Welcome back for season 5! In this episode of In the Lead with UCEA, Executive Director Dr. Mónica Byrne-Jiménez talks with Dr. Juan Manuel Niño, Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at UT San Antonio, where his research focusing on school district leadership, leadership preparation for social justice, latino leadership, and intersectionalities.

Mónica and Juan explore the history and development of the Urban School Leaders Collaborative (USLC) program, which began in 2003. The program focuses on equity-centered leadership and has expanded from a master’s degree program to include a Ph.D., with pathways now for both principals and superintendents. Juan illustrates the impact of the collaborative efforts between UT San Antonio and SAISD, highlighting the Equity Centered Pipeline Initiative (ECPI) supported by the Wallace Foundation. 

Their discussion covers the importance of sustainable leadership and the intentional collaboration between university faculty and district leaders. Listen in for insights into the challenges and strategies for creating a lasting and impactful leadership pipeline in education.

In the Lead with UCEA is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Building leadership pipelines rooted in community 

[03:07 ] The story for the program here at UT San Antonio began in 2003 with the efforts of Dr. Encarnacion Garza and, at that time, Dean Betty Merchant, who wanted to build a sustainable, grow-your-own model within the community of San Antonio. So at that time, they worked with San Antonio ISD and the superintendents to build and to develop a program that would be specific to the needs of the community and to the students and the population of San Antonio ISD. And then hence, that's why they developed the Urban School Leaders Collaborative in 2003.

Juan discusses the role of the university in sustaining the equity pipeline.

[16:19 ] I just feel that there's so much richness and tradition in this model, in this program. And [one of the] many things that I've learned is the whole notion of being intentional. Being intentional and transparent and authentic to make sure that this framework is understood and that it's not only respected but that it's really embraced as an opportunity for many school practitioners to look at their practice very differently.

The collaborative efforts between UT San Antonio and SAISD’s equity-focused partnership

[12:09 ] We are very proud that the USLC has always been incorporating clinical faculty into our leadership preparation at the master's level. So we always would invite graduates from our program to come and co-teach with us. However, due to budget and funding, sometimes it would be myself co-teaching another class with another graduate. It never was that we had a co-facilitation. Now because of the ECPI and the opportunities that have been afforded through this initiative, we have been able to be more intentional in that approach, meaning that all our coursework through the master's and the PhD, we have a co-teaching model. How that works is that every night when the cohort comes for class, they have two professors. One which is a tenured line professor from UT San Antonio from the department. And then we have the other one, who is a district member, whether at the campus level or at the district level, who is also co-teaching with that UTSA professor. So it has really helped us to develop a preparation that is aligned to meeting the needs and many times the initiatives that the district has set for.

Investing with intentionality: building authentic relationships rooted in community

Dr. Mónica Byrne-Jiménez [27:53 ]: Part of the sustainability discussion is always about structures and processes, and maybe, actually, sustainability is about people and relationships. And so how do you continue to grow and deepen relationships around a broader network of people, both at the university and [on] the district side?

Dr. Juan Manuel Niño ​[28:51 ]: The process sometimes in the universities are not as predictable as I would wish we would have, right? And say, as [for] the funding and all of those aspects, I'm like, you know, creating a cadre of clinical faculty with an equity-centered mindset and becoming very, very familiar with a theory of action, to me, speaks of a sustainable model because we still have to invest and hire clinical model adjunct professors to come and help us teach. Why not invest with intentionality on building relationships with faculty members that are sitting in school districts and cultivating a cohort that will support this initiative? And that's what I've been doing since ECPI. And I think  that's one of the biggest strengths that ECPI has afforded the USLC is to take not only the ownership of USLC in the department, but also sharing that ownership with district leaders throughout San Antonio.

Show Links:

• Faculty Profile | UT San Antonio
• Profile | Journal of Research in Rural Education
• Juan’s Research Page | ResearchGate
• ECPI | Wallace Foundation