In practice, educational leadership is most often associated with the role of the formal administrator, even though research and literature have recognized educational leadership as being the role of all stakeholders (Renihan & Sackney, 1999; Sergiovanni, 1989, 1990; Walker, Sackney, & Hajnal, 1996). However, this literature seldom recognizes student leadership as being part of the leadership equation. The purpose of this study was to describe the leadership processes and satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction students felt about their level of involvement in leadership positions and decision making. The implications for principals to facilitate such democratic practices and processes in rural schools are delineated.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Apple, M. (1990). Ideology and curriculum (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
2.
Apple, M. W., & Beane, J. A. (1995). The case for democratic schools. In M. W. Apple, &J. A. Beane (Eds.), Democratic schools (pp. 1-25). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
3.
Battistoni, R. (1997). Service learning and democratic citizenship. Theory Into Practice, 36(3), 150-156.
4.
Bergsgaard, M. (1997). Gender issues in the implementation and evaluation of aviolence prevention curriculum. Canadian Journal of Education, 22(1), 33-45.
5.
Bettman, E., & Moore, P. (1994). Conflict resolution programs and social justice. Education and Urban Society, 27(1), 11-21.
6.
Bevan, G. H. (1970). An empirical study of the need for independence in high school students. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
7.
Bickmore, K. (2001, April). Student conflict resolution, power "sharing" in schools, and citizenship education. Curriculum Inquiry, 31(2), 137-162.
8.
Boccia, J. A., & Ackerman, R. H. (Eds.). (1997). Students taking the lead: The challenges and rewards of empowering youth in schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
9.
Brantlinger, E. (1994). The social class embeddedness of middle school students' thinking about teachers. Theory Into Practice, 33(3), 191-198.
10.
Breeze-Mead, A. (1991). Competencies of student leadership. Campus Activities Programming, 23(9), 58-62.
11.
Callan, E. (1988). Autonomy and schooling. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: McGill-Queen's University Press.
12.
Carnevale, D. G. (1995). Trustworthy government. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
13.
Carnoy, M., & Levin, H. (1986). Schooling and work in the democratic state. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
14.
Connel, R. W., Ashendon, D.J., Kessler, S., & Dowsett, G. (1982). Making the difference. Sydney, Australia: George Allen & Unwin.
15.
Crow, G. M., & Slater, R. O. (1996). Educating democracy: The role of systemic leadership. Fairfax, VA: National Policy Board for Educational Administration.
16.
Dewey, J. (1956). Experience and education. New York: MacMillan.
17.
Edgar, E., Patton, J. M., Day-Vines, N. (2002). Democratic disposition and cultural competency: Ingredients for school renewal. Remedial and Special Education, 23(4), 231-241.
18.
Fertman, C. I., & van Linden, J. A. (1999, October). Character education: An essential ingredient for youth leadership development. NASSP Bulletin, 83(609), 9-15.
19.
Furtwengler, W. J. (1991, April). Reducing student misbehavior through students involved in school reconstruction processes. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED334679)
20.
Furtwengler, W. J. (1996). Improving secondary school discipline by involving students in the process. NASSP Bulletin, 80(581), 36-44.
21.
Greene, M. (1982). Public education and the public space. Educational Researcher, 11(6), 4-9.
22.
Greene, M. (1988). The dialectic of freedom. New York: Teachers College Press.
23.
Greene, M. (1997). Exclusions and awakenings. In A. Neumann & P. L. Peterson (Eds.), Learning from our lives (pp. 18-36). New York: Teachers College Press.
24.
Gullatt, D. E. (1995). Effective leaders in the middle school classroom. Paper presented to the annual conference of the Middle School Association, New Orleans, LA. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED388454)
25.
Gutmann, A. (1987). Democratic education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
26.
Hahn, C. (1996). Empirical research on issues-centered social studies. In R. Evans, & D. Saxe (Eds.), Handbook on issues-centered social studies (pp. 23-41). Washington, DC: National Council for the Social Studies.
27.
Hepburn, M. A. (1983). Democratic education in schools and classrooms. Washington, DC: National Council for the Social Studies Bulletin. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED238769)
28.
Hess, D. (1997). Violence prevention and service learning. Social Education, 61(5), 279-281.
29.
Kamii, C. (1991). Toward autonomy: The importance of critical thinking and choice making. School Psychology Review, 20(3), 382-388.
Kreisberg, S. (1992). Educating for democracy and community: Toward the transfer of power in our schools. In S. Latimore (Ed.), Education for democracy (pp. 65-77). Cambridge, MA: Educators for Social Responsibility.
32.
Kretman, K. P. (1996). Learning leadership: A curriculum guidefor a new generation, grades K-12College Park, MD: University of Maryland. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED444877)
33.
Larson, M. (1991). Intergroup relations and school discipline. Equity Coalition, 2(1), 13-19.
34.
Leal, R. (1994). Conflicting views of discipline in San Antonio schools. Education and Urban Society, 27(1), 35-44.
35.
Lees, K. A. (1995). Advancing democratic leadership through critical theory. Journal of School Leadership, 7(4), 266-286.
36.
Leithwood, K. & Duke, D. L. (1999). A century's quest to understand school leadership. In J. Murphy, & K. Seashore Louis (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational administration (2nd ed.; pp. 45-72). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
37.
Levin, B. (1994). Improving educational productivity: Putting students at the center. Phi Delta Kappan, 75(10), 758-760.
38.
Levin, B. (1998). The educational requirement for democracy. Curriculum Inquiry, 28(1), 57-79.
39.
Lewis, C. (1996). Beyond conflict resolution skills: How do children develop the will to solve conflicts in school?New Directions for Child Development, 73, 91-106.
40.
Lightfoot, S. L. (1983). The good high school. New York: Basic Books.
41.
Mahaffey, F. (1992). An elementary teacher reflects on harassment: Are we accepting too much?Democracy and Education, 6(5), 10-12.
42.
Maher, R. (1986). Learning leadership. Educational Leadership, 43(4), 59-62.
43.
McIntire, D. D. (1989). Student leadership development: A student affairs mandate. NASPA Journal, 27(1), 75-79.
44.
Mitchell, J. G. (1990). Re-visioning educational leadership: A phenomenological approach. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
45.
Mosher, R. (1994). Preparing for citizenship: Teaching youth to live democratically. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
46.
Mott Foundation, C. S. (1988). Student government management: A practical guide for organizing student government. New York: Author.
47.
Mueller, V., & Perris, C. (1996). A shift in power: From teachers to studentdirected government. Social Studies Reviewv, 34(3), 40-42.
48.
National Council for the Social Studies. (1979). Democratization of schools. Position statement. Washington DC: Author.
49.
Noguera, P. (1995). Preventing and producing violence: A critical analysis of responses to school violence. Harvard Educational Review, 65(2), 189-212.
50.
O'Hair, M. J., & Reitzug, U. C. (1997). Restructuring schools for democracy: Principals' perspectives. Journal of School Leadership, 7(4), 266-286.
51.
Pennock, M. (1995). School democracy checklist. Green Teacher, 44, 7-7.
52.
Pickle, J., & Parmley, F. (1986, October). An exploratory program for preparing teachers for rural communities. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Center for Rural Education and Small Schools, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.
53.
Priftis, B. A. (1992). Educational leadership. In C. F. Webber, L. Bosetti, & F. T. Johnson (Eds.), Trends in educational leadership (pp. 15-23). Calgary, Alberta, Canada: University of Calgary.
54.
Radz, M. A. (1983). Promoting a democratic school environment (Research Rep. No. 70). Washington, DC: National Council for the Social Studies.
55.
Raubinger, F. M., Sumption, M. R., & Kamm, R. M. (1973). Leadership in the secondary school. Columbus, OH: Merrill Publishing.
56.
Reed, C. J. (1998, April). Student leadership and restructuring: A case study. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED424638)
57.
Renihan, P., & Sackney, L. (1999). Reviewing school effectiveness: An approach. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada: University of Saskatchewan.
58.
Ryan, A. (1995). John Dewey and the high tide of American liberalism. New York: Norton.
59.
Schuh, J. H., & Laverty, M. (1983). The perceived long-term influence of holding a significant student leadership position. Journal of College Student Personnel, 24(1), 28-32.
60.
Schutz, A. (2001). John Dewey's conundrum: Can democratic schools empower?The Teachers' College Record, 103(2), 267-302.
61.
Scott, J. C. (1990). Domination and the arts of resistance: Hidden transcripts. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
62.
Sergiovanni, T. J. (1989). What really counts in improving schools? In T. J. Sergiovanni &J. H. Moore (Eds.), Schooling for tomorrow: Directing reforms to issues that count (pp. 1-7). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
63.
Sergiovanni, T. J. (1990). Adding value to leadership gets extraordinary results. Educational Leadership, 47(8), 23-27.
64.
Short, P. M., & Greer,J. T. (1993). Empowering students: Variables impacting the effort. St. Louis, MO: Danforth Foundation.
65.
Slater, R. O. (1994). Symbolic educational leadership and democracy in America. Educational Administration Quarterly, 30(1), 97-101.
66.
Slee, R. (1995). Adjusting the aperture: Ways of seeing disruption in schools. In R. Slee (Ed.), Changing theories and practices of discipline (pp. 93-115). London: Falmer Press.
67.
Starratt, R. J. (1995). Leaders with vision: The quest for school renewal. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. (ERIC Reproduction Document Service No. ED389074)
68.
Stein, N. (1995). Sexual harassment in school: The public performance of gendered violence. Harvard Educational Review, 65(2), 145-162.
69.
Strike, K. (1993). Professionalism, democracy and discursive communities: Normative reflections on restructuring. American Educational Research Journal, 30(2), 255-275.
70.
Tagg, G. J. (1983). The big fish in the small pond. The Canadian School Executive, 2(8), 2-4.
71.
Thompson, J. E., & Lacerenza, B. (1985). Providing leadership for the future: A curriculum model. NASSP Bulletin, 69(483), 21-28.
72.
Tierney, W. G. (1989). Advancing democracy: A critical interpretation of leadership. Peabody Journal of Education, 66(3), 157-175.
73.
Tift, C. (1990). Rural administrative leadership handbook. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
74.
Walker, K., Sackney, L., & Hajnal, V. (1996). Shared leadership: A requisite for school success. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada: University of Saskatchewan.
75.
Weis, L., & Fine, M. (Eds.). (2000). Construction sites: Excavating race, class and gender among urban youth. New York: Teachers College Press.
76.
West, C. (1989). The American evasion of philosophy. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.
77.
White, P. (1992). Teacher empowerment under "ideal" school-site autonomy. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 14(1), 69-82.
78.
Williams, R. (1992). Strategies to transform school systems: The leadership edge. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: EduServ.
79.
Woyach, R. B. (1992). Leadership in civic education. ERIC Digest. Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED351270)
80.
Wringe, C. (1984). Democracy, schooling and political education. London: George Allen & Unwin.
81.
Zeichner, K. (1991). Contradictions and tensions in the professionalism of teaching and the democratization of schools. Teachers College Record, 92, 363-378.
