Hearing and Listening: Bridging the Leadership Divide between School Connectedness and Students’ Lived Realities

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the disconnect between urban school expectations and actual lived realities of marginalized students. Taking into consideration the conversation surrounding the definitions of urban education, and the importance of school connectedness with youth, we chose to focus on the lives of five former high students navigating their education. Our qualitative study found that the students’ lives presented challenges to linear pathways to school success. Drawing from the student’s stories, recommendations are proposed to disrupt the deficit definition of urban education and educational leaders initiate critical school connections to students lived realities.

A Multifaceted Portrait of Students’ Connectedness to Urban Schools

“…The findings of this study have important implications for educational practice in terms of creating or developing school connectedness, especially in urban contexts. Our advice to teachers and urban school teams is to discuss, through mutual collaboration and together with students, how to shape the academic context, the aim being to achieve better alignment between the reality of schools and that of students (Thomas & Parker, 2021). Such a dialogue and the related action could provide a platform for democratic experiences where teachers adopt a positive and open attitude towards students, where communication is laced with respect and care, where quality participation opportunities are provided, and where students and teachers genuinely share a common perspective.…”

“…The students provided three relational conditions to foster feelings of being known: (1) teachers develop a communication of care and move beyond "just teaching" relationships; (2) teachers provide instrumental support out of genuine interest in students' futures and goals; and (3) teachers employ a benefit-of-the-doubt treatment of students. Thomas and Parker (2021) contrasted the educational experiences of five lowincome high school students and the expectations from their urban school. Despite the different realities of the participants, the researchers distilled three common causes for their disconnectedness: (1) a lack of academic rigor during their high school experience, (2) the context of the urban poverty they grew up in, and (3) a shortage of help, e.g., resources or suggestions.…”