A case for change: Building leadership capacity in urban high schools

There once was a young slave by the name of Frederick Douglass who was tenacious in his pursuit to learn to read. After convincing the wife of his master to serve in the role as teacher, a sudden break occurred in his educational process as his master forbade the wife to teach a slave to read. The master believed that if a slave learned to read he would become discontent with his conditions and rebel against slavery. The master was successful in ceasing Douglass' instruction but not his desire to learn!;Douglass' dilemma is one of many that students in urban communities grapple with on a daily basis. Many students in urban communities are faced with unique challenges from high rates of poverty to attendance at schools with limited resources that are instructional distractions. In addition to these daily struggles, school districts nationwide are faced with the task of employing skilled urban leaders who are prepared to mitigate these adaptive challenges.;Therefore, this mixed methods, purposive case study was conducted to investigate whether a fully developed leadership intervention program complemented by leadership mentoring support and assessment of leadership practice, was effective in influencing change in leader and teacher practice over time. The study drew from an examination of leadership theories and models that served as the basis for identifying components of effective leadership development programs (Darling-Hammond et. al, Murphy et al., 2003) that build the capacity of urban leaders to create and sustain the conditions for quality teaching and learning to occur.;Consistent with contemporary research on leadership, the findings in this study suggested that effective leaders are those who possess beliefs, knowledge, skills and practices critical to shaping a culture of learning (Elmore, 2003; Marzano, 2003, Murphy et al., 2006; Hallinger, 2003). Therefore, specific leadership program features and support structures that influence leader and teacher practice in urban school settings are identified. Additionally, implications and recommendations are presented to support the field in identifying conceptual tools needed to develop a form of social capital in urban schools that lead to improved outcomes for professionals and students.