Leadership for What?

I am troubled. I've been thinking a lot about leadership lately, but since that is what TLA is about, I suppose that's as it should be. But there is a deeper and more nagging question: Is leadership merely a set of skills, attitudes, and dispositions that practitioners can use for any purpose? Can we simply lump the Lincolns with the Hitlers, the Martin Luther King, Juniors with the Idi Amins and be done with it? I am certain that would be a mistake.

In the case of TLA, what kind of school leadership do we espouse and what do we teach? I would suggest that what we espouse and teach is first prosocial leadership, that is, leadership aimed at producing the kind of sought-for outcomes that most parents and community leaders would say are desirable. These outcomes include educated and engaged citizens, skilled and caring workers, and societal contributors.

Second, I think we teach leadership that is inclusive, that is, leadership that taps the power of participation by all stakeholders. Another way of saying the same thing is that we teach facilitative leadership--we strive to teach our adult learners to make it easy for their followers to contribute their best work, understanding that people support that which they create.

Third, I think we teach that leadership is how we effect positive change, change in communities, change in districts, change in schools, and most importantly, change in peoples' hearts. It is to this third point that I wish to expand. In my opinion, the hearts we need most to change are possessed by educators who unwittingly devalue and disrespect fragile and at-risk learners in our schools.

When I think of leadership for what, then, I think of leadership that helps teachers recover and reclaim the students who are missing in action, the students that are waiting for a reason beyond "because I told you so" to improve their life chances by authentically engaging in meaningful work in the classroom.

I am becoming increasingly persuaded that TLA needs to be more intentional in working to remedy what may be the most pernicious problem in public education--acheivement gaps between groups of students. Because K12 schooling has such a powerful effect on one's life trajectory, solving this problem will be the beginning to solving many other societal ills. So I am troubled because I am trying to figure out how we make TLA's focus on leadership one that eliminates achievement gaps. Who can help?