Measuring Adult Preparedness in Independent Schools for Student Leadership Programming
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This study explored the teachers’ perception of student leadership programming in the context of a day independent high school in New England. Student leadership programming is a systemic, collaborative school mechanism used to develop student leadership skills and agency. This particular high school program is in its fifth year of implementation and has a pedagogical approach: all ninth grade students learn student leadership skills through embedded coursework. The school encourages all students to learn they can be leaders in areas of their own interests, ensuring equity in its practices. These programs are growing and developing student leaders beyond the small group of elected leaders. Despite the growth for students, teachers in the community are often not aware of the various student leadership groups, efforts or the Student Voice frameworks that underpin the program or how the program aligns with the school mission. This case study engaged six teachers with the Interview Refinement Protocol Methodology (Castillo-Montoya, 2016) to inquire into their understanding of the program, perceptions of student leadership and their role to partner with students in the school community. The use of In Vivo coding methodology allowed for rich qualitative data for the researcher to find an overall finding of uncertainty among these six participants in regards to shared governance, leadership curriculum, and school organizational structures. This study highlights the importance of school leaders collaborating with and supporting teachers through continual reflective improvements through inquiry, utilizing research frameworks such as the School Voice Process Framework (Quaglia et al., 2020) so that teachers are heard and can contribute to improvement.