Getting out the Way: Creating Space for Youth of Color to Engage in Transformative Leadership

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: Developing Effective Schools and School Leaders

Abstract

This critical qualitative case study deepens understandings of research related to student voice in school leadership by demonstrating how formalized school leaders can cede control to youth of color invested in engaging in transformative school improvement. Findings demonstrate that formalized school leaders (principals, assistant principals, superintendents, etc.) created spaces for youth of color leadership by: (a) Being open to new and different sources of knowledge related to persistent issues of inequity in their schools; (b) Initiating spaces for youth of color to engage in leadership; and (c) Buffering student leaders from outside pressures. Implications highlight the need for school leaders to intentionally allow marginalized youth to establish improvement agendas and actions.

Author

• Jason Salisbury, University of Illinois at Chicago