CULTURE AND POWER IN PREPARING LEADERS FOR AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE SCHOOLS

This chapter provides an account of my personal experiences, first, as a high school principal and, then, in a central office position in four urban school districts from 1977 to 1985, and, finally, as an assistant superintendent and superintendent in two American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) schools from 1985 to 1999. While no reflections on professional and personal experiences and learning can be generalized, they can provide important insight into how school administrators navigate their complex professional development (Brill, 2008). AI/AN tribal leadership is shared leadership organized according to the clan system and guided and sustained through reflections and the telling of stories (Hart, 2004). The purpose of telling my story is to respond to two questions: “Is there a difference being a leader in an AI/AN school compared to leadership in a non-AI/AN school?” and “How should university-based preparation programs be organized for preparing AI/AN school leaders to assume a position with a vision for success?” This chapter has six main sections. Section one frames my career in school administration through a personal reflection, a philosophical framework, and a discussion of traditional leadership. The second section summarizes the leadership theories that have influenced my beliefs about school leadership. Section three explains my superintendency experiences. Section four provides a brief review of the relevant literature on preparation programs and their impact on AI/AN school leadership. In the fifth section, I present a model that originated in action learning intended to be useful to other administrators and those involved in administrator preparation. The final section includes information about the attributes of culture and power, describing ways that leaders need to be knowledgeable about AI/AN school leadership.