Research in Education: Critical Change for the Greater Good Essay (Critical Writing)

Research is an activity that generates unique knowledge and clears the path towards efficient implementation of innovations (Darling-Hammond, 2016). Although research design and methodology are integrated into the curriculum content, students as novice researchers frequently experience difficulties in pursuing research studies or interpreting their results. Therefore, it is essential to study research in education so that future leaders will be able to develop educational theory and devise workable solutions to educational issues.

While drawing conclusions from research findings, an investigator applies inductive or deductive reasoning. Through inductive reasoning, a large amount of information is reduced to a smaller set of underlying themes (Hélie, & Sun, 2014; Heit, 2015). For instance, the following statement can serve an example of inductive reasoning: “Given negative impacts of adverse economic conditions on society, worsened living standards and reduced incomes are the main causes of high rates of dropout and disengagement from high school.” This approach is specific to qualitative research methods.

Deductive reasoning is frequently used in quantitative research studies. It involves “the application of general rules to particular cases” (Hélie, & Sun, 2014, p. 46); conclusions are drawn on the basis of the generated hypotheses (Heit, 2015). An example of deductive reasoning is the following statement: “As a result of implementing differentiated instruction in second language teaching, there will be significant improvements in students’ speaking skills.”

Leadership implies skills in leading people or organizations to successful accomplishments of mutual goals (Alonderiene & Majauskaite, 2016; Darling-Hammond, 2016). Growing cultural diversity of the United States and various socioeconomic issues require leaders in education to be responsive and flexible while teaching students (Stein, Dawson, Van Rossum, Rothaizer, & Hill, 2014). In her publication, “Critical Change for the Greater Good: Multicultural Perceptions in Educational Leadership Toward Social Justice and Equity,” Lorri J. Santamaría (2014) explores leadership characteristics essential for ensuring social justice and equity in multicultural educational settings.

The article title clearly refers to the problem stated, content, research purpose, and significance of the study. The objective of the qualitative research conducted by Santamaría (2014) is to explore opportunities to realize multiculturalism-grounded leadership by practicing educational leaders of color “in their particular K-HE contexts” (p. 349). Regarding the research methodology, Santamaría (2014) substantiates the use of critical race theory and case study methods as methodological underpinnings by the novelty and topicality of this approach (p. 360). Leaders in the education of Mexican, Japanese, Arab, Black Jamaican, and Creek origin participated in the study. The fact that the author provides in-depth descriptions of the research design, sampling procedure, data collection, methods of the data analysis, and results obtained contributes to the reliability of findings.

In accordance with the research findings, critical multiculturalism and applied critical leadership (ACL) are prerequisites of leading culturally diverse educational communities successfully (Santamaría, 2014, p. 365). Specifically, Santamaría (2014) asserts that educational leaders of color should possess such characteristics as

1. willingness and readiness to initiate and participate in critical conversations,
2. abilities to apply an approach based on Critical Race Theory,
3. skills in building consensus while making decisions,
4. abilities to neutralize ethnicity-associated stereotypes threats,
5. competence in academic discourse related to undeserved groups,
6. persistence in honoring all members of their constituencies,
7. capabilities of leading “by example to meet unresolved educational needs and challenges” (p. 373),
8. abilities to win the trust of students, and
9. adherence to requirements for servant and transformational leadership skills.

Summing up, the publication emphasizes the importance of flexible, adaptive, socially equitable, and responsive leadership for culturally diverse educational settings. Taking into consideration the urgent need for effective leadership in multicultural institutions, the paper is a valuable source for educators in general and those who are from historically underserved communities in particular.

References

Alonderiene, R., & Majauskaite, M. (2016). Leadership style and job satisfaction in higher education institutions. International Journal of Educational Management, 30(1), 140-164.

Darling-Hammond, L. (2016). Research on teaching and teacher education and its influences on policy and practice. Educational Researcher, 45(2), 83-91.

Hélie, S., & Sun, R. (2014). An integrative account of memory and reasoning phenomena. New Ideas in Psychology, 35, 36-52.

Heit, E. (2015). Brain imaging, forward inference, and theories of reasoning. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 1056 -1060.

Santamaría, L. J. (2014). Critical change for the greater good multicultural perceptions in educational leadership toward social justice and equity. Educational Administration Quarterly, 50(3), 347-391.

Stein, Z., Dawson, T., Van Rossum, Z., Rothaizer, J., & Hill, S. (2014). Virtuous cycles of learning: Using formative, embedded, and diagnostic developmental assessments in a large-scale leadership program. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 9(1), 1-11.