| |
|
|
Dr. Lenoar Foster
is a professor of educational leadership and higher education and associate dean for research and graduate studies at Washington State University. He received his Ed.D. in educational administration and higher education at the University of Nevada, Reno, and has worked as a high school teacher, department chair, dean of students, vice-principal, and curriculum coordinator. His research focuses on socio-cultural influences in K-12 schools and on the preparation of K-12 school administrators. He serves as editor of NASSP Bulletin, the peer-reviewed scholarly journal of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and co-chairs their National Task Force on the Principalship. He is a member of the research panel of the National Policy Board for Educational Administration, and council of Chief State School Officers, which is currently revising the interstate school leaders licensure consortium standards used nationwide. His publications have appeared in both research and practiced based journals, including Educational Administration Quarterly, NASSP Bulletin, Journal of School Public Relations, Urban Education, Principal Leadership, and Educational Leadership.
|
  |
|
| |
Educational Leadership and Counseling Psychology
Lenoar Foster
Unique Higher Education
Partnerships for K-12 Schools
Download a printable pdf
Diverse educational leadership in K-12 schools is needed more than ever as the nation’s schools become more ethnically and racially diverse, yet the corps of educational personnel in the U.S. remains Caucasian. Research documents that leadership in schools is correlated to effective school practices that promote academic aspiration and achievement. For students of color, the current disparity in the number of ethnically and racially diverse school administrators has been linked, in some quarters, to early disaffection and disengagement in the schooling process. This results in under representation of students of color among higher achievers in longitudinal studies of student achievement, school relationships that are less collegial and supportive, lower percentages of students of color enrolling in college preparatory programs, and lower rates of progress toward postsecondary goals. This is especially problematic in communities of color that traditionally have maintained high levels of educational aspiration and achievement, in spite of instances of segregated education in the nation’s history.
Dr. Foster’s research and education emphasizes the need to understand the interconnectedness of good leadership in schools with historical, theoretical, empirical, and cultural frames of inquiry and practices to support and sustain academic achievement among students of color. This requires school districts to employ sufficient numbers of ethnically and racially diverse school leaders, and that non-minority individuals aspiring to educational administration be educated to become culturally competent. For some non-minority aspirants, opportunities to gain a holistic and comprehensive view of culturally proficient leadership are limited. This is especially true of educational leadership programs situated in the Northwest. Dr. Foster’s project would seek to provide academic avenues to remedy this deficiency through faculty exchanges and faculty-in-residence programs with educational leadership faculties at historically black colleges and universities, tribal colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, and with educational leadership faculty across the WSU campuses, benefiting all the participating institutions.
Contact Information
Lenoar (Len) Foster, Ed.D
Professor
Educational Leadership & Counseling Psychology
Washington State University
P.O. Box 642136
Pullman, WA 99164-2136
Telephone: 509-335-2771
E-mail: lenf@wsu.edu |
|
|
