The EdD Consultancy Project: Social Justice Leadership Practice
Author: Twomey, Sarah J.
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Consultants,Qualitative Research,Questionnaires,Doctoral Programs,Graduate Students,Social Justice,Leadership Training,Instructional Leadership,Case Studies,Communities of Practice,Transformative Learning,Interviews

The purpose of this research was to conduct a feasibility study for the establishment of a Micronesian culture-based charter school or other educational program in the state of Hawai'i. Community partners representing four organizations came together with this common goal. There are a growing number of Micronesian families living abroad, specifically in Hawai'i. Micronesian students and families have expressed an on-going dissatisfaction regarding their negative experiences at school and work. In the last twenty years, Hawai'i has seen an exponential increase in the number of migrants from Compact of Free Association (COFA) countries: the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau. These students have suffered low graduation rates, high behavior referrals, and insufficient academic progress. While the Hawai'i Department of Education (DOE) has tried a number of strategies, including hiring bilingual part-time teachers to help English Language Learners (ELL), the strategies have not led to widespread student success. These small island countries share many cultural values, but are also quite diverse. The unique opportunity that this consultancy project presented was that there were four different clients that on three islands. The Hawai'i-based non-profit organizations--Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE), Micronesian United-Big Island (MU-BI), The Learning Coalition (TLC), We Are Oceania (WAO)--commissioned the feasibility study for the establishment of a Micronesian culture-based charter school or other educational program. Though each organization has their own mission and vision, their interest to better serve the Micronesian community at large was the same. From the onset of the project, the consultancy group chose to conduct qualitative research to better understand the needs of the Micronesian community. Both existing and new data were analyzed for this qualitative study. Consultancy project data from final reports and program evaluation questionnaires completed by both previous and current students, mentors, advisors, and community partners were collected. New questionnaires were completed by current students from three identified consultancy groups who expressed interest in contributing to the research and evaluation process. The practices of the consultancy projects occurred in the present, but are part of a complex living system that draws from the present and past as it looks to the future. There is a complex landscape in Hawai'i's educational system that continues to struggle for effective ways to support educational self-determination for Native Hawaiians as well as provide culturally responsive and equal access to education for all of Hawai'i's children. The authors assert that the consultancy project framework of the EdD program resulted in an ecological space of interrelated learning communities where groups of learners, comprising doctoral students and clients, collaborated in an organic practice that generated new experiences that provoked old mindsets and engaged in learning that enhanced one of the principles of the Hawai'i EdD program: social justice leadership practice.