Growing Latina School Leaders: Recruiting and Mentoring as Key Critical Aspects

• In Event: “La Baila” Mentoring Frameworks for Advancing Latinas as School Leaders

Abstract

As of 2017-2018, 78% of U.S. public school principals were White, 11% were Black and 9% were Hispanic/Latino (Hussar et al., 2020). Although women public school principals now outnumber men at 54% to 46% respectively (Hussar et al., 2020), White women still hold more principalships than women of color (Bailes & Guthery, 2020). Coupled with an overwhelming White teaching workforce, it is no wonder that there is an increased need to diversify school and district leadership in the U.S. to more readily reflect and meet the needs of the diverse student population in K-12 schools. Such statistics beg the question: “What can or is being done to increase the number of school leaders of color across the country?”

This presentation focuses on examining this question more purposefully to consider how school and district practitioners, as well as educational leadership preparation programs and aspiring administrators can successfully increase Latina representation among school leaders in particular. In doing so, we focus on the critical role of recruitment and mentoring; how strategies discussed here can inform school and district leaders’ practices and aspiring Latina leaders’ ability to successfully navigate their advancement to administration. Findings are drawn from the testimonios of 14 current and former Latina school leaders from across the U.S. who shared their personal experiences and professional insights to the recruitment and selection of Latinas into administration and the types of mentoring necessary for Latinas’ ascension to and persistence in these roles.

Authors

• Melissa A. Martinez, Texas State University

• Sylvia Mendez-Morse, Texas Tech University