The International Center for Educational Leadership and Social Change

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The International Center for Educational Leadership and Social Change, housed at Texas State University-San Marcos, has been established to facilitate social change by local educational leaders. The Center is designed to collaborate, share, and coordinate with Regional Institutes in various settings across the world for promoting and understanding how educational leaders bring about significant social change that advances both the education of children and the overall health of a just and equitable community. Vision: The International Center for Educational Leadership and Change will identify and sustain a new generation of educational leaders, within and across nations; leaders devoted to narrowing the divisions between school and community. Such leaders will be prepared to partner with community members to confront and reverse patterns of poor health care, systemic poverty, environmental degradation, illiteracy, lack of economic opportunities, inadequate transportation, violations of human rights, and disenfranchisement from political participation. Rationale: Without a community that serves all citizens well, there always will be glaring inequities in the education of its students. Without schools that engender a comprehensive sense of education to strengthen local neighborhoods, towns, villages, states, nation, and world, there always will remain uncontested and horrible inequities in the lives of the world’s citizens. In essence, to improve community and to improve schools is a common, interrelated task, worthy of serious attention in the preparation and support of the next generation of international and local education and community leaders. Goals: The Center and the Regional Institutes will empower local educational leaders (principals, heads, assistant principals and assistant heads, teacher leaders, and community leaders and educators) to effect strategic change—locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. The Center and its affiliates will support local action research initiatives seeking to identify and positively affect those school-community conditions that are discovered to be impeding the education of the children in the local school’s care. The Role of the Center: The Center will help identify and establish Regional Institutes around the world interested in collaborating with the Center in its mission. The Center will solicit funds to support its work and the initial establishment of the Regional Institutes. The Center will lend support to the Regional Institutes and the local schools they identify for participation. The Center will likewise identify schools in its host country to participate in the action research, which is fundamental to the work of the Center. The Center will collate and disseminate the fruits of the action research under its aegis. One outlet for such work may be the International Journal of Leadership in Education, for which the Center Director also serves as Editor. The Center will host national and international conferences to disseminate the research it gathers and to foster an exchange of ideas related to improving the educational/social conditions of children and their teachers. The Center will serve as a conduit for the research that it gathers from the Regional Institutes, and disseminate such research to the other Regional Institutes, targeting those areas where such research is likely to have maximum effect. The Center will assume the responsibility for oversight and evaluation of those activities associated with this, its initiative. The Center will share the information and insights gained through these worldwide action research efforts, but especially those in its host country, with policy makers and others who have an influence on educational matters. The Role of the Regional Institutes The Regional Institutes will, through coordination and dissemination of the results of the local action research efforts they initiate, will seek better education and community development in their areas. They may do this by disseminating, in a school-to-school model, the research and the insights gathered, and/or by using this information to influence educational policy in their areas—locally, regionally, or nationally. Regional Institutes will be encouraged to set their own agendas, within the broad framework of this initiative, and to develop their own funding sources after the first critical period. Regional Institutes will be responsible for the oversight of the projects they initiate. Regional Institutes will collect and transmit the information gathered through their local action research initiatives to the Center, and, likewise, will transmit and otherwise share information gotten from the Center with educational authorities—local, state, regional, and national—in their areas. Members of the Regional Institutes will regularly attend conferences and meetings hosted by the Center, and otherwise communicate with the Center. Distinctiveness of the Approach: Respect for grass root structures and initiatives: The Center structure will permit the Regional Institutes great latitude to develop their own agenda around educational leadership for social change during the critical startup phase. Likewise, through use of an action research approach, local schools and local school leaders will be encouraged to discover for themselves those issues within their local educational community (the school and its community) that negatively impact their children’s educational attainment. The Center will not export, nor impose, one prescriptive approach to educational issues for those associated with its work. Rather, it will foster, encourage, and support grassroots efforts that might target potential change agent action research leaders in various schools and communities; build such work into stand-alone leadership centers and graduate student programs (both masters and doctoral); connect with and/or help establish special licensure programs in school-community leadership; relate with international exchange and collaboration programs on specific school-community issues; and, otherwise link with existent school/community/university partnerships that extend and support the Center’s mission. Inter-agency/inter-departmental collaboration: In order to address social/educational issues, multiple areas of expertise will be required. University and Regional Institute collaborators may be drawn from, for example, areas having to do with literacy, childcare, community education, health, business management, and more. Impact: In a type of coordinated, ripple effect, local schools and local school leaders will impact the comprehensive issues affecting their students. Likewise, Regional Institutes and the Center itself will impact educational and social change through an impact on social/educational conditions and on policy. Immediate and Long-term Timeline: The first year of Center operation will be taken up with establishing the structures, policies, and processes which will determine Center operations through time as well as identifying immediate grass roots educational leadership for social change activities in various regional locations. Establishing and supporting Regional Institutes will also be one of the main activities of the first three years. Collation of research from the Center’s host country and from the Regional Institutes, and its dissemination, will be a major part of Center activities. Conferences, visiting scholars, exchange programs and on-site logistical support will be required. Fund raising will be on going. Evaluation activities will begin with the first year of formal funding and carry through the life of Center operations. Expected Results:Beginning immediately, the Center staff and those associated with the Center in various roles will identify educational leadership for social change activities and action research in various regions of the world that are making a profound change in both the educational lives of students and their community. In turn, as the Regional Institutes create, revise, or extend educational leadership programs with an integrated social change and action research component, the Center will document and share the results in local, state, national, and international settings that can be used to reshape policy and preparation programs in school and community leadership The old paradigm of “experts” from one country or locality telling others what they should do will be eschewed. Instead, the Center and the Regional Institutes plan to create a new conversation among all those concerned with schools, communities, and the role of leaders. This conversation will respect and narrate local educational leadership for social change in its multiplicity of roles, forms, and activities all across the world. The International Center for Educational Leadership and Social Change Texas State University-San Marcos 601 University Drive San Marcos, Texas 78666 USA http://www.edlchange.org/

The International Center for Educational Leadership and Social Change, housed at Texas State University-San Marcos, has been established to facilitate social change by local educational leaders. The Center is designed to collaborate, share, and coordinate with Regional Institutes in various settings across the world for promoting and understanding how educational leaders bring about significant social change that advances both the education of children and the overall health of a just and equitable community.

Vision: The International Center for Educational Leadership and Change will identify and sustain a new generation of educational leaders, within and across nations; leaders devoted to narrowing the divisions between school and community. Such leaders will be prepared to partner with community members to confront and reverse patterns of poor health care, systemic poverty, environmental degradation, illiteracy, lack of economic opportunities, inadequate transportation, violations of human rights, and disenfranchisement from political participation.

Rationale: Without a community that serves all citizens well, there always will be glaring inequities in the education of its students. Without schools that engender a comprehensive sense of education to strengthen local neighborhoods, towns, villages, states, nation, and world, there always will remain uncontested and horrible inequities in the lives of the world’s citizens. In essence, to improve community and to improve schools is a common, interrelated task, worthy of serious attention in the preparation and support of the next generation of international and local education and community leaders.

Goals: The Center and the Regional Institutes will empower local educational leaders (principals, heads, assistant principals and assistant heads, teacher leaders, and community leaders and educators) to effect strategic change—locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. The Center and its affiliates will support local action research initiatives seeking to identify and positively affect those school-community conditions that are discovered to be impeding the education of the children in the local school’s care.

The Role of the Center: The Center will help identify and establish Regional Institutes around the world interested in collaborating with the Center in its mission. The Center will solicit funds to support its work and the initial establishment of the Regional Institutes. The Center will lend support to the Regional Institutes and the local schools they identify for participation. The Center will likewise identify schools in its host country to participate in the action research, which is fundamental to the work of the Center. The Center will collate and disseminate the fruits of the action research under its aegis. One outlet for such work may be the International Journal of Leadership in Education, for which the Center Director also serves as Editor. The Center will host national and international conferences to disseminate the research it gathers and to foster an exchange of ideas related to improving the educational/social conditions of children and their teachers. The Center will serve as a conduit for the research that it gathers from the Regional Institutes, and disseminate such research to the other Regional Institutes, targeting those areas where such research is likely to have maximum effect. The Center will assume the responsibility for oversight and evaluation of those activities associated with this, its initiative. The Center will share the information and insights gained through these worldwide action research efforts, but especially those in its host country, with policy makers and others who have an influence on educational matters.

The Role of the Regional Institutes The Regional Institutes will, through coordination and dissemination of the results of the local action research efforts they initiate, will seek better education and community development in their areas. They may do this by disseminating, in a school-to-school model, the research and the insights gathered, and/or by using this information to influence educational policy in their areas—locally, regionally, or nationally. Regional Institutes will be encouraged to set their own agendas, within the broad framework of this initiative, and to develop their own funding sources after the first critical period. Regional Institutes will be responsible for the oversight of the projects they initiate. Regional Institutes will collect and transmit the information gathered through their local action research initiatives to the Center, and, likewise, will transmit and otherwise share information gotten from the Center with educational authorities—local, state, regional, and national—in their areas. Members of the Regional Institutes will regularly attend conferences and meetings hosted by the Center, and otherwise communicate with the Center.

Distinctiveness of the Approach:

Respect for grass root structures and initiatives: The Center structure will permit the Regional Institutes great latitude to develop their own agenda around educational leadership for social change during the critical startup phase. Likewise, through use of an action research approach, local schools and local school leaders will be encouraged to discover for themselves those issues within their local educational community (the school and its community) that negatively impact their children’s educational attainment. The Center will not export, nor impose, one prescriptive approach to educational issues for those associated with its work. Rather, it will foster, encourage, and support grassroots efforts that might target potential change agent action research leaders in various schools and communities; build such work into stand-alone leadership centers and graduate student programs (both masters and doctoral); connect with and/or help establish special licensure programs in school-community leadership; relate with international exchange and collaboration programs on specific school-community issues; and, otherwise link with existent school/community/university partnerships that extend and support the Center’s mission.
Inter-agency/inter-departmental collaboration: In order to address social/educational issues, multiple areas of expertise will be required. University and Regional Institute collaborators may be drawn from, for example, areas having to do with literacy, childcare, community education, health, business management, and more.
Impact: In a type of coordinated, ripple effect, local schools and local school leaders will impact the comprehensive issues affecting their students. Likewise, Regional Institutes and the Center itself will impact educational and social change through an impact on social/educational conditions and on policy.

Immediate and Long-term Timeline: The first year of Center operation will be taken up with establishing the structures, policies, and processes which will determine Center operations through time as well as identifying immediate grass roots educational leadership for social change activities in various regional locations. Establishing and supporting Regional Institutes will also be one of the main activities of the first three years. Collation of research from the Center’s host country and from the Regional Institutes, and its dissemination, will be a major part of Center activities. Conferences, visiting scholars, exchange programs and on-site logistical support will be required. Fund raising will be on going. Evaluation activities will begin with the first year of formal funding and carry through the life of Center operations.

Expected Results:Beginning immediately, the Center staff and those associated with the Center in various roles will identify educational leadership for social change activities and action research in various regions of the world that are making a profound change in both the educational lives of students and their community. In turn, as the Regional Institutes create, revise, or extend educational leadership programs with an integrated social change and action research component, the Center will document and share the results in local, state, national, and international settings that can be used to reshape policy and preparation programs in school and community leadership The old paradigm of “experts” from one country or locality telling others what they should do will be eschewed. Instead, the Center and the Regional Institutes plan to create a new conversation among all those concerned with schools, communities, and the role of leaders. This conversation will respect and narrate local educational leadership for social change in its multiplicity of roles, forms, and activities all across the world.

The International Center for Educational Leadership and Social Change
Texas State University-San Marcos
601 University Drive
San Marcos, Texas 78666
USA
http://www.edlchange.org/