education leaders and reflecting on learning

School administrators, school district leaders, and education policy analysts all benefit from a firm understanding of research methods and evidence-based practices. As professionals, we will need to continually revisit the foundations of our learning, reinforcing core competencies in research ethics. Given the importance of evidence-based practices, educators need to be competent in research methods, research ethics and applied social science as it pertains to educational policy and practice. This course has therefore been instrumental in preparing me for a future as an education leader and administrator.
As I progress through graduate school, I will be called upon to contribute more frequently to professional journals as a researcher and scholar-practitioner. I appreciate the hard work we accomplished on our professional publication manuscript and have also benefitted from the collaborative instructional strategies used to engender a sense of community. Likewise, I look forward to working more closely with my mentors, who continue to empower me to contribute my own voice to scholarly discourse in education. I am eager to conduct both qualitative and quantitative studies, both of which contribute to the growing body of knowledge related to pedagogy, leadership and instructional strategies. The evolution of my personal and professional identity will depend on how I focus my future research, formulating research questions that are meaningful land relevant to my practice community and the stakeholders I serve.
Thinking ahead, I plan to incorporate the information on trauma-informed teaching into my leadership practices to help create a more inclusive and supportive environment for all students. The information we learned about trauma has transformed my outlook on leadership and organizational culture. I can already recognize the many different ways I can contribute to the community too, by more conscientious development of strategic partnerships that help students and their parents. The pilot programs described by Plumb, Bush & Kersevich (2016) inspired me to develop initiatives and organizational policies that reflect best practice guidelines. Similarly, I intend to apply the strengths-based approach suggested by Brunzell, Waters & Stokes (2015) to teacher development. I look forward to thriving in a leadership position that allows me to become a servant leader: someone who communicates a grand vision to all educators and stakeholders in the community. We also addressed trauma-related issues from a mezzo-level and macro-level perspective that encourages us to recognize sociological variables like race, class, and gender. Course content also addressed the pressing need for education administrators to become empowered to change their communities through advocacy and outreach.
While reflecting on empirical studies related to trauma, its prevalence and impact on student learning, I realized how much more school administrators can do to help. We can offer teachers the support they need to build on evidence-based practice models and adapt those models to suit their unique environments and their students’ needs. Similarly, we can offer students the type of support they need in order to thrive. Leadership and organizational culture play a major role in shaping student outcomes.
As I participate more in the peer review practice, I look ahead to ways I will cultivate a strong professional identity as an educational leader. The readings we encountered on research ethics have been especially salient, as I consider ways to improve research design and more importantly, present the findings of my research in ways that accurately and honestly reflect the raw data and the trends it revealed (Creswell, 2015). Being able to deliver professional presentations based on original research, describing research methods has also prepped me for more rigorous work to come in graduate school.
References
Brunzell, T., Waters, L., & Stokes, H. (2015). Teaching with strengths in trauma-affected students: A new approach to healing and growth in the classroom. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 85(1), 3.
Creswell, J. W. (2015). Educational Research, 5th Edition. Pearson
Plumb, J.L., Bush, K.A., & Kersevich, S.A. (2016). Trauma-sensitive schools. School Social Work Journal 40(2).