Collaborative inquiry as a professional development tool for principals of urban, low-performing schools

It is widely accepted that leading school improvement in low-performing schools is the most challenging aspect of urban public education. The role of the principal encompasses implementing externally mandated change initiatives, moving a district agenda, raising student achievement, allocating limited resources, and navigating through a politically-charged climate, all within a highly scrutinized environment. Such schools are plagued by severe principal shortages and rely on inexperienced principals to lead and who are increasingly being required to combine the essentials of school management, with compliant facilitation and effective leadership in order to lead their schools towards student improvement.; An exploratory qualitative approach was used to study how a collaborative inquiry approach fostered the professional development of principals in urban, low-performing schools. A group of six new principals and a two-person team from a local university conducted a joint inquiry into leading low-performing schools. The Collaborative Inquiry Leadership Group met once a month for eighteen months. Data were collected from group meetings, observations, group focus sessions, individual interviews, and professional performance reviews. The Professional Socialization Hierarchy, developed by Parkay, et al. (1992), was used a way of organize the growth and movement of participants through the five stages of socialization.; Participation in the Collaborative Inquiry Leadership Group contributed to participants professional growth. Development took place because the collaborative inquiry process integrated their professional knowing, problems of practice, and personal goals in a supportive environment of their peers. The flexibility of the process offered participants opportunities to question and improve their practice while allowing them to develop a learning orientation. Participants who did not develop a learning orientation were limited in their professional growth. The collaborative inquiry fostered professional socialization among participants by supporting movement through the stages of the professional socialization hierarchy, although the socialization experience of new, urban principals differed in several ways. Lastly, this collaborative inquiry positively affected participants' practice, regardless of their level of learning or stage of socialization. This highlights the importance of collaborative inquiry as a professional development tool.