Facilitating Democracy in a Testing Culture

Abstract

In 2010, Principal Kirk introduced Small Group Meeting (SGM) at Hillcrest Elementary. SGMs are multiage student groupings who meet with school faculty once a month to work on community building, service-learning projects, and advising. Many teachers liked the SGMs, some felt they needed more time to prepare, and others felt it was a waste of time. The case raises the questions: How can school leaders facilitate teacher autonomy and help push the learning community toward a common vision? If a leader has a strong vision, will teachers’ voices always be stifled? When introducing new initiatives like SGMs, what is the best pace to proceed? The case targets graduate classes in educational leadership and administration as well as professional development of leaders of different educational settings.