THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE SCHOOL LEADER MAKES EFFORTS TO CLOSE BLACK MALE ACHIEVEMENT GAPS THAT PROMOTE RECONCILIATION OF VALUE DIFFERENCES WITHIN THE SCHOOL ORGANIZATION

Abstract

The Black male achievement gap is a particularly unique phenomenon in that Black male students surpass every other racial and gender category in educational achievement gaps (NCES, 2014a, 2014b; NAEP, 2015). Many researchers point to a fundamental conflict over values that has resulted in this lingering gap (A. Ferguson, 2000; Fordham, 1996; Ogbu, 2004). The school leader uniquely influences the values of the school and the school’s collective efforts to close Black male achievement gaps (Begley & Johansson, 2003; Stefkovich & Shapiro, 2001). Yet, more knowledge is needed to understand how values influence school leaders’ actions, and how a school leader’s efforts to close Black male achievement gaps may also reconcile value differences (Stefkovich & Shapiro, 2001, 2003). This study uses Argyris and Schön’s (1978) theory of action as a theoretical framework to analyze a school’s process of responding to the Black male achievement gap, focusing on the school leader’s efforts to close these gaps. The theory of action framework allows the school leader’s efforts to be mapped, distinguishing between espoused and in-use theories of action and understanding if and how the in-use theories reconcile value differences within the school organization.