Latinas Persisting in the Urban Principalship: Drawing From Their Community Cultural Wealth

• In Event: Baila Conmigo: Mentoring Latinas as School Leaders

Abstract

This study examined the support systems and experiences that have sustained Latinas in their work as principals. The researchers advocate for the need in validating and acknowledging Latina principals’ identities, backgrounds, historical experiences, and community and familial support systems. This study was guided by the following research question: How do the identities and life experiences of Latinas serving as urban school principals impact their ability to persist in their occupation? This question seeks to understand the experiences of Latinas in urban leadership positions and how their multiple identities impact how they persist and resist in their role as principals. In this chapter, we first review the literature on Latina school leaders. Next, we draw on Community Cultural Wealth and highlight how different forms of capital (familial, aspirational, navigational, resistance) inform Latina principal experiences and sustain them in their roles. Finally, we reveal the study’s findings and highlight the need for community asset frameworks such as community cultural wealth that critically analyze the ways educational leaders persist within their roles by building and tapping into their familial capital, utilizing these experiences as tools to sustain in their roles and simultaneously resist systems of oppression.

Author

• Argelia Lara, Santa Clara University