To
address this, our study explores what policy standards and core responsibilities of leadership
could look like if developed through a lens and language of equity. Using a Delphi technique
designed to measure convergence around a question of interest, we investigate whether a group
of experts (including researchers, practitioners, and community leaders) could converge around a
set of standards-based, high leverage equitable leadership practices (i.e., practices they felt would
be most likely to mitigate disparities for nondominant students and families). We present
findings from each of three rounds of the Delphi process, ending with a description of the 10
high-leverage equitable leadership practices around which the group converged. We close the
paper with implications for leadership preparation, policy, and practice.
We thank you for your consideration and look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Authors