OSEP Project Directors’ MeetingJuly 20, 2009

Tom Bellamy

Public trust that professionals can solve important problems

Public trust that professional work is guided by public values

Congruence between public and professional understandings of educational goals

The university context for renewal of programs and the profession

Do education professionals—individually and collectively—have the knowledge to solve the important education problems?

Defining and expanding the profession’s knowledge base

Professional practice that integrates “what works” with “whatever works”

Building public trust in non-prescriptive knowledge

Is educators’ work guided by the public’s priorities and values, or does it just reflect the profession’s own interests and ideas?

The Challenge…

Increasing community diversity with conflicting goals for education

Declining participation in local civic activity

System of checks and balances that puts educators in the middle of cross-sector conflicts

“Educational leaders have distinct procedural responsibilities . . . .

They must, on one hand, engage in public moral deliberation in the process of developing their decisions.

And, on the other hand, they must expose their decisions to public moral debate and be willing to revise them according to the results of that debate. “

Bull & McCarthy, 1995, p. 627)

Leadership for a local “retail democracy” about educational priorities and values

Preparation for work in a negotiated values environment

Is our profession prepared to solve important educational problems as these are currently understood by society and expressed in public policies?

Based on Reason (2000)

The expectation that we will avoid failure entirely challenges us to:

Identify problems earlyMake information public for collective action

Respond quickly with alternative interventions

Sustain shared understandings as responses evolve

Expanding knowledge with new faculty specialists needed in all departments

Limited resources, often enrollment driven

Accountability for curriculum coherence and student learning

Expanding knowledge needed for licensure and practice

Very broad licensure categories

Limited curriculum space

Starting teacher salaries incommensurate with cost and level of education

Since most teachers remain near the university where they received their preparation. . .

The public’s evolving trust in special education will be largely determined by the quality of graduates from a large number of local personnel preparation programs

University Consortia that…Prepare new faculty with “hybrid skills”

Share faculty resources to ensure broadly-prepared teachers

Coordinate to prepare special education administrators when and where they are needed

Bellamy, T., Fulmer, C. L., Murphy, M. J., & Muth, R. (2007). Principal accomplishments: How school leaders succeed. New York: Teachers College Press.

Chrislip, D. (2002). The collaborative leadership fieldbook. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Donmoyer, R., Imber, M., & Scheurich, J. (Eds.) (1995). The knowledge base in educational administration: Multiple perspectives (pp. 1-13). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Robinson, V., & Lai, M. K. (2006). Practitioner research for educators: A guide to improving classrooms and schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Sullivan, W. (2005). Work and integrity: The crisis and promise of professionalism in America. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Weick, K., & Sutcliffe, K. (2007). Managing the unexpected: Resilient performance in an age of uncertainty . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.