Principals’, Administrators’, and Counselors’ Vision of Healthy College-Going Schools

Successful schools are found when there is strong leadership among school principals, teaching staff, and standing school committees (Gonzales et al., 2006). This study focuses on the perspectives of the principals, admin, and counselors in schools of South Tucson. La Zona de Promesa’s strategic planning began by conducting interviews with key stakeholders (elementary and middle school principals and administrators (N = 12), elementary school teachers (N = 36), and high school counselors (N = 5) to understand their perception of assets and needs in the local community, as well as their vision for educational success. Assets identified across all stakeholders included community resources, caring families, programs within schools, and cultural values. Barriers included immigration status, low teacher expectations, lack of technology resources, lack of continuity across schools, and missing college-going culture in schools and community. Solutions included education advocates, mentoring and involvement of university students, developing continuum models across schools, educating teachers and schools about crisis resources for poverty, and including more community members in the college-going culture.