UNC School of Education

>> Tillman, Linda C

Linda Tillman seeks to provide a counter-narrative to traditional educational leadership/school administration theory as well as epistemological and methodological approaches to conducting research. Through her work on the principalship, she contributes to the field of educational leadership by developing theoretical constructs and conducting research that highlights the previously silenced voices of African American school leaders. In her article, “African American Principals and the Legacy of Brown,” Tillman posits a culturally sensitive research framework for African American principal leadership and applies it to their participation in school leadership in the pre- and post- Brown vs. Board of Education periods. She also conducts research on American parental involvement and has developed a praxis-oriented leadership framework for working with at-risk students of color and their families. This framework is included in a teaching module for the University of Vermont National Institute on Leadership, Disability & Students Placed at Risk and is being used in school leadership and administration programs across the country (www.uvm.edu/nildspar).

Tillman plans to investigate best-practice principal mentoring in the urban school context. The study will be an extension of her previous research on the role of the principal in facilitating the personal and professional competence of novice teachers in an urban school district. In the proposed study, Tillman will seek to identify exemplars of principal mentoring and leadership that contribute to the professional competence of novice teachers in the urban school context. This research will address a gap in the educational leadership/school administration literature with respect to African American principals’ mentoring, instructional and supervisory practices that support teachers’ pedagogical practices.

Tillman has published theoretical and empirical articles in Educational Researcher, Educational Administration Quarterly, Review of Research in Education and Theory Into Practice.  She is a guest editor for a special issue of the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education titled, “Research on the Color Line: Perspectives on Race, Culture and Research.”  She will co-edit with Lenoar Foster, Washington State University, a forthcoming book titled African American Perspectives on Schools: Building a Culture of Empowerment. Additionally, she is the general of editor of the forthcoming Handbook of African American Education that will focus on various aspects of the leadership and participation of African Americans in U.S. education and society.