"Kids Have Taught Me. I Listen to Them": Principals Legitimizing Student Voice in Their Leadership

• In Event: Listening to and Advocating for Students: Recentering Equitable Leadership

Abstract

Few studies have shared insights on how principals invite student voices to enact social justice leadership practice, especially using evidence in the U.S. context. Therefore, using in-depth interview data from six principals in the U.S. Midwest, the purpose of our study was to explore the ways in which principals demonstrated their commitment to equity via advocating for student voice. To achieve this purpose, we sought after the following overarching research question: How do equity-minded school leaders operationalize student voice in their practice? We present three emergent themes: (1) root for student voice, (2) student voice to create a holistic learning environment, and (3) student voice for student future.

Authors

• Osly J. Flores, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Joonkil Ahn, University of Arizona