Leading for Social Justice in a "Deeply Demoralized" Urban High School

• In Event: Leadership for Social Justice

Abstract

Few cities capture the stark juxtapositions and contradictions more clearly than in the hyper-segregated city of Chicago. One arena where the confluence social justice and neoliberlism converges most prominently is within the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Although recent findings (Tozer, Zavitkovsky, & Martinez, 2009) suggest that CPS has made gains in closing achievement gaps on standardized test scores, the district continues to employ deregulation, competitiveness, and privatization forcing the educational system, parents, and students to adhere to the principles of the free market (Lipman, 2011). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to describe the struggles and successes of two [university] affiliated principals attempting to disrupt the status quo of a “deeply demoralized” high school in a highly contested space.

Authors

• Jason Swanson, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Heather L. Horsley, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Steven E. Tozer, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Samuel Paul Whalen, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Martha Hebert, University of Illinois at Chicago