jennie weiner | University of Connecticut (original) (raw)

Papers by jennie weiner

Journal of education human resources, Jun 1, 2022

In 2020, the United States experienced twin pandemics disproportionately impacting BIPOC communit... more In 2020, the United States experienced twin pandemics disproportionately impacting BIPOC communities and their schools and school systems—one new, COVID-19, and one longstanding, that of white supremacy and anti-Black racism. This phenomenological study of 20 Black female principals in two states provides insights into how these leaders, who so often center racial justice and caring for BIPOC children and communities in their leadership practice, grappled with these pandemics and how doing so impacted their leadership and work. Findings suggest that leading through these twin pandemics further cemented these women’s commitments to engage in advocacy and justice work on behalf of their communities and students. They also reported, regarding racial inequity and white supremacy, feeling both a cautious optimism stemming from seeing the work they had long engaged in being taken up at scale, and by white colleagues in particular, and frustration, experiencing this engagement often as “performative” and thus unlikely to lead to real change. And yet they also spoke of their deep commitment to advocacy and social justice moving forward and their role in ensuring that all their students receive the education, opportunities, and outcomes they deserve.

Using Cooper's (2005) framework of positioned school choice, and its orientation towards providin... more Using Cooper's (2005) framework of positioned school choice, and its orientation towards providing a more nuanced and inclusive view of how social power and privilege shape and legitimize school choice decisions, this basic interpretive qualitative study (Merriam, 2009) traces how four Black mothers and their eighth-grade daughters chose their high schools. We find the daughters largely controlled the application process and made the final selections of schools. Mothers played a facilitative role, providing their daughters with information from their social networks while supporting their daughters' independent goal-setting and decision-making. The study thus illustrates how school choice decisions for Black girls are fundamentally shaped by Black "motherwork" (Cooper, 2007). Our findings both extend current research on school choice by centering the experiences and decision-making approaches of Black families residing in urban, low-income, and segregated communities and open possibilities for more culturally relevant and aligned interventions to support these families as well as to reform school choice processes to be more inclusive and just.

Journal of professional capital and community, Dec 2, 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to argue that current ways school systems have addressed soci... more PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to argue that current ways school systems have addressed social mobility is misguided at best and, at worst, hurts social mobility. Instead, we call for a focus on investment in teachers' professional capital as a primary lever for enhancing the likelihood they can effectively prepare and develop all children to lead successful lives after school. These arguments have become even more pertinent with the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachUsing contemporary research, and grounded in our collective decades of research in these areas, we define social mobility and document how the aim of improving it has become a central tenet of our governments' stated ambitions and the yardstick by which school systems' success is measured. We then show how the application of market-based approaches to schools and teachers' work has hindered social mobility and offer a new path forward.FindingsAfter 50 years of neoliberal policies incentivising individualistic and competitive behaviours, it is time to move towards policies that enhance professional capital and promote high quality collaboration between teachers. We call for a new path forward: a re-orientation to invest in teachers' capacity to realise the potential of education to improve the life prospects for all children, irrespective of their background.Originality/valueAs with so many issues, the COVID-19 pandemic has shone an intense light on the role of educators in society. There are credible concerns that economic and educational inequalities resulting from the crisis have the potential to trigger a fall in future social mobility levels. Yet this should also be seen as a new dawn for renewed thinking in which we seriously consider a shift away from neoliberal to professional capital policies to create an education system that nurtures teaching professionals, promotes collective behaviour and helps rather than hinders efforts to improve social mobility.

Routledge eBooks, Dec 14, 2020

School Leadership & Management, Oct 19, 2016

This study focuses on how a cohort of participants in a programme aimed at producing 'turnaround ... more This study focuses on how a cohort of participants in a programme aimed at producing 'turnaround leaders' came to understand this policy and their role within it. Using a theory of action framework, I find that, over time, participants' espoused theories of turnaround shifted in three key areas: (1) the cause of poor school performance, (2) the principal's approach to leading change, and (3) the district's role in turnaround. While these shifts created more complex views of organisational change, they also produced disillusionment and highlighted tensions in current conceptualisations of turnaround including their potential role in enacting it.

International Journal of Leadership in Education, Jul 16, 2018

Though research suggests identity construction and articulation of personal motivations regarding... more Though research suggests identity construction and articulation of personal motivations regarding actions may be as, if not more, important to determine whether an individual may be successful in a school leadership role, collectively we know relatively little about aspiring principals' motivations for becoming school leaders. Utilizing a narrative inquiry approach, this research addresses this gap directly. We find that aspiring principals in a turnaround leader preparation program (n = 9) presented three main motivations in their narratives regarding why they wished to become leaders in underperforming schools: (1) a desire to address perceived inequity, (2) a goal to catalyze educational change, and (3) a commitment to teaching and learning. Such findings allow us to consider how recruiting, developing and identifying leadership talent for high needs schools might need to be shifted to produce better outcomes for students and principals alike. An effective principal is critical to school success (Leithwood, Harris, & Strauss, 2010; Robinson, Lloyd, & Rowe, 2008). And yet, as true in many countries, in the USA, schools struggle to find strong candidates to fill these positions (Mitgang, 2003; Myung, Loeb, & Horng, 2011). This is particularly true in underperforming schools (Reyes-Guerra, Russo, Bogotch, & Vásquez-Colina, 2014); the same schools that often serve students who most need access to a high-quality education (Loeb, Kalogrides, & Horng, 2010). However, though the need and demand for high-quality leaders is clear, debates continue regarding the specific knowledge and skills necessary to do this work effectively (Cosner & Jones, 2016; Parylo & Zepeda, 2014) and how to best ensure those hired have, or develop, such capabilities in the role (Clifford, 2010; Farley-Ripple, Raffel, & Christine Welch, 2012). For example, there is growing emphasis on the need for principals to be oriented toward issues of social justice (Marshall, 2004; Rigby, 2014) as well as to build a community of trust and care among staff (Bryk & Schneider, 2002; Louis, Murphy, & Smylie, 2016). Such leadership capabilities can enhance the overarching school culture and, in doing so, foster connections and learning for students and teachers alike (Weiner & Higgins, 2017). However, recent research also suggests processes used to CONTACT Jennie Miles Weiner

Journal of school leadership, Mar 1, 2023

AERA Online Paper Repository, Apr 10, 2016

ProQuest LLC eBooks, 2012

Frontiers in Education, Jan 7, 2021

Utilizing a sample of 54 interviews from a larger study of traditional public school principals' ... more Utilizing a sample of 54 interviews from a larger study of traditional public school principals' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, we examined the degree to which principals in 19 states and representing both urban (e.g., intensive, emergent or characteristic; n = 37) and suburban settings (n = 17) and across all student levels (i.e., elementary, middle, and high), experienced and engaged in behaviors to create psychological safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also sought to understand how various environmental and organizational features may have influenced these conditions and thus the likelihood of learning taking place. We find principals reported varied levels of psychological safety in their schools with associated differing levels of organizational learning and responsiveness to the crisis. However, rather being grounded in environmental conditions (e.g., urbanicity, demographics, etc.), organizational factors and specifically, differences in accountability, principal autonomy, professional culture and teacher decision-making were all key in the degree of psychological safety exhibited. Together, these findings serve to expand understanding of leadership as creating conditions for learning and give insight into the degree our pre-COVID-19 system may have facilitated or stymied the ability or capacity of school leaders in different settings to support transformational learning. In this way, this research may have real and important implications for the types of support leaders and teachers require as we collectively transition into the next phase of uncertainty as many schools continue to try and reopen safely and all that lays ahead.

Journal of school leadership, 2011

This study investigates how a small group of teacher leaders and their principals, participating ... more This study investigates how a small group of teacher leaders and their principals, participating in a teacher leadership program called the teacher connector (TC), understand teacher leadership and its impact on their practice. TCs' responsibilities were typical of teacher leaders; thus, their experiences can provide insights into teacher leaders' experiences more generally. results indicate that the norms of egalitarianism, seniority, and autonomy influenced TCs' descriptions of their positions and often lead to behaviors that undermined their authority. Principals downplayed these norms' impact and often exacerbated teacher resistance. Alternatively, when principals and teacher leaders had clear converging views about the TCs' goals and their connection to the school vision, teacher resistance decreased and TCs felt more efficacious.

Journal of research on leadership education, Apr 18, 2018

Responding to questions on how to develop and support teacher leaders, this article draws on sens... more Responding to questions on how to develop and support teacher leaders, this article draws on sensemaking theory to discuss teacher leaders' transfer of ideas from Developing Exemplary Educators (DEE), an intermediary organization. We share findings grounded in qualitative interview data from teachers and administrators in two urban schools. After describing the elements of teacher leadership that teacher leaders reported transferring into practice, we present the structures, norms, and factors enabling and constraining teacher leadership.

Journal of school leadership, Mar 1, 2016

This study investigates whether and how principals implementing Instructional Leadership Teams (I... more This study investigates whether and how principals implementing Instructional Leadership Teams (ILTs) were able to share decision-making authority with team members and how team members perceived this authority. Having interviewed and observed ILT members in four, in-district charter schools in a large northeastern city, I find that principals had great difficultly releasing authority to team members and deployed a variety of "moves" to keep control over decision-making. Team members also appeared to perceive their authority as subordinate to the principal and embraced a hierarchical model of school leadership with an emphasis on formal authority and autocratic decision-making.

Routledge eBooks, Nov 23, 2022

Proceedings of the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting, 2019

Using Sue et al.'s microaggressions framework, this qualitative study focused on the preparation ... more Using Sue et al.'s microaggressions framework, this qualitative study focused on the preparation experiences of 10 Black, female school leaders to examine how and in what ways identity, leadership, and discrimination were discussed in their administration preparation programs. We find participants were neither given space to explore their identities or experiences of discrimination nor did they learn strategies to address them. Instead, leadership was treated as an identity-neutral endeavor, and conversations regarding racial or gender differences were ignored or silenced. In these ways, the programs perpetrated various microaggressions excluding, negating, or nullifying participants' experiences as Black female leaders.

Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, Mar 12, 2021

This case study blends the accounts of 10 Black women who engaged in a research study on their ex... more This case study blends the accounts of 10 Black women who engaged in a research study on their experiences of microaggressions when serving as school leaders, to tell the story of one Black female principal in a mostly White suburban district. We describe the ways the environment enabled and perpetuated gendered racist incidents at multiple levels and detail some of the microaggressions affecting her career path, leadership, and community interactions, as well as the ways she overcomes these obstacles and persists. We contextualize this narrative in the literature around gender, race, and school leadership, in studies of gendered racism, and finally in White allyship scholarship. We conclude by posing questions around whose responsibility it is to address these issues, and the structural changes necessary to do so.

Journal of Educational Administration, May 2, 2017

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to gain insights into how a group of novice principals, all i... more PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to gain insights into how a group of novice principals, all in schools that deployed principles of autonomy as mechanisms for improvement, conceptualized what the authors label “controlled autonomy” – a condition in which school leaders are expected to both make site-based decisions and be accountable to district oversight. The study aims to support more effective interactions between school and district leaders around controlled autonomy to increase performance.Design/methodology/approachUsing schema as a framework to guide the inquiry, this paper uses qualitative methods and interviewing in particular to explore the questions of interest. Seven novice principals were each interviewed three times over the year each interview lasting approximately one hour (n=21). Data were analyzed thematically using both inductive and deductive coding techniques.FindingsFindings show that principals tended to group potential district supports into four categories: operations, instruction, advocacy, and vision and their perceptions regarding the balance between their and the district’s control over activities in each category was dynamic, varied and dependent on views relating to issues as broad as values alignment to perceptions of bureaucratic efficiency.Research limitations/implicationsBecause of the small sample size and methodological approach, it may be inappropriate to generalize the findings across all controlled autonomy contexts. Further research in additional settings is encouraged to support the proposed findings.Practical implicationsThis paper has a number of implications for districts and school leaders. Among these is the need for districts to better articulate the parameters of controlled autonomy and for school leaders to receive more and more effective training and support to effectively utilize autonomy as a mechanism for reform.Originality/valueThis work fills a gap in the research regarding on how principals conceptualize controlled autonomy or, more specifically, how they view what school autonomy should look like relative to district control and is this paper’s focus. It also provides insights into practice and potential means to enhance a growing, but so far unevenly implemented and under performing reform initiative (i.e. controlled autonomy).

Educational Policy, Aug 11, 2017

Using data from Rhode Island, and deploying a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, this study c... more Using data from Rhode Island, and deploying a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, this study capitalizes on a natural experiment in which schools, in accordance with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waivers, were sorted into performance categories based on a continuous performance measure. The lowest performing schools were then mandated to implement interventions, with more interventions required in the lowest performing schools. We find that schools required to implement few interventions performed no differently relative to schools that had no interventions required. Among lower-performing schools, those required to adopt more interventions did worse than schools mandated to implement fewer, including higher student mobility. This suggests larger negative effects for schools receiving the most negative labels, and the potential need to better understand what leads to these worsening outcomes in response to accountability requirements.