Successful leadership in a rural,high-poverty school: the case ofCounty Line Middle School

Hans W. KlarEugene T. Moore School of Education, Clemson University, Clemson,

South Carolina, USA, and

Curtis A. BrewerDepartment of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies,

University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA

Abstract

Purpose In this paper, the authors present a case study of successful school leadership at CountyLine Middle School. The purpose of the paper is to identify how particular leadership practicesand beliefs were adapted to increase student achievement in this rural, high-poverty school in thesoutheastern USA.Design/methodology/approach After purposefully selecting this school, the authors adaptedinterview protocols, questionnaires, and analysis frameworks from the International SuccessfulSchool Principalship Project to develop a multi-perspective case study of principal leadership practicesat the school.Findings The findings illustrate the practices which led to students at this school, previously thelowest-performing in the district, achieving significantly higher on state standardized tests, gettingalong like a family, and regularly participating in service learning activities and charity events.A particularly interesting finding was how the principal confronted the schools negative self-image andadapted common leadership practices to implement a school-wide reform that suited its unique context.Research limitations/implications While the findings of the study explicate the specific waysthe principal adapted leadership strategies to enhance student learning, this study also highlights theneed to understand how principals become familiar with their communitys needs, cultures, norms,and values, and exercise leadership in accordance with them.Practical implications The case offers an example of the need for context-responsive leadership inschools. In particular, it illustrates how this principal enacted leadership strategies that successfullynegotiated what Woods (2006) referred to as the changing politics of the rural. To realize this success,the principal utilized his understanding of this low income, rural community to guide his leadershippractices. Critically, part of this understanding included the ways the community was connected toand isolated from dominant sub-urban and urban societies, and how to build enthusiasm and capacitythrough appeals to local values.Originality/value While it is widely acknowledged that school leaders need to consider their schooland community contexts when making leadership decisions, less research has focussed on understandinghow this can be achieved. This case provides rich examples of how this was accomplished in a rural,high-poverty middle school.

Keywords Rural areas, Educational administration, Secondary schools, School reform,Middle school

Paper type Research paper

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available atwww.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm

Received 22 April 2013Revised 27 July 201322 August 2013Accepted 30 September 2013

Journal of EducationalAdministrationVol. 52 No. 4, 2014pp. 422-445r Emerald Group Publishing Limited0957-8234DOI 10.1108/JEA-04-2013-0056

This research was supported in part by a grant from the Clemson University Research GrantCommittee. The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Jane Clark Lindle, RobKnoeppel, Marissa L. Whitehouse, Amanda Werts, Emily Green, Mike Campbell, Julie Fowler,and Matt Della Sala.

422

JEA52,4

IntroductionIn the current era of high-stakes accountability, low-performing schools are under constantpressure to raise the measured academic performance of all students. While there areexamples of perennially low-performing schools overcoming challenges, such as highlevels of poverty, to realize academic success for all students (Acker-Hocevar et al., 2012;Chenoweth, 2007, 2009; Thompson et al., 2011), success stories like these often go untold.Our team, like Acker-Hocevar et al. (2012), set out to tell the stories of schools thatovercame challenging circumstances to increase academic achievement for all students.In this case study, we illustrate Principal Arthur Cummings[1] role in raising the academicperformance of students at County Line Middle School (CLMS), a rural, high-povertyschool in a state in the southeastern USA. In examining the case of CLMS, we havefocussed our attention on the contributions of Cummings, for research has consistentlyshown that principal leadership can make a positive, though indirect, contribution tostudent achievement (Day et al., 2011; Hallinger, 2011; Louis et al., 2010). We hasten to note,however, that this is not a case study of a principal single-handedly raising test scores ina test prep factory. Rather, we concur with Papa and English (2011), who noted:

Leaders who turn around low-performing or failing schools cannot do it alone and never do italone. School leadership is about collective actions by a multitude of players and policyactors. Leadership is about working with and through lots of people (p. 4).

Cummings practices were successful in that he adapted proven leadership strategies toengage people in a holistic, authentic way that allowed them to collaboratively addressthe schools challenging socio-cultural and political contexts.

Our core argument through the presentation of this case is that successfulschool leadership is responsive to the socio-political context of schools and theircommunities. Specifically, successful leaders use cultural norms, policies, andthe communitys relationship to the wider culture to attempt to contribute to thewell-being of the students[2]. This view is consistent with Day et al. (2011), who, based onthe results of their multi-year School Leadership and Pupil Outcomes Research (IMPACT)Project in England, and a review international research, reported that:

[y] not only is successful school leadership characterized by robust sets of qualities/practicesthat travel well across a variety of jurisdictions but that these are always selected and appliedin ways that are sensitive to a consideration of personnel, organizational and policy contexts(p. 223).

Research on educational leadership practices has identified four core practices that canenhance student achievement (Day et al., 2011; Leithwood, 2007). Yet, in concert with Papaand English (2011), we believe that effective school leadership is a dynamic combinationof leadership and circumstances embedded in specific contexts (p. 2). As such, in thisstudy we endeavored to identify the way particular leadership practices and beliefs wereadapted to increase student achievement in this rural, high-poverty middle school.

Our research was conducted as part of the 17-nation International Successful SchoolPrincipalship Project (ISSPP) (see Jacobson and Day, 2007; and www.uv.uio.no/ils/english/research/projects/isspp/for more information on the ISSPP). Since 2001, researchersparticipating in this network have conducted research from multiple perspectives tocompare the personal qualities and professional competencies which are generic toeffective headship in schools (Day, 2007, p. 8) with and between national partners.Research conducted by ISSPP network members has shown that successful principalsin elementary and secondary schools can enhance collaboration and create processes toinfuse contextual understanding about cultural diversity, local community expectations

423

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

and student needs while simultaneously responding to accountability pressures (Drysdaleet al., 2009; Giles et al., 2007; Jacobson et al., 2005; Johnson, 2007; Mulford et al., 2008).

While some of the schools studied in this international project were rural schools, inthe USA, the focus has primarily been on high-poverty schools in urban contexts(see Jacobson et al., 2005; Giles et al., 2007; Johnson, 2007; Ylimaki et al., 2012). However,with one in five students in the USA enrolled in rural schools (Strange et al., 2012),there also needs to be careful consideration of leadership in rural contexts.

Literature reviewEffective leadership practicesDecades of research have consistently shown that principal leadership can havea significant effect on student learning (Hallinger, 2011; Hallinger and Heck, 1996;Marzano et al., 2005; Robinson et al., 2008). A review of this research (Day et al., 2011;Leithwood, 2007; Louis et al., 2010) identified four core leadership practices:setting direction, developing people, redesigning the organization, and managing theinstructional program. These core strategies and their associated practices, which weused as a framework for understanding successful leadership, can be seen in Table I.

Yet, as Leithwood et al. (2008) noted, it is not these practices themselves, but themanner in which leaders enact these practices in relation to their unique environments,which determines the degree to which they influence student learning. Ylimaki andJacobsons (2011) recent compendium of case studies of successful leadership acrossmultiple US contexts illustrated how effective leaders intertwined these core practicesto support student achievement. Other research (Klar and Brewer, 2013; Klar et al.,2013; Lindle et al., 2012), has illustrated how successful school leaders enacted thesestrategies via comprehensive school reform efforts.

Leadership in contextThe assertion that leadership practices must be responsive to contextual factors is notnovel. Ancient works on leadership, such as, the Art of War by Sun Tzu (1994) and the

Core categories Practices

Setting directions Building a shared visionFostering the acceptance of group goalsCreating high-performance expectationsCommunicating the direction

Developing people Providing individualized support and considerationOffering intellectual stimulationModeling appropriate values and practices

Redesigning the organization Building collaborative culturesModifying organizational structures to nurture collaborationBuilding productive relations with families and communitiesConnecting the school to the wider community

Managing the instructional program Staffing the instructional programMonitoring progress of students, teachers, and the schoolProviding instructional supportAligning resourcesBuffering staff from distractions to their work

Source: Adapted from Louis et al. (2010, p. 75)

Table I.Core leadership categoriesand practices

424

JEA52,4

Aristotelian notion of Phronesis (Noel, 1999) illustrated this practical and essentialelement of leadership. In more recent research, Ylimaki and Jacobson (2011) describedhow successful school principals in urban, high-poverty schools lead in concert with theircontexts. Bredeson et al. (2011) found in a study of 12 superintendents that leadershipbehavior changed according to variables such as a districts size, culture and norms ofcommunication, as well as the financial and political realities external to the organization.In each case, successful leadership required a dynamic, fluid response to each of theseelements, or what Bredeson et al. referred to as context-responsive leadership.

The notion of context-responsive leadership affirms the work of Hallinger (2003),who, following a review of literature on principal effects (Hallinger and Heck, 1996),reported it is virtually meaningless to study principal leadership without referenceto the school context (p. 346). For Hallinger, a schools context is a source ofconstraints, resources, and opportunities that the principal must understand andaddress in order to lead (p. 346). Hallinger reported that the variables most criticalto principals include the student background, community type, organizationalstructure, school culture, teacher experience and competence, fiscal resources,school size, and bureaucratic and labor organization (p. 346). Given the complexenvironments school leaders find themselves in, it is critical that they possess bothan understanding of effective leadership strategies and the practical wisdom toadapt these practices to their immediate contexts. In Hallingers (2011) review of40 years of research on school leadership, he reported, effective leadership forlearning is adaptive and responsive to the changing conditions of the school overtime (p. 129). This view aligns with the notion that leadership cannot be reduced toa simple list of practices. Rather, as Day et al. (2011) reported, it emphasizes theidea that effective principals are able to enhance student learning through who theyare-their values, virtues, dispositions, attributes and competencies as well as whatthey do in terms of the strategies they select and how they adapt their leadershippractices to their unique context (p. 229).

Leadership in rural contextsThe case study reported below offers an example of how a principal practicedcontext-responsive leadership in a rural area. Therefore, we briefly review literaturein the broad field of rural studies. In doing so we are attempting to offer the readeran entrance to the study of rurality that scholars have developed over time.This literature adds to our analysis of Principal Cummings and his context-specificleadership approach.

In his commentary on research in rural education, Coladarci (2007) noted that, in theUSA there is a recurring assertion that the purest definition of rural entailsa population of fewer than 2,500 people (p. 2). With a population of approximately1,800 people, the town that CLMS is near can confidently be classified as rural.Scholars of rural education have noted that research involving schools in rural settingsoften falls into two major categories: those that intentionally seek to study inherentlyrural phenomena (Coladarci, 2007, p. 3) and those that study schools coincidentallysituated in a rural setting, or what Arnold et al. (2005) refer to as, rural context only(p. 4). As it was the intent of this study to examine successful leadership practices ina high poverty, but not necessarily rural school, we classified CLMS as rural contextonly (Arnold et al., 2005, p. 4). Notwithstanding this classification, given the importanceof context to leadership practices, in this section of the literature review we discuss theunique challenges associated with successfully leading rural schools.

425

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

The rural context. In the USA, a great deal of research is currently centered onleadership in urban schools (see, e.g. Bryk et al., 2010; Portin et al., 2009). While thisfocus is warranted, less attention has been paid to leadership in rural schools. DeYoung(1987) described scholarship on rural education as relatively underdeveloped (p. 123)in the USA. In addition to facing similar challenges as urban school leaders, such asattracting and retaining highly qualified teachers, and providing sufficient support fortraditionally underserved students (Venezia, 2005), principals in rural schools oftenface additional challenges (Chalker, 1999; Starr and White, 2008). Some of thesechallenges include high turnover, small recruitment pools and a lack of communitysupport or involvement (Institute for Educational Leadership, 2005).

Despite these differences, and the fact that rural schools constitute one-third of allschools in the USA (Provasnik et al., 2007, p. III), the reform efforts that have beenundertaken in rural districts have frequently been ones that were developed for non-ruralschools. As Hurley (1999) stated, For too long rural schools have been expected to adoptthe same structures, follow the same rules, and achieve the same goals as larger, urbanand suburban schools (p. 147).

Complicating the roles of rural educators is the perception of inferiority withinmany rural communities. Theobald and Wood (2010) argued that rural residentsreceive these messages from the non-rural, dominant culture, and posited that theseubiquitous messages cannot fail to influence the way rural people come to think ofthemselves (p. 18). Edmondson (2003) noted that rural residents receive the messagethat rural life is somehow less sophisticated and in turn less desirable than lifeelsewhere (p. 4). Sherman (2009) suggested that rural residents are very familiar withterms such as backward, uneducated, and redneck (p. 4) and argued that suchdescriptors serve to reinforce separation (p. 4) between them and urban dwellers.In addition to feelings of inferiority, Edmondson noted that poverty and racism areendemic to life in rural communities.

Schafft and Jackson (2010) stated that standardized reforms such as the No ChildLeft Behind Act (NCLB) (2002) privilege standardized curricula and high-stakesaccountability for test scores over accountability to the contexts of local peopleand places (p. 2). In their case study of three rural districts in upstate NY, Schafftet al. (2010) reported that NCLB had the strongest effects on the most resource-poorschools (p. 109). Jimerson (2005) claimed that the major tenets of NCLB disadvantagestudents in small and rural schools. This bias, which she referred to as placism canbe seen in accountability provisions and sanctions. Jimerson (2005) suggested theseproblems were the result of ignoring, or distorting, the realities of rural schooling(p. 211). A study that examined the leadership challenges faced by principals of ruralAustralian schools (Starr and White, 2008) illustrated that this problem is not unique tothe USA. Starr and White (2008) stated, The principals in this study highlight howone-size-fits-all education policy and practices often disadvantage them, while there is alsoa general lack of policy or provision that relates specifically to small rural schools (p. 10).

Research on rural school leadership is also supported by the more general researchon rural governance that highlights rural communities experiences of change over thepast 30 years. Since the 1980s, there has been a gradual shift in the politics of ruralcommunities away from the traditional concerns of agriculture and local community toa question of development and connection to metropolitan regions (Mormon, 1983).Woods (2006) asserted this has been a shift from rural politics to the politics of therural (p. 580). From this perspective, the social agenda of those who live in rural areasno longer takes center stage; instead there is a contest over the very purpose of the

426

JEA52,4

rural area. That is, everything from the purpose of the land (farming, landfillsfor urban waste, and protection of hunting space) to the development of ruralinfrastructure (roads, power grids, and social structures such as schools) has becomepart of the wider discussion in state and national politics (Woods, 2006). It is throughthese politics that educational leaders must govern schools in concert with othersfrom their communities.

Leading change in rural schools. Leading change in schools has been a subject ofresearch since the early twentieth century (Tyack and Cuban, 1995). Much of this researchhas pointed to the need to ensure that change is comprehensive in scope. As Desimone(2002) argued, in order to bring about change, school reforms must fundamentallychange not only the structure and organization of schools but the curriculum and deliveryof instruction (p. 434). In addition to these changes, for a reform to be sustained, it mustbecome institutionalized, or become a taken-for-granted feature of life in a school(Datnow, 2005, p. 123). In her study of school-wide reforms institutionalized in 13 schools,Datnow emphasized the importance of school leaders understanding local, district, andstate-level contexts in order to sustain these reforms.

Research on leading change in rural schools also emphasizes the need for schoolleaders to be familiar with their school communities, and act in accordance withthem. Semke and Sheridan (2011) noted that, It is becoming increasingly evidentthat context is a significant factor in understanding academic achievement, and thesetting in which a child, family, and school is situated is among the salient contextsinfluencing performance (p. 3). According to Hurley (1999), school leaders in ruralareas learn to embrace more context-specific tactics in order to successfullyenact school change, as rural schools are extensions, or even centers, of diversecommunities (p. 141). Budge (2006) reported that a more complete understandingof a communitys values requires a willingness to be highly visible, accessible,and approachable, as well as to reach out to members of the community to providerationale for district action (p. 7). Masumoto and Brown-Welty (2009) suggested thatformal and informal interactions with the community help to create useful collaborativebonds that assist in accomplishing the schools mission.

As mentioned above, the politics of the rural engender a sense of relocation as thepurpose of the place is redefined. Thus, community building itself takes on a specialimportance as a political project. Theobald (1997) acknowledged that addressing thechallenges such as those posed by negative stereotypes of rural communities isa process that can take many years. However, he also noted that it can be done whenteachers, administrators, and community members work together. Theobald (1997)considered the revitalization of rural communities through curricular and pedagogicalwork in schools [y] a moral endeavor (p. 121).

In this literature review, we have illustrated that though school leaders cantheoretically play a significant role in supporting student achievement through coreleadership practices and comprehensive school reform, their approaches must beenacted in concert with their schools unique contexts. We have also suggested that,rural school communities are currently undergoing shifts as a result of changes in thewider economic, cultural, educational, and political realms. The school principal isa key player in repurposing these changes and mitigating their effects so the interestsof the community are represented in their public schools. Therefore, if we are tounderstand the contribution school leadership can make to positive school change inrural communities, we must look at the nuances of how a school leader can enactleadership strategies while remaining context-responsive.

427

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

MethodsSite selectionWe chose to study CLMS following a multi-step selection process. This process wasboth in accord with the ISSPP research design (Day, 2007), and our interest in studyingsuccessful leadership in high-poverty schools in a state located in the southeasternUSA. To begin the process, we used data available on the states department ofeducation web site to identify all 103 public, non-charter middle schools from 47 schooldistricts in one region of the state. Using these schools Absolute Indices[3] as anoutcome variable, we conducted a multiple linear regression to identify schools thatperformed better than expected given their levels of poverty and other school-relatedfactors. We entered the predictor variables for this analysis in three steps. These variablesincluded the Poverty Index, school enrollment, percentage of prior adequate yearlyprogress (AYP) objectives met, percentage of students with disabilities other than speech,and nine indicators of parent, teacher, and student satisfaction with the learningenvironment, social and physical environment and school/home relations. The model thatincluded all of these variables was statistically significant, explaining about 90 percent ofthe variance in schools absolute indices (R2 0.896, F 64.04, po0.05). We next sortedschools with the highest positive residual scores to those with the highest negativeresidual scores, which essentially provided a ranking of schools from those thatperformed better-than-expected to those that performed worse-than-expected. Next,we limited our selection to schools that had a Poverty Index of 80 percent or more.From this pool of schools, we further narrowed our selection by only examining schoolswhere the current principal had served for at least three years, and there had been anincrease in the Absolute Index during the principals tenure. We also examined otherpublicly available data such as school report cards and lists of state and national awardwinners. After three potential schools were identified, we interviewed relevant districtofficials to discuss their perspectives of each principals contribution to the increasedacademic achievement at their school. Following this lengthy selection process, we choseto study CLMS and its principal, Dr Arthur Cummings as his case provided the mostillustrative opportunity to examine how leadership was enacted in context.

CLMS. CLMS was located at the center of its large attendance area, through whichstudents travelled up to 20 miles from all directions to attend school. Commercialfarms, modest houses, and mobile homes surrounded CLMS. The Poverty Index ofCLMSs attendance area was 82 percent.

Approximately 400 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students attended CLMS. Ofthese students, 65 percent were white, 30 percent were African-American, and 5 percentwere Hispanic. Totally, 11 percent of students had disabilities other than speech. To createthe school, sixth-grade classes from each of the surrounding elementary schools, andseventh- and eighth-grade classes from the neighboring high school were amalgamated.

In 2009-2010, the most recent year for which data were available, CLMSs ratings werethe highest among demographically similar schools. In recognition of CLMSs increasedacademic achievement, it had also won numerous state awards for academic achievementand closing the achievement gap. According to the most recent state report card (2010),the average achievement gap between white and African American students wasapproximately 10 percentage points. This contrasted with the achievement gap at thedistrict and state levels, where there was a difference of between 15 and 20 percentagepoints. In addition to a higher rating on the states academic achievement index, CLMShad met 19 of 21 AYP objectives for the last two years. This was an increase fromachieving only 13 of 21 objectives in 2008.

428

JEA52,4

As can be seen in Table II, during the seven years the principal had been at CLMS,both the Academic Index and the Growth Index had increased. The Growth Index isa measure of student growth over the previous year, and is reported using the sameratings as the Absolute Index. As reflected in this table, though academic achievementimproved during the principals tenure, it took several years, and remained modest.Nevertheless, this increase in achievement was affirmed by one teacher, who noted,[it] took several years to make the changes in staff and teacher attitudes and to set upnew programs (survey respondent 9). While growth in academic achievement atCLMS alone was impressive, it had also received the Red Carpet award several times inrecognition of its family-friendly atmosphere.

Principal Cummings. Arthur Cummings, a white male in his 50s, was in his seventhyear as principal at CLMS at the time this study was conducted. Prior to arriving at theschool, he had been principal at another middle school for three years and an assistantprincipal and a teacher before that. Though Cummings was not from the area in whichCLMS was located, he grew up in a community described as being similar to the onesurrounding the school.

Data collectionOur research team visited CLMS for two full days to conduct interviews, collect data,and observe normal school activities. We conducted semi-structured interviews ofbetween 20 and 60 minutes in length with the principal, other administrators, teachers,staff, and parents. The teachers who were interviewed were arranged by the principalon the basis that they were familiar with his work at the school, and, whereverpossible, had been at the school prior to his arrival. A specific breakdown of theinterview participants and their roles can be seen in Table III.

Years principal at CLMS School year Absolute index Growth index

7. 2009-2010 Average Good6. 2008-2009 Average Average5. 2007-2008 Below average Below average4. 2006-2007 Below average At-risk3. 2005-2006 Below average Average2. 2004-2005 Below average Below average1. 2003-2004 Below average Below average

Notes: School report cards provided by the State Department of Education. Both indices are reportedusing the following rating scale: at-risk, below average, average, above average, good, and excellent

Table II.CLMS ratings 2003-2010

Interview number Participant role Length in minutes

1. Principal 602. Assistant principal 453. Two 8th grade teachers 304. Two 7th grade teachers 255. Two 6th grade teachers 256. SIC chair/instructional coach 307. Two parents 208. Principal 20

Table III.CLMS interview

participants

429

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

We interviewed the participants using semi-structured interview protocols adaptedfrom ISSPP protocols to gather information related to the participants perceptions ofthe schools challenges, the strategies that had helped address those challenges, and thedegree to which the schools success could be attributed to the principal. The protocolswere developed and validated by ISSPP researchers and have been used in thedevelopment of numerous case studies of effective school leadership in the countrieswhere ISSPP researchers are located.

We recorded all interviews and transcribed them in their entirety. We also collecteddocuments related to school activities, such as school report data, and professionaldevelopment and school improvement initiatives. We took field notes of activitiesobserved during the two days, and members of the research teammet at the completionof the visit to compare field notes.

Following our visit, we sent an online survey to the entire teaching staff to allow fora broader representation of responses than the eight teachers who were interviewed.All 27 CLMS teachers completed the entire survey. The survey was also developed andvalidated by a panel of ISSPP researchers. It has been piloted by two other US-basedresearch teams, and used in the development of several case studies of effective schoolleadership in the USA. The survey included both open-ended questions and Likert-scaleitems designed to assess teachers perceptions of the following:

. the current level of academic achievement;

. the amount of change in academic achievement in the previous five years;

. the instructional practices in the school, and the extent to which the principalcontributed to the practices;

. issues related to school capacity and the principals role in building thatcapacity;

. the degree to which the principal felt accountable to various stakeholders;

. the challenges that existed in the school, and how the principal worked to resolvethem; and

. the degree to which students were supported by the broader learning environment.

Using SPSS Version 21, we conducted a reliability analysis of all survey responses.The result was a Cronbachs a of 0.986, indicating a high level of internal consistency.This result corresponds with the 0.95 that Bennett et al. (2013) found when administeringthe survey to a similar sample of 27 teachers in Arizona.

Data analysisIn order to develop our case study of Cummings and CLMS, we qualitatively analyzedthe data collected before, during, and after our site visits (Corbin and Strauss, 2008).Interview transcripts, field notes, and documents were analyzed both inductively anddeductively (Patton, 1990) using NVivo 9. Coding was initially done individually usingthe core leadership practices as a conceptual framework, while remaining open to otherthemes emerging. Following our first cycle of data analysis, a common codebook wascreated and a second cycle of coding was performed as a group (Saldana, 2009).Through an iterative process, we developed and refined our coding scheme as weattempted to ascertain the story behind the change at CLMS (Ryan and Bernard, 2000).Information collected from the interviews served as the primary source of data for this

430

JEA52,4

study, while information collected from the online survey and other sources was usedto corroborate the findings. The themes that arose from our analysis made it evidentthat we should present our findings via an instrumental case study in order to provideinsight into a specific subject of interest (Stake, 1995).

Given that the result of our work is an instrumental case study, and our focus wason how the principal adapted his leadership practices to the specific challenges of hisgiven time and place, we do not consider this research to be generalizable ina statistical sense. However, in the research tradition of the case study, we feel it offersimportant lessons for leaders of schools similar to CLMS. Further, we anticipate thatthe findings of this study will serve as a starting point for the development of furtherresearch on context-responsive leadership in rural schools.

FindingsIn the following case study, we provide a brief discussion of the challenges thatCummings faced when he began his tenure at the school. We then describe how heenacted the four core leadership strategies in concert with CLMS unique context, aswell as how he personally connected to the school community.

ChallengesUpon arriving at CLMS, Cummings was faced with a number of challenges, includinglow-academic achievement, limited fiscal resources, geographic isolation, and accountabilitydemands. A seventh-grade teacher noted that when Cummings arrived at CLMS it wasthe laughing stock of the district, always scoring much lower than the other middleschools on state tests. Soon after Cummings first arrived at CLMS he attendeda district-level meeting where he learned first hand how poorly his school faredcompared to other middle schools in the district. He reported:

When I came here, I went to a district meeting. I went into a little conference room. It had fourmiddle school principals in there, and they had a PowerPoint flipped up there, and they wereshowing the ELA scores for the last year. [School name], number one. [School name], numbertwo. [School name], number three. County Line, number four. And they also had the percent ofyour students who passed, and it was an unreal difference between third and fourth. It waslike twenty-something percentage points. And then we looked at math and science and socialstudies. Im not talking about just being last. Im talking about a huge difference.

This meeting was a poignant moment in the history of CLMS. As illustrated in thefollowing sections, Cummings used his schools poor academic performance relative toother middle schools in the district to motivate teachers and students to realize higherlevels of academic achievement for all students, in a sense taking the ubiquitousmessages of inferiority and turning them around (Theobald and Wood, 2010, p. 18).

Of course his reframing did not immediately change the minds of the students.Cummings reported a conversation he had with a student in the lead up to state testing:

I said, Were going to beat those city schools. And this boy said, We cant beat them. I said,What do you mean we cant beat them? He said, Dont you know, were dumb kids? Were thedumb school. I said, Youre not dumb. So I had to overcome their belief that they couldnt do it.

Cummings went on to explain that some teachers also felt students could not achieveacademically and how he tried to overcome this attitude:

Some of the teachers didnt believe that they could actually achieve. And so we had toovercome that. And thats whenwe started doing lots of incentives, lots of rewards, and lots ofpraising students to get to that point.

431

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

Cummings also had to contend with a dour economic situation that resulted in financialcutbacks. District and statewide fiscal constraints resulted in cuts in fundingfor conference attendance, professional development, and substitute teachers. In eachof the previous two years, teachers had been furloughed for five days. As one of thesixth-grade teachers noted, that kind of wipes out any professional development.

County Lines remote location was another challenge to the school. One aspect ofthis remoteness was the lack of a community center around which students andfamilies in the attendance area could coalesce. As a seventh-grade teacher said, In ourcommunity we are really spread out. There is no little town that people cling to.This lack of community was something that Cummings tried to address in his time atthe school as evidenced by the second seventh-grade teacher who reported, You know,these kids come together [from all directions to] this little spot out in [our state],so there is no community feeling here, you know. So hes kind of tried to make that withthe school.

Another aspect of the schools remote location that challenged Cummings wasbeing able to attract high-quality teachers. When CLMS was being staffed in its firstyear, local principals were asked to recommend teachers to send to the school.According to one participant, this resulted in principals sending their worstteachers. In his first interview, Cummings noted how this process gave the schoola poor start. He stated, There were lots of teachers who didnt like kids. Some ofthem were incompetent teachers.

Despite these local challenges, Cummings, like all principals, was pressed to meetstate and federal accountability policies. Cummings acknowledged the challenges ofmeeting the demands stemming from these policies and described doing so as beingsimilar to chasing a moving train. He also said, Its killing us, you know. I feel likejust when were about to catch the caboose, they speed it up.

Setting directionTo set a positive direction for CLMS, Cummings built a shared vision, communicateda new direction, and held both teachers and students to high-performance expectations.Cummings vision grew from a combination of his own desires for the students andthe communitys desire to have a school they could be proud of. After returning from thedistrict meeting where he learned of the large discrepancy between academic achievementat CLMS and other middle schools in the county, Cummings addressed his faculty.He described the meeting this way:

So I came back to my faculty, and I got them in there, and I said, Let me tell you something.I sat through an embarrassing meeting. I said, Im not sitting through that next year. I said,Weve got this test coming up at the end of this year, and were going to do something. Werenot going to be last on everything.

Following this meeting, Cummings began to set the new direction by engenderinga family atmosphere at the school, recognizing both students and teachers for variousachievements, and raising expectations.

Two themes addressed in many interviews with Cummings and the teachers werethat the school lacked a symbolic community center, and many students did not comefrom supportive backgrounds. As such, there was an effort on the part of Cummingsand the staff to provide familiar support and a community feel for students at theschool. An eighth-grade teacher noted that the schools theme for the 2012-2013 schoolyear was in fact family. This teacher explained, I think these kids feel like no matter

432

JEA52,4

whats going on at home, this is my family. And we just try to build them up. Cummingslater acknowledged that creating a family environment was part of his vision forthe school.

Another key strategy Cummings employed to set a new direction at CLMS wasrecognizing students and teachers. A sixth-grade teacher said, From birthday booksto Pride in the Principal to County Lines Finest they are awarded at all angles, andthats something I think the kids really enjoy. County Lines Finest was an award forstudents who received As, Bs, and Cs on their quarterly report cards. Studentsreceiving this award got a prize at the school store. The assistant principal explainedthat, while most schools only reward students who receive As and Bs, at CLMS theywant to let students know that As Bs and Cs are okay, that Were getting where weneed to be. The Pride of the Principal award is given to students nominated by theirclass teachers. Students receive a certificate and have their picture taken withCummings. In this way, students are rewarded for academic success as well as otherachievements. A sixth-grade teacher reported, He recognizes kids over and over andover again. And comes up with ways to do that. An eighth-grade teacher explainedhow she saw the recognition of students as both signifying the school vision andcreating the family feeling. She emphasized that this is how he communicates what isimportant, and creates the family feel thats missing for some students. Her felloweighth-grade teacher said:

If any kid wins a writing award [y] theyre recognized. Teachers are recognized. You know,anybody thats done anything. Its that community feel, you know.

The instructional coach noted that Cummings used the awards as an opportunity toreward students for a variety of activities and tried to ensure a socio-economic andracial balance among students who received awards. She reported:

He worries about if all of the well-to-do kids are receiving all the awards. He never fudges thenumbers, but if anything is subjective, hes like, Is there an African American kid that youcould see in that same spot? I know this kid pops to your mind, but all these children arewhite. And then the teachers are like, Oh my gosh! They are! Really? He really keeps thatin check, and I think its a good thing.

Thus, the development of community and a clear direction was purposefully created intwo ways. First, students enjoyed positive interactions with adults at school. Second,this praise became a public event in which parents, grandparents, and othercommunity members were encouraged to participate. In addition to rewardingstudents, Cummings devised ways to reward teachers. This was done in part throughthe monthly Golden Apple award and the Teacher of the Year award.

As well as using student and faculty awards to communicate what was important,Cummings used daily e-mails and other time together with students and staff tocommunicate his expectations. On Monday mornings he shared The Week at a Glance,providing an overview for the week and highlighting important events. The sixth-gradeteachers reported that all teachers received a daily e-mail in which, the very last sentenceis bell to bell. As the school did not actually have a bell schedule, teachers notedthis was Cummings way of reminding them to make the most of each class period.As a sixth-grade teacher explained, Bell to bell is his little way of saying from the timeyou shut your door to the end of class, you should be engaged. You know, your kidsshould be engaged.

Teachers were aware of Cummings high expectations, but also acknowledged thathe supported them in achieving these expectations. A teacher said, He really pushes

433

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

the test scores [y] but he tries to do it in a positive light. Another teacher reported,I have been here ever since he has been here and the reading has always been a bigpush. When asked how Cummings promoted success in reading, the teacher replied,He just really encourages, you know, he wants us to be cross-curriculum. He thinksthats beneficial [y] and he just really says, try to plan with your group, the wholeunity and team thing.

The notions of family and community pride clearly played an important role inCummings vision for CLMS. Although, like all principals, Cummings was accountablefor student achievement on state standardized tests, he used the accountability systemto highlight local values, such as family and hard work to create a shared vision for theschool and the value of education. One survey respondent reported:

Dr Cummings has fought hard to [y] make both students and parents realize that truesuccess in life can be achieved through education. That students can be more than the poorcircumstances that may surround them. Dr. Cummings has challenged all of his staff to notaccept the culture of apathy. We continually push our students to do better, not to acceptalright. [y] This is a constant struggle for us as teachers and for our students to grasp andunderstand. But it is a fight we are unwilling to give up on.

Developing peopleTo develop people Cummings modeled values and practices that resonated with theschool community and provided intellectual stimulation through professionaldevelopment. However, he made this context specific by attaching status to thework of becoming a great teacher. That is, he reframed the teaching job as one witha high degree of moral capital (Sherman, 2009, p. 68). He also offered individualsupport and consideration for teachers, reminding them of their importance inthe community.

One way Cummings displayed appropriate values and practices was by motivatingstudents to do their best. One eighth-grade teacher noted that Cummings oftenencouraged students in both verbal and non-verbal ways:

He encourages them in so many nonverbal ways. He goes out and has recess duty [y] and hejust promotes you can do it if you put your mind to it. And he likes to give them things andencourage them verbally.

Cummings encouraged his teachers to collaborate and share instructional practices.He fostered this practice by having teachers observe each other and share the thingsthey learned during the observations at staff meetings. He also encouraged teachers toshare with teachers at other schools by presenting at conferences and the districtsinstructional fair. An eighth-grade teacher reported:

He encourages us to present [at the district instructional fair] to share what were doing withother schools. A lot of principals are like Dont tell them. We want to keep that our secret,you know. But hes very open to sharing.

In addition, Cummings values and work ethic were things members of the schoolcommunity felt were important factors in their schools success. The instructionalcoach said, Hes here early. He stays late. You can ride by parents ride by going totown and from town and see his car here. And thats very important to people in thiscommunity, is work ethic. These quotes suggest that Cummings was tapping into thelocal social capital structure much like the one described by Sherman (2009) in her casestudy of poverty and morality in the USA.

434

JEA52,4

Cummings offered intellectual stimulation to teachers by providing professionaldevelopment related to teaching literacy himself, rather than paying to havespeakers come to the school (again showing his willingness to work). Other waysCummings supported teachers professional learning was through peer observationsand book studies.

As mentioned above, Cummings also provided individual support and considerationas a way to develop people. An eighth-grade teacher explained that Cummings workedclosely with teachers throughout the school year. She explained:

He meets with us to say What are you doing in your classroom? What do you think youshould do, based on these scores, based on their achievement so far with you?

A seventh-grade teacher echoed this sentiment noting that he tried to help people outthat were struggling. Cummings balanced his high expectations for instruction witha concern for individuals. An eighth-grade teacher reported:

And then anything thats going on in our lives, he recognizes. You know, someones havingsurgery, someones family member just passed away, someones had a great day. [y]And that creates a closer bond with all of us and makes us more likely to work together. Now,were a small school, and its easier for us to do that, but it builds that again, that communitysense, that family feel.

Redesigning the organizationAnother core strategy employed by Cummings was redesigning the organization.Specifically, he restructured the organization to support collaboration and the buildingof collaborative cultures. He also connected the school to the wider community andbuilt relationships with families. Cummings built collaborative cultures througha range of strategies, including building teams, providing time for people to worktogether, encouraging sharing, and publically acknowledging people for their efforts.

These particular approaches were both made easier by and conducive to the structureof middle schools in the USA, where students within grade levels are often organized intoteams and have the same group of teachers for all core subjects. This formation isintended to provide a supportive environment for students while providing teachers theopportunity to collectively address the needs of the students in their teams.

A particular aspect of the collaborative culture that emerged at CLMS was thefamily or community feel intentionally fostered by Cummings. One eighth-gradeteacher talked about the community feeling among teachers. She stated:

We get together, and we feed off what these children need, and we pride ourselves on beingreactive to what they need more so than just what the State Department says we need to do atthat time.

Cummings created teacher teams and provided time to meet during the regularschool day that may have contributed to this feeling. An eighth-grade teacher noted,We meet every Tuesday during our planning time, and more during the week if weneed to. The opportunity to observe their peers teaching was another way thatteachers formed collaborative relationships. The other eighth-grade teacher reportedthat the conversations teachers had after observing each others lessons fosteredcontinuing dialogues.

As pointed to above, Cummings was able to increase parental involvement in schoolactivities and to make parents feel comfortable talking with him about their childrensprogress at school. One open-ended survey question asked teachers to describe CLMSs

435

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

challenges and Cummings response to them. Several teachers indicated that a lack ofparental involvement in their childs education was one of the most significantobstacles. Survey respondent number eight reported that Cummings addressed thesechallenges by making sure that, opportunities are available for parents to see firsthand what their child is doing in school. Other strategies described in this teachersresponse included: first, holding school functions at times convenient for most parents;second, notifying parents of school activities well in advance; and third, encouragingteachers to notify parents about student progress on a regular basis. Survey respondent20 noted that Cummings used band and chorus events to get parents involved in schoolactivities. This teacher also noted that Cummings provided dinner before PTA meetings,and held an open house before family reading nights to attract more parents to schoolfunctions. When the instructional coach was asked how the school responded to thechallenge of parental apathy, she replied, by reaching out. She elaborated that a specificstrategy was to encourage families to come to the summer reading celebration and thefamily reading nights. She remembered:

You know, theyll sign up and theyll bring Grandma, and theyll bring all the little brothersand sisters. But thats such a good thing because Grandma goes out into the community andsays, Boy, we had the nicest time at County Line Middle School the other day. And thatsreally good PR for us, and making parents feel comfortable about coming in the building.

Another teacher (number 23) reported that, Our principal actively encouragescommunity members to get involved in the school and its activities at every chance.Many parents attend the Monday morning awards ceremonies and the annual familynight. Totally, 97 percent of parents also attended parent-teacher conferences. All of thesechanges had been implemented as part of the schools comprehensive focus on literacy.

In addition to parents and families, Cummings also reached out to communityorganizations to get funding and support for the school. These organizations, which oftenhad connections to parents of CLMS students, included local charities and companies,one of which provided CLMS with funding to support their summer reading program forthe previous five years.

Managing the instructional programIn order to manage the instructional program Cummings first aligned resources to theliteracy goals. He also monitored school activities, provided instructional support, andencouraged innovation. The community in general suffered from a lack of wealth so hismanagement of school funds needed to resonate with the local value of stewardship.

Under Cummings leadership, classrooms at CLMS were equipped with clickers andsmart boards, and there were laptop computers available for classes to use. However,a criterion for determining whether these items were needed was how well they alignedto the state standards. One seventh-grade teacher reported, We dont have a lot of money,but he gets us materials if we really need them. The instructional coach echoed thissentiment noting He doesnt hoard our money, but hes very careful. She complimentedhis stewardship, explaining that he did a fantastic job of spending our money to get thebiggest bang for our buck academically.

One aspect frequently reported by school staff was that Cummings continuallymonitored school activities. Describing him as always in the hallways, an eighth-gradeteacher reported, Hes very accessible to us and to the students, and that makes a bigdifference. In addition to being visible in the corridor, Cummings also regularly visitedclassrooms. Cummings, the assistant principal, and the instructional coach also regularly

436

JEA52,4

reviewed lesson plans and formally visited classes. An eighth-grade teacher described thetype of feedback teachers received after classroom visits. She stated, they make positivecomments on things theyd like to see more of. Or if were trying something new, theyllsay, Let me know how that goes. Id be interested to hear that. This teacher alsoreported that Cummings frequently asked, Where do you want the children to be at theend of this activity?

A number of CLMS staff lamented the fact that their success was judged bystudents results on state tests. As a result of this pressure, the instructional coachdescribed Cummings as very test score conscious, and that he meets with theteachers and they have to review their test scores. Cummings acknowledged that of allthe responsibilities he shared with other staff, analyzing test data was the last one hewould relinquish.

In addition to providing staff with professional development and support himself,Cummings also provided instructional support through a system of peer observations.

An eighth-grade teacher reported that peer observations were a good way to learnfrom peers in other subject areas, or with particular strengths, such as using technologyin the classroom. The other eighth-grade teacher reported that Cummings tried tohelp them improve their instruction in any way he could. She noted, Hes always veryHow can I help you? What do you need form me? I might not be able to provide suppliesfor your class, but what can I do to help you? How can you help one another?

As previously noted, inheriting some poor quality teachers was one of the manychallenges Cummings encountered upon arriving at CLMS. Though Cummings did notlike to describe removing poor quality teachers as an effective strategy, he said thatultimately, Im looking out for the students. As such, staffing the program with effectiveteachers was another of his key strategies related to managing the instructional program.Cummings noted that the collapse of the economy had actually been a benefit for him ashe was able to get some people from up north that couldnt find jobs up there [y].And its worked. Ive got some really good people. Faced with the threat of losing some ofthose teachers due to budget cuts, Cummings worked hard to advocate for his staff ata school board meeting, as he described in his second interview:

I went before the board and I said, Listen, all of our teachers are outstanding teachers hereand Im proud of them, but theres three who have gone their scores are through the roof andI cant afford to lose them. So whatever yall decide tonight on this budget, please leave theteachers alone.

To emphasize how important these teachers were to his school, Cummings createda certificate called Exemplary Teachers of CLMS and presented it to them before theboard. Though Cummings was unsure of the degree to which he influenced the boardsdecision, all staff received a reduction in pay in lieu of any teachers losing their jobs.

Despite Cummings insistence that teachers taught to the state standards,a seventh-grade teacher pointed out that, He lets you kind of do it your way, as long as itssuccessful [y]. And so hes real good about letting you sing the way you sing, you know.An eighth-grade teacher explained that not only are teachers encouraged to try newthings, but to share their innovations with their colleagues. In this way he encouragedinstruction that resonated with students and their experiences in a rural location.

Connecting to the local communityIn addition to enacting the four core leadership practices in concert with the CLMScontext, Cummings ability to connect to the community appeared to strongly influence

437

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

his ability to lead meaningful change at the school. Several interview participants notedthat Cummings was from a community similar to the one surrounding CLMS, and that heregularly shared his experiences growing up there. The instructional coach said:

I think he was probably raised in a community thats a lot like ours. He has a greatunderstanding of the kind of students that we work with, the kind of families that we work with.I think thats been a huge factor in our success.

Cummings himself felt his story was an important influence on his leadership practicesand shared it during our first interview:

I grew up poor, and I feel like I can relate to poor students economically. When I grew up,I would go to church activities and so forth, and I would notice some of my friends when theywould go home from church, they went home to a lot better house thanwe had. And I was likewell, how come that is? Because my dad worked hard, my mom worked hard, but we didnthave anything close to what my friends had. And then I started trying to figure it out as a kid.And it finally hit me, it was education. Their parents had a college education or even highschool. My dad had a seventh-grade education. And so I realized early on, I said you knowwhat? If I want to have the things that other people have, Ive got to get an education. Thatsthe key.

During our visits, members of the school community regularly described Cummingsability to relate to the students and connect to the wider community as importantfactors in the schools success. The instructional coach noted, Hes very diplomatic,but he also has that country boy mentality from where he came, and I think it worksreally well here at this school.

A theme that was repeated in a number of interviews was that Cummings waspersonable, yet serious and committed to the students. A seventh-grade teacher noted,hes such a good guy and he really cares about the kids. The instructional coach said,I think it shines through because he really does care about the parents and the kids.People also described Cummings as conservative. A seventh-grade teacher describedhow he was reserved in formal settings, yet enjoyed interacting with students in lessformal settings. She reported, Hes really kind of conservative when hes in front of thekids, but hell get out there and play intramurals with them and stuff like that and theyjust love that.

Discussion and conclusionThe purpose of this study was to identify how particular leadership practices and beliefswere adapted to increase student achievement in a rural, high-poverty middle school.The core leadership practices (Louis et al., 2010) provided a useful framework forexamining Cummings leadership practices at CLMS. Cummings addressed the manyschool and community challenges he encountered at CLMS through direction setting,developing people, redesigning of the organization, and managing the instructionalprogram. However, as Leithwood et al. (2008) noted, it was not the practices themselves,but the manner in which Cummings applied these practices in concert with his uniqueenvironment, which determined the degree to which he was able to influence studentlearning. Indeed, the practical wisdom Cummings demonstrated by employing the corestrategies in concert with his unique context suggested that simply knowing what thecore strategies were was a necessary, but insufficient precondition to school improvement.Rather, our findings indicate that it was Cummings understanding of how to lead inconcert with his local context that determined the success of his leadership efforts.Our findings showed that effective school leadership in this case proved to indeed be

438

JEA52,4

a dynamic combination of leadership and circumstances embedded in specific contexts(Papa and English, 2011, p. 2). In particular, as Datnow (2005) discovered in her study ofsuccessful school reforms, Cummings understood how local, district, and state-levelcontexts affected his school and responded in ways that were both place-conscious(Gruenewald, 2003, p. 620) and context-responsive (Bredeson et al., 2011).

Cummings efforts to set a positive direction at CLMS required directly confrontingthe inferiority complex most poignantly encapsulated by the student who innocentlyasked, Dont you know [y] were the dumb school? Though this perception is notuncommon in rural communities (Edmondson, 2003; Sherman, 2009; Theobald andWood, 2010), mitigating this belief required setting high expectations, and holdingstudents and staff accountable for reaching new goals. It also led to Cummingssymbolically recognizing progression toward this new direction, by rewarding studentsfor demonstrations of good character and academic achievement, even if they were onlygetting where [they needed] to be.

In his attempts to support the development of others at CLMS, Cummingsdemonstrated the moral imperative (Theobald, 1997, p. 122), hard work, and commitmentrequired to raise students, teachers, and communitymembers expectations. His personaland professional support of individual teachers and prominent visibility reinforced hiscommitment, and resonated with the values of this particular community. In addition,our case suggests that by asking all members of the community to engage in the work ofeducating children, Cummings made the moral capital available to more members of thecommunity. As one survey respondent noted, there are parents who are not sure how togo about helping their students. Cummings was able to address both the issues of apathytoward education, and a lack of understanding about how to assist their children inschool, by encouraging families to become involved in activities at the school, such asopen-houses, concerts, and award nights. Once at these events, parents, like the students,became engaged in the schools activities, and learned how they could support theirchildren at home inways they had not envisioned before. The school thus became a placewhere family help and moral capital could be acquired (Sherman, 2009, p. 27)

As Schafft and Jackson (2010) found in their research in rural school districts, thedemands of NCLB clearly affected life at CLMS. However, Cummings did not merelyencourage teachers to focus on better test preparation. Rather, he worked with faculty andparents inways that met students individual needs. In addition, he attempted to enrich thecurriculum and provide stronger connections to the community through extra-curricularactivities like outdoor clubs, service learning, and charity events, and by encouragingteachers to teach the state-standardized curriculum in ways they thought best metthe needs of their students. This allowed for a more place-conscious (Gruenewald, 2003,p. 620), and, arguably, more engaging curriculum for students at CLMS.

Teachers and staff at CLMS described feeling like a family and having a sense ofpride at being able to respond to the individual needs of the students. These feelingswere attributed in part to Cummings creating opportunities for teachers to collaborateand share instructional strategies for supporting students. Cummings and the teacherscreated opportunities for the CLMS parents to get involved in school activities in waysthey felt comfortable doing so. By having teachers working more collectively inside theschool, and increasing interactions with parents and others outside the school,Cummings was able to engender collaborative bonds that resulted in more focussedattention on academic achievement (Masumoto and Brown-Welty, 2009). Though therewas little evidence of parents being empowered to the point of having a large influenceon decision making related to school activities, there was evidence of an increase in the

439

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

social and moral capital of parents in that they more actively participated in schoolactivities and more ably supported learning at home.

Cummings and his community confronted the changing politics of the rural whileopening multiple routes to success and the meeting the accountability demandsassociated with NCLB. In responding to this challenge, Cummings initiated a school-wide reform effort suited to the communitys needs, interests, and values. Cummingscontribution was that he utilized his understanding of low income, rural communitiesto guide his leadership practices in the schools he served. Numerous interviewparticipants described how Cummings used his skills and experiences to relate to andmotivate students and staff at CLMS. As a result of his efforts, he was able to engageschool and community members to address the state and federal accountabilitymeasures in a way that was meaningful to the community.

Cummings ability to relate to the CLMS community does not suggest thata principal needs to be from the same or a similar community in order to be successful.However, it does emphasize the importance of understanding a communitys needs,culture, norms, and values, and exercising leadership in accordance with them.Our findings also suggest that successful rural school principals can use an understandingof their school communities and the ways they are connected to and isolated fromdominant sub-urban and urban societies to build enthusiasm and capacity throughappeals to local values. In doing so, they may be able to reframe the external pressures,such as state and federal accountability measures, and address the evolving politics of therural to maintain a sense of local autonomy.

Our findings also have implications for principal preparation programs. The resultsof this study indicate that principals should not only be introduced to research-basedleadership strategies, but that they also need to develop the ability to enact themin concert within unique school and community contexts. In terms of leading change inrural schools, aspiring principals need to learn to recognize the unique challengesencountered in leading such schools. In particular, they need to understand thenotion of placism ( Jimerson, 2005) as it applies to rural communities. For manyrural school leaders this may mean being equipped with strategies to address theoften-pervasive belief that rural communities and their residents are inferior to theirsub-urban and urban cousins (Edmondson, 2003; Sherman, 2009; Theobald and Wood,2010). Such strategies may need to be focussed on developing and communicatinga vision that is counter to what stakeholders and in the school and community imaginebeing possible.

In addition, aspiring rural school principals need to understand and be preparedto address the negative impact of school reform efforts, such as NCLB, on theirschools ( Jimerson, 2005; Schafft and Jackson, 2010; Starr and White, 2008). As notedby these scholars, school reform efforts are generally designed for urban contexts,and one-size-fits-all designs can in fact disadvantage rural school communities.As such, principals need to be able to identify and mitigate the negative effectsreforms can have on their rural communities.

These findings also support Budges (2006) suggestions that aspiringprincipals need to learn how to assess a communitys values in order to effectivelylead change. This, according to Budge, requires being visible and accessible to thecommunity and reaching out to the community to create collaborative bonds.As noted by Masumoto and Brown-Welty (2009), and illustrated by the principalin this case study, this can be achieved through a combination of formal andinformal interactions.

440

JEA52,4

Finally, the findings from this study substantiate the findings of Crow (2007), who,in analyzing other ISSPP cases, suggested that the manner in which a principalsexperience and other personal characteristics (p. 73) influences leadership practicesis an area which still requires further research. Further research is required in this areato help determine specifically how principals decide to adapt their practices and howthey determine which practices would be most suitable. This research is important forpreparing aspiring leaders for rural schools as well as for supporting the currentleaders of one-third of the nations schools.

Notes

1. All names of persons and schools are pseudonyms.

2. There are important critiques of policy and the growing normalization of neo-liberaldiscourses in education (see Ball, 2009; Sherman, 2009). However, in the presentation of thiscase we highlight how a principal used or consumed the available resources to improvea local school (de Certeau, 1984).

3. The Absolute Index is calculated by using a combination of weighted scores from standardizedEnglish language arts, math, science, and social studies exams. The index is reported in bothnumerical terms and ratings. The ratings are at-risk, below average, average, above average,good, and excellent.

References

Acker-Hocevar, M.A., Cruz-Janzen, M.I. and Wilson, C.I. (2012), Leadership from the Ground Up:Effective Schooling in Traditionally Low Performing Schools, Information Age Publishing,Charlotte, NC.

Arnold, M., Newman, J., Gaddy, B. and Dean, C. (2005), A look at the condition of rural educationresearch: setting a direction for future research, Journal of Research in Rural Education, Vol. 20No. 6, pp. 1-25, available at: http://jrre.psu.edu/articles/20-6.pdf (accessed December 1, 2012).

Ball, S. (2009), The governance turn!, Journal of Education Policy, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 537-538.

Bennett, J.V., Ylimaki, R.M., Dugan, T.M. and Brunderman, L.A. (2013), Developing the potential forsustainable improvement in underperforming schools: capacity building in the socio-culturaldimension, Journal of Educational Change, pp. 1-33, doi:10.1007/s10833-013-9217-6.

Bredeson, P.V., Klar, H.W. and Johansson, O. (2011), Context-responsive leadership: examiningsuperintendent leadership in context, Educational Policy Analysis Archives, Vol. 19 No. 18,pp. 1-28, available at: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/739 (accessed December 1, 2012).

Bryk, A.S., Sebring, P.B., Allensworth, E., Luppescu, S. and Easton, J.Q. (2010), OrganizingSchools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

Budge, K. (2006), Rural leaders, rural places: problem, privilege, and possibility, Journal ofResearch in Rural Education, Vol. 21 No. 13, pp. 1-10, available at: http://jrre.psu.edu/articles/21-13.pdf (accessed December 1, 2012).

Chalker, D.M. (Ed.) (1999), Leadership for Rural Schools: Lessons for All Educators, TechnomicPublishing, Lancaster, PA.

Chenoweth, K. (2007), Its Being Done: Academic Success in Unexpected Schools, HarvardEducation Press, Cambridge, MA.

Chenoweth, K. (2009), How its Being Done: Urgent Lessons from Unexpected Schools, HarvardEducation Press, Cambridge, MA.

Coladarci, T. (2007), Improving the yield of rural education research: an editors swan song,Journal of Research in Rural Education, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 1-9, available at: http://jrre.psu.edu/articles/22-3.pdf (accessed December 1, 2012).

441

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

Corbin, J.M. and Strauss, A.L. (2008), Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Proceduresfor Developing Grounded Theory, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Crow, G.M. (2007), The complex landscape of successful principal practices: an internationalperspective, International Studies in Educational Administration, Vol. 35 No. 3,pp. 67-74.

Datnow, A. (2005), The sustainability of comprehensive school reform models in changingdistrict and state contexts, Educational Administration Quarterly, Vol. 41 No. 1,pp. 121-153.

Day, C. (2007), Conducting Research on Successful School Principals: Associate Members Guide,University of Nottingham, Nottingham.

Day, C., Sammons, P., Leithwood, K., Hopkins, D., Gu, Q., Brown, E. and Ahtaridou, E. (2011),Successful School Leadership: Linking with Learning and Achievement, Open UniversityPress, Maidenhead.

de Certeau, M. (1984), The Practice of Everyday Life (Arts de faire), University of California Press,Berkeley, CA.

Desimone, L. (2002), How can comprehensive school reform models be successfullyimplemented?, Review of Educational Research, Vol. 72 No. 3, pp. 433-479.

DeYoung, A.J. (1987), The status of American rural education research: an integrated reviewand commentary, Review of Educational Research, Vol. 57 No. 2, pp. 123-148.

Drysdale, L., Goode, H. and Gurr, D. (2009), The Australian model of successful schoolleadership: moving from success to sustainability, Journal of Educational Administration,Vol. 47 No. 6, pp. 697-708.

Edmondson, J. (2003), Prairie Town: Redefining Rural Life in the Age of Globalization, Rowman &Littlefield, New York, NY.

Giles, C., Jacobson, S.L., Johnson, L. and Ylimaki, R. (2007), Against the odds: successfulprincipals in challenging US schools, in Day, C. and Leithwood, K. (Eds), SuccessfulPrincipal Leadership in Times of Change, Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 155-169.

Gruenewald, D.A. (2003), Foundations of place: a multidisciplinary framework forplace-conscious education, American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 40 No. 3,pp. 619-654.

Hallinger, P. (2003), Leading educational change: reflections on the practice of instructionaland transformational leadership, Cambridge Journal of Education, Vol. 33 No. 3,pp. 329-351.

Hallinger, P. (2011), Leadership for learning: lessons from 40 years of empirical research,Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 49 No. 2, pp. 125-142.

Hallinger, P. and Heck, R. (1996), Reassessing the principals role in school effectiveness:a review of empirical research, 1980-95, Educational Administration Quarterly, Vol. 32No. 1, pp. 5-44.

Hurley, J.C. (1999), Leading rural schools: building relationships and structures, in Chalker, D.M.(Ed.), Leadership for Rural Schools, Technomic, Lancaster, PA, pp. 137-156.

Institute for Educational Leadership (2005), Preparing Leaders for Rural School: Practice andPolicy Considerations, Institute for Educational Leadership, Washington, DC.

Jacobson, S. and Day, C. (2007), The international successful school principals project (ISSPP):an overview of the project, the case studies and their contexts, International Studies inEducational Administration, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 3-10.

Jacobson, S., Johnson, L., Ylimaki, R. and Giles, C. (2005), Successful leadership in challengingUS schools: enabling principles, enabling schools, Journal of Educational Administration,Vol. 43 No. 6, pp. 607-618.

442

JEA52,4

Jimerson, L. (2005), Placism in NCLB how rural children are left behind, Equity and Excellencein Education, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 211-219.

Johnson, L. (2007), Rethinking successful school leadership in challenging US schools: culturallyresponsive practices in school-community relationships, International Studies inEducational Administration, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 49-57.

Klar, H.W. and Brewer, C.A. (2013), Successful leadership in high-needs schools: an examination ofcore leadership practices enacted in challenging contexts, Educational AdministrationQuarterly, Vol. 49 No. 5, pp. 768-808, available at: http://eaq.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/03/29/0013161X13482577 (accessed April 1, 2013).

Klar, H.W., Brewer, C.A. and Whitehouse, M.L. (2013), AVIDizing a high poverty middle school:the case of Magnolia Grove Middle School, Engage: The International Journal of Researchand Practice on Student Engagement, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 9-23.

Leithwood, K. (2007), The 2005 Willower family lecture: leadership according to the evidence,Leadership and Policy in Schools, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 177-202.

Leithwood, K., Harris, A. and Hopkins, D. (2008), Seven strong claims about successful schoolleadership, School Leadership and Management, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 27-42.

Lindle, J.C., Werts, A.B. and Green, E.R. (2012), Knowledge from successful SC schools: the ethicalfoundation for whole-school initiatives, paper presented at the South Carolina Educators forthe Practical Use of Research Annual Conference, Columbia, SC, February 9-10.

Louis, K.S., Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K.L. and Anderson, S.E. (2010), Learning fromLeadership: Investigating the Links to Improved Student Learning, Center for AppliedResearch and Educational Improvement, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN.

Marzano, R., Waters, T. and McNulty, B. (2005), School Leadership that Works: From Research toResults, Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning, Aurora, CO.

Masumoto, M. and Brown-Welty, S. (2009), Case study of leadership practices and school-community interrelationships in high-performing, high-poverty, rural California highschools, Journal of Research in Rural Education, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 1-18, available at: http://jrre.psu.edu/articles/24-1.pdf (accessed December 1, 2012).

Mormon, M. (1983), The emergence of rural struggles and their ideological effects,International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 559-575.

Mulford, B., Kendall, D., Ewington, J., Edmunds, B., Kendall, L. and Silins, H. (2008), Successfulprincipalship of high-performance schools in high-poverty communities, Journal ofEducational Administration, Vol. 46 No. 4, pp. 461-480.

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2002), No Child Left Behind Act of 2001: Reauthorization of theElementary and Secondary Education Act, Public Law, pp. 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425.

Noel, J. (1999), On the varieties of phronesis, Educational Philosophy and Theory, Vol. 31 No. 3,pp. 273-289.

Papa, R. and English, F. (2011), Turnaround Principals for Underperforming Schools, Rowman &Littlefield, New York, NY.

Patton, M.P. (1990),Qualitative Evaluation and ResearchMethods, 2nd ed., Sage, Newbury Park, CA.

Portin, B., Knapp, M., Dareff, S., Feldman, S., Russell, F., Samuelson, C. and Yeh, T.L. (2009),Leadership for Learning Improvement in Urban Schools, University of Washington,Seattle, WA.

Provasnik, S., Ramani, A.K., Coleman, M.M., Gilbertson, L., Herring, W. and Xie, Q.S. (2007), Statusof Education in Rural America, National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, DC.

Robinson, V., Lloyd, C. and Rowe, K. (2008), The impact of leadership on student outcomes: ananalysis of the differential effects of leadership types, Educational AdministrationQuarterly, Vol. 44 No. 5, pp. 635-674.

443

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

Ryan, G.W. and Bernard, H.R. (2000), Data management and analysis methods, in Denzin, N.K.and Lincoln, Y.S. (Eds), Handbook of Qualitative Research, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA,pp. 769-802.

Saldana, J. (2009), The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Schafft, K.A. and Jackson, A.Y. (2010), Rural education and community in the twenty-firstcentury, in Schafft, K.A. and Jackson, A.Y. (Eds), Rural Education for the Twenty-FirstCentury: Identity, Place, and Community in a Globalizing World, The Pennsylvania StateUniversity Press, University Park, PA, pp. 1-16.

Schafft, K.A., Killeen, K.M. and Morrissey, J. (2010), The challenges of student transiencyfor rural schools and communities in the era of No Child Left Behind, in Schafft, K.A. andJackson, A.Y. (Eds), Rural Education for the Twenty-First Century: Identity, Place, andCommunity in a Globalizing World, The Pennsylvania State University Press, UniversityPark, PA, pp. 95-114.

Semke, C.A. and Sheridan, S.M. (2011), Family-school connections in rural educational settings:a systematic review of the empirical literature, R2Ed Working Paper No. 2011-1, NationalCenter for Research on Rural Education, Lincoln, Nebraska, available at: http://r2ed.unl.edu/workingpapers/2011/2011_1_Semke_Sheridan.pdf (accessed December 1, 2012).

Sherman, J. (2009), Those Who Work, Those Who Dont: Poverty, Morality, and Family in RuralAmerica, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN.

Stake, R.E. (1995), The Art of Case Study Research, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Starr, K. and White, S. (2008), The small rural school principalship: key challenges and cross-school responses, Journal of Research in Rural Education, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 1-12, availableat: http://jrre./psu.edu/articles/23-5.pdf (accessed February 8, 2011).

Strange,M., Johnson, J., Showalter, D. and Klein, R. (2012),WhyRural Matters 2011-12: The Conditionof Rural Education in the 50 States, Rural School and Community Trust, Washington, DC.

Theobald, P. (1997), Teaching the Commons: Place, Pride, and the Renewal of Community,Westview, Boulder, CO.

Theobald, P. and Wood, K. (2010), Learning to be rural: identity lessons from history, schooling,and the US corporate media, in Schafft, K.A. and Jackson, A.Y. (Eds), Rural Education forthe Twenty-First Century: Identity, Place, and Community in a Globalizing World, ThePennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA, pp. 17-33.

Thompson, C.L., Brown, K.M., Townsend, L.W., Henry, G.T. and Fortner, C.K. (2011), TurningAround North Carolinas Lowest Achieving Schools (2006-2010), Consortium forEducational Research and Evaluation, Chapel Hill, NC.

Tyack, D. and Cuban, L. (1995), Tinkering Toward Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform,Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Tzu, S. (1994), The Art of War, Basic Books, New York, NY.

Venezia, A. (2005), Inequitable opportunities: how current education systems and policiesundermine the chances for student persistence and success in college, Educational Policy,Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 283-307.

Woods, M. (2006), Redefining the rural question: the new politics of the rural and socialpolicy, Social Policy & Administration, Vol. 40 No. 6, pp. 579-595.

Ylimaki, R. and Jacobson, S. (Eds) (2011), US and Cross-National Policies, Practices andPreparation: Implications for Successful Instructional Leadership, Organizational Learning,and Culturally Responsive Practices, Spring, Dordrecht.

Ylimaki, R., Bennett, J., Fan, J. and Villasenor, E. (2012), Notions of success in Southern Arizonaschools: principal leadership in changing demographic and border contexts, Leadership& Policy in Schools, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 168-193.

444

JEA52,4

Further reading

Thurston, L.P. and Berkeley, T.R. (1998), Morality and the ethic of care: peaceable rural schools,caring rural communities, Rural Special Education Quarterly, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 71-79.

About the authors

Dr Hans W. Klar, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of the Educational Leadership at the ClemsonUniversity. His research is focussed on understanding the principals role in leading change andfostering leadership capacity in schools. Dr Hans W. Klar is the corresponding author and can becontacted at: hklar@clemson.edu

Dr Curtis A. Brewer, PhD, studies the Political Action of Educators and Policy Developmentat the University of Texas at San Antonio.

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.comOr visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints

445

Successfulleadership ina rural, high-

poverty school

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited withoutpermission.