When Alex Caputo-Pearl was elected the president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) in 2014, I knew that children, families, and communities would soon have a newly energized and empowered defender in the teachers union. Today, as a Los Angeles native and a supporter of public schools and their teachers, I am on the edge of my office chair following the news of the first strike by L.A. Unified School District teachers in 30 years.
In our recent book, we argue that a grounded and practical educational leadership theory must not be diverted by today’s policy preference for a narrow range of school outcomes. Tested student achievement is important, but leadership studies that look for particular behaviors that are associated with test scores miss an essential point: To have a positive influence on any other person or group, actors must ground their observable behaviors in moral and ethical principles.
