Confronting Rapid Change: Exploring the Practices of Educational Leaders in a Rural Boomtown

Confronting Spatial Injustice: The Role of Leadership in Improving Equitable Rural Educator Recruitment and Retention

“…For example, mineral-extractive rural communities are characterized by outmigration and class division (Carr & Kefalas, 2009). In new mineral-extractive communities (i.e., oil and gas communities) and those with large meat-packing industries, there are challenges of new food and housing insecurities, inequitable access to educational resources, and growing economic disparities; these are common along with increases in immigrant and non-White populations (Broadway, 2007;McHenry-Sorber & Provinzano, 2016). On the other hand, while rural tourist destinations see new social tensions arise between long-standing community members and newcomers (Brown & Schafft, 2011), social divisions also occur in economically depressed areas (e.g., Sherman, 2009).…”

Metaphors of Place-Conscious Leadership in the Multidistrict Superintendency: Negotiating Tensions of Place-Consciousness and District-Wide Goal Attainment

“…Researchers suggest the need for critically place-conscious leadership that attends to social inequities leading to ecological degradation (Gruenewald & Smith, 2014) and resistance to or mediation of local concerns with external policy mandates (Budge, 2010; Howley et al, 2014 ). However, few studies have investigated critical place-conscious leadership in practice (McHenry-Sorber & Provinzano, 2016; Rey, 2014). The findings from these studies, focused on single-district leaders, concluded while educational leaders were responsive to place, their responses were not critical as defined by existing research, in part a consequence of their dependence on the local board for job security—a board that likely represents dominant power structures in the community (McHenry-Sorber & Provinzano, 2016; McHenry-Sorber & Budge, 2018).…”

“…However, few studies have investigated critical place-conscious leadership in practice (McHenry-Sorber & Provinzano, 2016; Rey, 2014). The findings from these studies, focused on single-district leaders, concluded while educational leaders were responsive to place, their responses were not critical as defined by existing research, in part a consequence of their dependence on the local board for job security—a board that likely represents dominant power structures in the community (McHenry-Sorber & Provinzano, 2016; McHenry-Sorber & Budge, 2018). Thus, while rural scholars theorize the importance of educational leaders engaging in critical place-conscious leadership, no empirical work to date has investigated the implementation of successful practices.…”

Rural English Learner Education: A Review of Research and Call for a National Agenda

“…In one example, Miraftab and Mcconnell (2008) found that small communities were not equipped to address the social changes resulting from rapid growth in the food processing industry. McHenry-Sorber and Provinzano (2017) reported the social challenges in one rural community resulting from expansion of the hydraulic fracturing industry. In the local schools, rural educational leaders managed these social changes through a “discourse of compliance” rather than through a lens of critical place-conscious leadership (p. 613).…”