Preparing Aspiring School Leaders to Understand Issues of Social Justice and Equity in Schools

• In Event: Preparing School Leaders to Engage in School Reform by Understanding Issues of Equity and Social Justice

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand how aspiring school leaders at a northeastern university understood issues of equity and social justice work in US schools after conducting equity audits. Although there has been an increase in the number of educational leadership preparation programs that claim to incorporate social justice–oriented approaches, the number of programs that have brought such practices to fruition, however, is quite limited (Cambron-McCabe & McCarthy, 2005; Lopez, 2003; Marshall, Young, & Moll, 2010). Based in the tradition of grounded theory, this study examined how 61 participants understood issues of equity and social justice in U.S. public schools (Glaser, 1978; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The data collection consisted of finding from equity audits conducted in U.S. schools (both public and private), which were based on Skrla, McKenzie, and Scheurich’s (2009) work, 526 reflections (i.e., written, audio, and/or video) regarding how participants understood equity and social justice work in schools, and field notes. Open coding was used to break down, analyze, compare, and categorize data (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Incidents and events were labeled and grouped via constant comparisons, which led to the emergence of themes, properties, and patterns within the texts of the reflections (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Analytic memos were created throughout the research process to track data and establish patterns (Charmaz, 2003; Maxwell, 2005). Emerging themes revealed the following: (1) defining equity and social justice within diverse contexts; (2) a deepened sense of self in relation to others; (3) building bridges between self and those they serve; (4) becoming a change agent; and (4) promoting alliances to systemically address how to meet the needs of all children.

Author

• Christa A. Boske, Kent State University