The present study examines the nonroutine problems that eight Anglo-American principals encountered in managing three elementary bilingual immersion schools in the Northwest United States. Using qualitative inquiry to collect data, I employed the multisited ethnographic research model. The principals reported nonroutine problems in the following educational areas: interpersonal communication, academic practices, organization and administration, and teaching and learning. The findings indicate that social and cultural factors are important in affecting the reporting of these problems. The discussion focuses on the exploration of what makes these problems nonroutine and what lessons are to be learned from these problems concerning leadership in multicultural educational settings.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamsK., & BargerhuffM. E. (2005). Dialogue and action: Addressing recruitment of diverse faculty in one Midwestern university's college of education and human services. Education, 125, 539–546.
2.
ArmendárizA. L., & ArmendárizE. J. (2002). An administrative perspective of a two-way bilingual immersion program. Bilingual Research Journal, 26, 169–179.
3.
BanksC. A. M. (2005). Improving multicultural education: Lessons from the intergroup education movement.New York: Teachers College Press.
4.
BanksJ. A. (2009). Human rights, diversity, and citizenship education. Educational Forum, 73, 100–110.
5.
BernardP. J. (2006). When seeking a diverse faculty, watch out for legal minefields. Chronicle of Higher Education, 53, B28–B31.
6.
BlackmoreJ. (2006). Deconstructing diversity discourses in the field of educational management and leadership. Educational Management Administration and Leadership, 34, 181–199.
7.
BogdanR. C., & BiklenS. K. (2007). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theory and methods (5th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
8.
BoudreauxN. (2009, March). Student attrition in foreign language immersion programs. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Louisiana Education Research Association, Lafayette, LA.
9.
BoutinF. (1993). A study of early French immersion teachers as generators of knowledge. Foreign Language Annals, 26, 511–525.
10.
CaldasS. J., & Caron-CaldasS. (1996, April). A case study in family French-immersion and academic achievement. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED403773)
11.
CalhoonM. B., OtaibaS. A., CihakD., KingA., & AvalosA. (2007). Effects of a peer-mediated program on reading skill acquisition for two-way bilingual firstgrade classrooms. Learning Disability Quarterly, 30, 169–184.
12.
Center for Applied Linguistics. (2011). Directory of two-way bilingual immersion programs in the U.S. Retrieved from http://www.cal.org/twi/directory/
13.
ClifordJ., & MarcusG. (Eds.). (1986). Writing culture: The poetics and politics of ethnography.Berkeley: University of California Press.
14.
CookT. J. (2008). Responding to leadership challenges in U.S. Catholic schools: The lived reality. Updated keynote address at the Third International Conference on Catholic Leadership, Sydney, 2004.
CoxT. H. (1996). Cultural diversity in organizations: Theory, research and practice. In ShafritzJ. M., & OttJ. S. (Eds.), Classics of organization theory (4th ed., pp. 1152–1162). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College.
18.
DaftR. L. (2002). The leadership experience (2nd ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western.
19.
DavidsonJ. E. (2003). Insights about insightful problem solving. In DavidsonJ. E., & SternbergR. J. (Eds.), The psychology of problem solving (pp. 149–175). New York: Cambridge University Press.
20.
De LorenzoW. E., & GladsteinL. A. (1984). Immersion education à l'Américaine: A descriptive study of U.S. immersion programs. Foreign Language Annals, 17, 35–39.
DominowskiR. L., & BourneL. E.Jr. (1994). History of research on thinking and problem solving. In SternbergR. J. (Ed.), Thinking and problem solving (pp. 1–35). London: Academic Press.
23.
EarleyP., & WeindlingD. (2004). Understanding school leadership.New Delhi: Sage.
24.
FortuneT., & JorstadH. L. (1996). U.S. immersion programs: A national survey. Foreign Language Annals, 29, 163–190.
25.
FortuneT., & TedickD. J. (2003). What parents want to know about foreign language immersion programs. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED482493)
26.
GagnéE. D., YekovichC. W., & YekovichF. R. (1993). The cognitive psychology of school learning (2nd ed.). New York: HarperCollins.
27.
GallJ. P., GallM. D., & BorgW. R. (2010). Applying educational research: How to read, do, and use research to solve problems of practice (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
28.
GardinerM. E., & EnomotoE. K. (2006). Urban school principals and their role as multicultural leaders. Urban Education, 41, 560–584.
29.
GeneseeF. (1985). Second language learning through immersion: A review of U.S. programs. Review of Educational Research, 55, 541–561.
30.
HambrickD. Z., & EngleR. W. (2003). The role of working memory in problem solving. In DavidsonJ. E., & SternbergR. J. (Eds.), The psychology of problem solving (pp. 176–206). New York: Cambridge University Press.
31.
HemphillJ. K. (1958). Administration as problem solving. In HalpinA. W. (Ed.), Administrative theory in education (pp. 89–118). New York: Macmillan.
32.
HobbyF., & DreachslinJ. L. (2007). Diversity and disparities: Parallel challenges for 21st century health care. Bridges, 13, 5–6.
33.
HowardE. R., & ChristianD. (2002). Two-way immersion 101: Designing and implementing a two-way immersion education program at the elementary level.Santa Cruz, CA: Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED473082)
34.
HowardE. R., SugarmanJ., & ChristianD. (2003). Trends in two-way immersion education: A review of the research.Santa Cruz, CA: Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence.
35.
HoyA. W., HoyW. K., & KurzN. M. (2008). Teachers’ academic optimism: The development and test of a new construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 821–835.
36.
HoyW. K., & MiskelC. G. (2008). Educational administration: Theory, research, and practice (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
37.
IgwebuikeJ. G. (2006). Legal and policy implications for faculty diversification in higher education. Negro Educational Review, 57, 189–203.
38.
JohnsonR. K., & SwainM. (Eds.). (1997). Immersion education: International perspectives.New York: Cambridge University Press.
39.
KelleyC., & PetersonK. D. (2007). The work of principals and their preparation: Addressing critical needs for the twenty-first century. In The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (2nd ed., pp. 351–401). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
40.
KezarA. (2007). Tools for a time and place: Phased leadership strategies to institutionalize a diversity agenda. Review of Higher Education, 30, 413–439.
41.
KonradA. M., PrasadP. P., & PringleJ. K. (2006). Handbook of work diversity.London: Sage.
42.
LeithwoodK., & SteinbachR. (1995). Expert problem solving: Evidence from school and district leaders.Albany: State University of New York Press.
MacIntoshP. (1995). White privilege and male privilege: A personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women's studies. In AndersonM. L., & CollinsP. H. (Eds.), Race, class and gender: An anthology (pp. 27–76). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
49.
MarshallJ. M., & TheoharisG. (2007). Moving beyond being nice: Teaching and learning about social justice in a predominantly white educational leadership program. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 2, 1–31.
50.
MerriamS. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
51.
MetM. (1987). Twenty questions: The most commonly asked questions about starting an immersion program. Foreign Language Annals, 20, 311–315.
MorganA. P. (1990). French immersion program: Testimony of a first grade teacher. Foreign Language Annals, 23, 33–43.
54.
NietoS. (2005). Why we teach.New York: Teachers College Press.
55.
ObadiaA. (1995). In a global economy, is French adding value to your child's education? [Newsletter]. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Parents for French.
56.
PfefferJ. (1981). Power in organizations.Marshfield, MA: Pitman.
57.
PorterR. P. (2000). The benefits of English immersion. Educational Leadership, 57(4), 52–56.
58.
PrasadP., & MillsA. J. (1997). From showcase to shadow: Understanding the dilemmas of managing workplace diversity. In PrasadP., MillsA. J., ElmesM., & PrasadA. (Eds.), Managing the organizational melting pot: Dilemmas of workplace diversity (pp. 3–27). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
59.
PretzJ. E., NaplesA. J., & SternbergR. J. (2003). Recognizing, defining and representing problems. In DavidsonJ. E., & SternbergR. J. (Eds.), The psychology of problem solving (pp. 3–30). New York: Cambridge University Press.
60.
RamseyP. G., & WilliamsL. R. (2003). Multicultural education: A source book (2nd ed.). New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
61.
Reiter-PalmonR., & RobinsonE. J. (2009). Problem identification and construction: What do we know, what is the future?Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 3(1), 43–47.
62.
SalomoneA. M., & PalmaE. (1995). Immersion grammar: A changing portrait of Glenwood school. Foreign Language Annals, 28, 223–233.
ScheinE. H. (1989). Group and intergroup relationships. In OttJ. S. (Ed.), Classic reading in organizational behavior (pp. 216–222). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
65.
ScheinE. H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
66.
SchmuckR. A., & RunkelP. J. (1994). The handbook of organization development in schools and colleges (4th ed.). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
67.
SenesacB. V. (2002). Two-way bilingual immersion: A portrait of quality schooling. Bilingual Research Journal, 26, 85–101.
68.
SergiovanniT. J. (1991). The principalship: A reflective practice perspective (2nd ed.). San Antonio, TX: Allyn & Bacon.
69.
TheoharisG. (2007). Social justice educational leaders and resistance: Toward a theory of social justice leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 43, 221–258.
70.
ThomasD. A., & ElyR. J. (2007). Making differences matter: A new paradigm for managing diversity. In The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (2nd ed., pp. 269–288). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
71.
VossJ. F., & PostT. (1988). On the solving of ill-structured problems. In ChiM. T. H., GlaserR., & FarrM. J. (Eds.), The nature of expertise (pp. 261–285). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
72.
WalkerC., & TedickD. J. (1996, April). Spanish language elementary immersion programs: Teachers address the issues. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York.
73.
WalkerC., & TedickD. J. (2000). The complexity of immersion education: Teachers address the issues. Modern Language Journal, 84, 5–27.
74.
Wasserstein-WarnetM. M. (1998). Nonroutine strategies in dealing with ill-structured problems in schools. Studies in Educational Administration and Organization, 22, 157–180. (In Hebrew.)
75.
Webster's encyclopedic unabridged dictionary of the English language. (1996). New York: Gramercy Books.
76.
YinR. K. (1989). Case study research: Design and methods.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
77.
YuklG. (2010). Leadership in organizations (7th ed.). New York: Pearson.
