Educational Administration in a Pluralistic Society: (SUNY series, The Social Context of Education)

In this bold, provocative supplemental text for the field of educational administration, Colleen Capper and contributors challenge administrators, policymakers, practitioners, and communities to confront the realities of schools and students in a pluralistic society. The book examines recent educational initiatives aimed at addressing the needs of students and staff from traditionally underrepresented groups, marginalized on the basis of race, language, gender, sexual orientation, social class, or disability. Each chapter critically reviews the literature and research to probe the current characteristics of a nondominant group, including such information as its demographic characteristics, its role in school reform, its representation in organizational theory and behavior, its presence within curriculum and instruction, and its relationship with the school-as-community. Capper argues for the adoption of a multiparadigmatic framework from which to approach educational leadership for today's schools.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Christine E. Sleeter Acknowledgments Introduction Colleen A. Capper 1. Educational Administration in a Pluralistic Society: A Multiparadigm Approach Colleen A. Capper 2. The Context of Educational Administration and Social Class Laurence Parker and Joan Poliner Shapiro 3. School Reform: Introducing Race, Culture, and Ethnicity into the Discourse Pedro Reyes, William Velez, and Robert Pena 4. Gender Equity in Schools Charol Shakeshaft 5. Responding to the Sexual Diversity of Faculty and Students: Sexual Praxis and the Critically Reflective Administrator James T. Sears 6. The Social Construction of Disability in Education: Organizational Considerations Kathryn D. Bishop, William Foster, and Kimberlee A. Jubala 7. Schooling in Rural and Small-Town America Patricia A. Schmuck and Richard A. Schmuck 8. Educational Administration and Developing Countries Benno Sander 9. Articulating Values and Ethics in Administrator Preparation William D. Greenfield 10. Administrator Practice and Preparation for Social Reconstructionist Schooling Colleen A. Capper Index

About the Author :
Colleen A. Capper is Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Review :
"Colleen Capper has pulled together an ambitious and exciting volume. The authors challenge administrators to question much that schools generally take for granted, to examine epistemological assumptions underlying how we think about schools, and to consider matters of practical importance to members of oppressed groups. This volume reframes the field of educational administration, situating it unabashedly in a pluralistic society." —from the Foreword, by Christine E. Sleeter