Preface: Our Rather Circuitous Journey

Abstract

We did not wake up one day and decide to develop an edited book on charter and autonomous school leadership. It actually happened because we both seem to have these serendipitous moments in which random events come together. As educators working for the Division of Adult Career Education for Los Angeles Unified School District, we observed what we perceived as inequities of a monolithic, bureaucratic school district in its treatment of the education of our “at-risk” youth. We believed that there must be more authentic leadership providing improved educational outcomes for these students underserved by the current one size fits all system. In our minds, moving away from the classroom into the administrative arena seemed to make sense if we were to effect change in the current landscape. What better way to garner more authentic leadership than to become leaders ourselves? We decided to return to school to get our administrative credential and a masters in Educational Leadership. Little did we know this one seemingly small decision would have such amazing results.

Citation

Hughes, K.B. and Silva, S.A.M. (2013), "Preface: Our Rather Circuitous Journey", Hughes, K.B. and Silva, S.A.M. (Ed.) Identifying Leaders for Urban Charter, Autonomous and Independent Schools: Above and Beyond the Standards (Advances in Educational Administration, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. xvii-xix. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3660(2013)0000018003