Running Head: DISCUSSION OF KNOWLEDGE ESSAY 1

Discussion of Knowledge Essay

My experiences in my courses, class readings, and individual research have expanded my

understanding of education leadership and enriched my professional life in ways that I would not

have anticipated prior to beginning my doctoral studies at George Mason University. The

education leadership program has served to inspire me professionally and the knowledge and

skills I am developing about both the field and research practice have seamlessly integrated into

my profession and subsequent coursework. I am growing increasingly confident that my journey

through this program will continue to prepare me for my professional ambitions in school based

administration and will prepare me to have a depth of understanding about the field that will

allow me to make truly impactful changes throughout my career.

The foundational Ways of Knowing course laid the groundwork for understanding the

myriad ways that knowledge is derived, built upon, and understood. This course developed my

historical and theoretical lenses by providing me an opportunity to explore the contributions of

some of the greatest thinkers and understand the ways in which a body of knowledge develops.

In reflecting on this course, I see how this process is somewhat analogous to the ways in which

my own understanding of education have grown and developed, particularly by looking at some

of the same issues through a variety of perspectives. The course not only allowed me to explore

my own personal interests (EDUC 800 Paper), but also alerted me to my own biases with which I

may approach all my future studies in this program.

The role of lenses, perspectives, and biases were also largely prevalent in my research

methods courses. Problems and Methods in Education Research describes the process of sound

quantitative and qualitative research, but perhaps even more importantly for me at the time,

allowed me to better understand the ways in which the education leadership literature base can
DISCUSSION OF KNOWLEDGE ESSAY 2

be interpreted and with what limitations. My experience in the course helped to develop my

critical eye in approaching literature in the field and allowed me to better understand how

complementary methodologies (Desmione, 2009), literature reviews, and meta-analyses can

bring theory and findings together cohesively within a field. The integrative nature of the course

also got me thinking about the ways in which my own research might be framed and developed;

this proposal allowed me to first realize how my interests might come together into an actual

study (EDRS 810 Paper). This research background was necessary and informed my experience

in the Qualitative Research course, as well. This course, especially, sensitized me to the need of

understanding theoretical frameworks, perspectives, and the role of bias in research. The

processes in which we engaged to address these biases (Maxwell, 2013) further attuned my

ability to interpret researchers work in my field. My own study for this course (EDRS 812

Paper) allowed me to authentically engage in the research process and apply these skills. It has

become clear how the research methodology courses serve not only to prepare me for my own

work, but also to allow me to fully engage with previous literature.

Each course within the education leadership program intends not only to provide the

historical underpinnings and the theoretical base of the field, but also to inform students of

current, relevant research. The Introduction to Education Leadership was designed in such a way

to expertly couple important leadership theory (Bolman & Deal, 2013) with practical

applications (Bambrick-Santoyo, 2012). This course demonstrated not just the levers by which

leaders affect change (Bambrick-Santoyo, 2012), but also the significance of the practical work.

The introduction of Ken Kay and Valerie Greenhills work through the Partnership for 21st

Century Learning through this course has been highly influential in guiding my own interests

within the field (EDLE 770 Paper) (2011). With my research interests piqued, studying
DISCUSSION OF KNOWLEDGE ESSAY 3

Contemporary Organization Theory the following the summer allowed me to interpret the

subsequent theories within the context of my own research. Theories in this course, especially

those related to transformational leadership (Leithwood & Sun, 2012), became increasingly

relevant as they serve to both support and challenge assumptions and understandings within my

interests of 21st century learning and the role of educational leaders. My research interests,

through work in this course, became more firmly situated in a specific niche within the field

(EDLE 801 Paper). Social and Political Forces in Education also largely integrated topical

research to develop my current understandings of the field, however one of the most important

contributions of this course was to underscore the historical reasons why education has evolved

to its current state today. Examining keystone and revelatory documents and events in American

educational history served to underscore the key contextual background of my research topic and

the field more broadly (EDLE 813 Paper).

As I continue through my doctoral work, I look forward to not only expanding my

breadth of knowledge, but more importantly, developing an even deeper depth of understanding

about my particular research interests and educational leadership. It is hard to believe that a field

as seemingly narrow as education leadership can be explored without redundancy through the

use of a variety of perspectives and lenses that both complement and challenge the previous

knowledge base. This field is about people and organizations and is therefore inherently

dynamic and complex, making it rich in ways that it can be examined and interpreted. I look

forward to continuing my path of learning about the field of education leadership, and even more

so, reflecting again on the ways in which my understandings and assumptions about the field will

inevitably change.
DISCUSSION OF KNOWLEDGE ESSAY 4

References

Bolman, L. and Deal, T. (2013). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership (5th

ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Bambrick-Santoyo, Paul (2012). Leverage Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Desmione, L. (2009). Complementary methods for policy research. In G. Sykes, B. Schneider &

D.N. Plank (Eds.), Handbook of Education Policy Research (163-175). NY: Routledge.

Kay, K. & Greenhill, V. (2011). Twenty-first century students need 21st century skills. In G. Wan

& D. Gut (Eds.), Bringing schools into the 21st century (pp. 41-65). Netherlands:

Springer.

Leithwood & Sun (2012) -- The nature and effects of transformational school leadership: A

meta-analytic review of unpublished research. Educational Administration Quarterly,

48(3), 387-423.

Maxwell, J. (2013). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (3rd ed.). Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.