Preparing School Leaders to Build and Sustain Engagement with Families and Communities 149
need to understand and find ways to recognize the strengths that exist across the families in
their communities. Effective school leaders are able to use their contextual knowledge of
families and the community to engage teachers, staff, students, and families in articulating a
vision that is inclusive, respectful, and represents the needs of community members. They are
also able to promote personal reflection on the part of teachers, students, and community
members regarding the ways in which deeply held values and beliefs about diversity come
into play in our day-to-day lives as well as within the school culture (Brown, 2004). In our
own research on effective school leaders (Furney, Aiken, Hasazi, & Clark/Keefe, 2005), we
observed the power of principals who were continually able to ask teachers and staff members
to reflect upon the degree to which the needs of students from diverse backgrounds were
effectively addressed through the school's vision and pedagogy.
In addition to developing a shared vision, school leaders need to set a context for
participatory leadership that includes multiple opportunities for dialogue (Pounder et al.,
2002), not only between and among teachers, but also between and among families and
teachers and school leaders. These dialogues need to occur not only in school settings, but in
community settings such as community centers, places of worship, health centers, and other
places where community members are likely to come together. These dialogues must be
planned collaboratively with community members, as effective school leaders recognize that
“change may be resisted if it is perceived as a top-down mandate” (Godek, Furney, & Riggs,
2004), and understand the need to keep visions vital by re-visiting them often to engage
teachers and families in discussing various perspectives and practices. A teacher in one of our
studies noted how his principal was able to:
...create forums and processes that encourage this kind of open communication...He
seems to want and expect diverse viewpoints an then creates ways for all of us to
take a new look at our own beliefs and assumptions, especially about students at
risk. (Furney et al., 2005, p.555).
When a school's practices are not in keeping with its vision, leaders need to be skilled in
identifying and addressing resulting inequities and moral dilemmas (Wong, 1998). As
Sergiovanni (1992) noted, leaders must at times lead through “moral outrage,” taking steps to
include teachers, families and communities in difficult conversations about the negative
effects of the school's policies, practices, and procedures. In other words, through
parent/family engagements and forums, leaders may find themselves more directly confronted
with issues of inequity; they must be skilled and comfortable in navigating these
conversations and confronting the very disparities they face. Leaders who embrace a social-
justice framework need to demonstrate and model the ability to surface inequities in their
school and communities by engaging families, school personnel, and other community
members in examining and challenging assumptions to bring about change. Establishing a
school vision is an important and challenging task; however, the vision needs to be re-visited
often to ensure that its underlying premises continue to resonate among school and
community members.