The Challenge of Leadership in Comprehensive High Schools: School Vision and Departmental Divisions

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Abstract
A persistent dilemma of leadership in high schools is the contrast between reformers' push toward shared school visions and reality's pull from deeply entrenched department divisions. Drawing on data from a 5-year, federally funded study of high schools, this article focuses on the perspectives of administrators in three “typical” public comprehensive high schools, each who sees his or her site as what one principal vividly described as a “36-ring circus.” The multiple rings, ringleaders, and distinctly different microclimates operating within each school are similar, but each school 's strategy is distinctive. One attempted to break departments down, restructuring the school and staff into “learning houses.” The second tried breaching barriers with an administrator actively involved in departmental meetings and decisions. The third has started building bridges, supporting strong leadership within departments, while at the same time creating committees, task forces, and exchange programs to span them.

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