2022 Summer Journal of Scholarship and Practice

Journal of Scholarship and Practice Summer 2022

This summer volume features Ken Mitchell鈥檚 editorial, 鈥淩eflections on Being a Well-informed Leader in 2022,鈥 along with two research articles and a commentary. In structuring this volume, Mitchell lays the groundwork:

On occasion we receive pieces with significant ideas or revelations that do not fit into the identified themes for the year. Rather than contriving a connection, we sometimes find a place for them in our summer issues, which have focused on general reflections about leadership and learning, assuming that for district leaders this is a time of respite鈥攏ot reprieve鈥攆rom the intensity, complexity, and chaos of the regular school year.

It is hoped that our Summer 2022 volume will spark such reflection but on the importance of staying current and becoming better-informed about best practice, and for using such evidence and knowledge to navigate a morass of politically rooted disinformation about how and how well America鈥檚 public schools are educating children.

The first research article, written by Matt Townsley and Benterah Morton, looks at what journals school superintendents read. Their research produced some interesting results.

The second article is a commentary by James Lipuma and Cristo Leon about Future Ready Schools, a voluntary, school-level program addressing shifts to digital schools.

The third article is research-based and addresses 鈥淧olitics, Polarization, and Politicization of Social Emotional Learning and School Boards鈥 and is written by Rachel Roegman, Kevin Tan, Patrick Rice, and Jenna Mahoney. As seated superintendents and school boards will likely agree, 鈥渟ocial emotional learning鈥 is a phrase currently being tossed about in and at school districts around the country. This study by a team of researchers explored how local school boards have become battlegrounds for our nation鈥檚 culture wars.

Mitchell concludes that 鈥渆ducating with evidence that is deep, current, and responsive to disinformation or misinterpretation positions school leaders to own and rely upon the truth. From there, truth should be able to stand on its own, but not unless we pursue it, again and again.鈥

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