D & G Leadership

Socio-Cultural Chaos depicts the trend in existence in every public or private school in America. The challenge of having to manage issues around race, class, gender, religion, sexuality, war, famine, disease, while ensuring students meet predetermined academic standards, as measured by “high stakes” tests is an awesome undertaking. While acknowledging a wide host of influential factors to be considered and managed, Socio-Cultural Leadership keys in squarely on one factor, poverty. We at D & G Leadership believe that poverty is relatively in existence in every school and should be given maximum attention in student achievement efforts.

Tenets of Socio-Cultural Leadership

The demands of education are plentiful. The challenges faced by schools are enormous, especially for communities that serve large volumes of children living in poverty. While many factors influence the success rate of schools, none are more influential than the impact of effective local school leadership by way of a principal. Socio-Cultural Leadership suggests many aspects that impact effective school leadership; however none are more substantial than the following:

• As the instructional leader, the principal must supervise and evaluate instruction to make sure that students are given optimal learning opportunities.
• As the emotional leader, the principal must ensure that teachers are intellectually equipped, emotionally stimulated, and encouraged to assume decision-making positions of leadership in schools to increase student achievement.
• As a community leader, the principal must inspire and/or provide incentives for student-centered communal learning.
• As the facilitator of culture, the principal must also realize the limitations of leadership on student achievement and begin to shape and reshape school culture.

Socio-Cultural Leadership is the result of a four-year-long immersion into school improvement efforts from around the world. I have combed the existing literature. To my satisfaction, the existing literature does not suggest a style of leadership that is, in any aspect, a comprehensive model of instructional leadership, community leadership, and emotional leadership, with the stated purpose of transforming school culture to serve the needs of our society at large. Realizing the void in literature that exists and the importance of school leadership practices, especially in schools of high poverty, prompted my formation of Socio-Cultural Leadership.