Handbook of Urban Educational Leadership

Dr. Muhammad Khalifa is a faculty member in K-12 educational administration at Michigan State University. He was previously an urban school teacher and administrator, and has taught at a number of higher education institutions abroad. His research addresses culturally appropriate school leadership practice. He has looked at successful school leadership in domestic and local environments, including urban and alternative schools, as well as locations in Middle Eastern and African countries. His current research examines disparities in school suspension, and urban school closures.

Dr. Cosette Grant-Overton is faculty member in Educational Leadership and Higher Education at the University of Cincinnati. She teaches Urban Educational Leadership courses. Her primary research focuses on the challenges and opportunities offered by the attraction, retention and graduation success of students, with a focus on how these processes may be changing as a result of increasing diversity. She serves on several educational and journal review boards and is active in civic engagement.

Dr. Noelle Witherspoon Arnold is a faculty member in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Prior to that appointment, she taught elementary school, and served as an administrator at the district and state level. Dr. Arnold also currently serves as consultant throughout the US advising districts in analyzing data for school improvement, cultural mediation and pedagogy, STEM leadership. Dr. Witherspoon-Arnold’s most recent publications have appeared in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, The Journal of Educational Administration History, Equity and Excellence in Education, The Journal of Negro Education, and the Journal of Educational Administration. Dr. Arnold is serves on the Executive Committee of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) and Secretary/Treasurer of the AERA Leadership for Social Justice SIG. Dr. Witherspoon-Arnold is also the Assistant Editor of the International Journal of Leadership in Education. She is currently engaging in research exploring the role of urban principals in health advocacy and the founding of school clinics.

Dr.Azadeh F. Osanloo Before joining the faculty of the Department of Educational Leadership and Administration at NMSU, Dr. Osanloo received her doctorate in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Program, specializing in the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education at Arizona State University. Her research addressed civic education in a post 9/11 climate focusing on the concepts of democracy, cosmopolitanism, human rights, and citizenship from theory to praxis. She has merged her work in civics and human rights with her new research agenda on collaborative systemic diversity-based interventions for bullying for middle schools. Prior to being in Arizona she taught in the New York City public schools working primarily with junior high school students in the South Bronx and jointly was a program director at the Harlem Educational Activities Fund - a not-for-profit that specialized in closing the gap between educational attainment and disenfranchised students. While in New York City she obtained her Master's in Public Administration from New York University's Robert F. Wagner School. In general, her research agenda focuses on issues of educational equity; educational leadership and policy; the philosophical foundations of education; diversity, multiculturalism, and human rights; bullying interventions; and social justice. Her research agenda is underscored by the four edited books she is currently working on which cover the topics of urban school leadership, diversity-based bullying interventions, student and parent perceptions of bullying, and international and national social justice work. She is currently an Associate Professor and the Stan Fulton Endowed Chair for the Improvement of Border and Rural Schools. She has won the Dean's Awards for her teaching and service.