This points to the relevance of the principal's role as an organizational leader with responsibilities to orienting with enthusiasm and effectiveness a staff of qualified and capable individuals. Especially in the inclusion context, where staff members will have particular insight as well as a particular opportunity where given proper academic and creative freedom, Principal Skinner indicates that this mode of distributed leadership is necessary. Indeed, Principal Skinner makes the case that one would have to be particularly attuned to the practices and conventions of special education in order to effectively delegate charges to educators and advocates.
This is also the case where English Language Learner (ELL) students are present in a school. Including these learners who have a particular and specialized set of needs requires the principal to preside over a certain cultural tenor at a school. Indeed, one of the more complex snares of bridging the language gap through the universality of certain ideas occurs when cultural differences create communication barriers that prevent direct personal engagement. Where concepts and ideas are unique to specific cultures with their own language and dialect sets, it may be the case that linguistic translation is inadequate to provide appropriate meanings to non-native speakers. This creates a gap between cognitive and translational equivalence as well as in comprehension between instructor...
Religious, tribal and other ethnic peculiarities may exist strictly within cultures and language for which there is no meaning-equivalence in other cultures and languages. Here, cognitive equivalence is absent and, in its place, a danger exists that translational equivalence could be inaccurately substituted. If a curriculum is not constructed in such a way as to discourage such misapplication of meanings, this equivalence discrepancy could prevent the bilingual student from properly using the target language. In this sense, the speaker would be instructed toward expression rather than toward comprehension of the language in question, providing the likelihood of distortion in communication. This speaks to the importance of principal leadership which works to bring greater cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness to the curriculum, to educator training and to the student body.
Ultimately, principal leadership is a deeply political position that will be shaped at least in some degree by the bevy of external realities faced by the school as a whole. However, it is also clear that education, instruction, delegation and organizational culture are all directly impacted by the knowledge and orientation evidenced by an effective principal.
Works Cited:
Graseck, P. (2005). Where's the ministry in administration? Attending to the souls of our schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(5), 373-382.
