“Calladita Te Miras Mas Bonita”: Coaching Latinas Into Their Leadership in a Preliminary Administrative Services Credential Program

• In Event: Coaching for Equity in California’s Leadership Preparation Programs

Abstract

Purpose. This study addresses the following question: How, if at all, does individual coaching support sense of agency, leadership presence, and ability to lean into conflict in Latina leadership candidates?

Perspectives. The study is grounded in our leadership preparation program’s definition of the following three terms, as synthesized in our Candidate Performance Standards (CPS) document (Goleman and Boyatzis, undated; Lambert, 2003; NEA, 2018).

Sense of Agency: Defines self as an agent of change, both independent and interdependent…

Leadership Presence: Is willing to assume the role of leader. Projects one’s voice with confidence. Is able to inhabit the public, political and symbolic dimensions of leadership while projecting authenticity and staying true to one’s core values/vision…

Conflict: Surfaces, addresses, and mediates conflict within the community. Facilitates the community’s ability to discuss what matters most with emotional intelligence… Understands that negotiating conflict is necessary for personal and organizational change.

Methods. This study utilizes practitioner action research (Anderson, Herr, & Nihlen, 2007). The author is a university faculty member and director of a leadership preparation program that is a tight partnership between a university and a local urban school district. The author provides regular coaching to candidates by design, to mitigate the possible effects of class co-instruction by district supervisors. Said differently, coaching potentially provides a space for greater vulnerability for candidates.

Data sources. This paper draws on two sources of data from 13 Latina leadership preparation candidates across two cohorts from the one urban district. Our program’s first cohort of 20 candidates included 3 Latinas, and the second cohort of 19 candidates included 10 Latinas (n=13 total). The two data sources are (1) the candidates’ work samples, including their self-assessments on the CPS, “immunity maps” (Helsing et al, 2008), and iterative written reflections on practice, and (2) notes from the author’s ongoing coaching meetings with those candidates, which were grounded in the aforementioned work samples.

Results. The data indicate a strong relationship between coaching and the candidates’ growth on the three CPS domains (sense of agency, leadership presence, and ability to lean into conflict). Results are presented both in the aggregate, as well as through deep narrative into two illustrative cases. Of the 13 Latina graduates, seven were promoted immediately upon program completion by the partnering district. Five currently serve as site administrators, five in district leadership positions, and one as a teacher leader. Candidates credit the critical, ongoing self-reflection required by program coaching (Kegan & Lahey, 2001) as being a program element that was instrumental to their growth.

Scholarly significance of the work. Scholarship on equity-focused educational leadership has documented the challenges for many to bringing their whole selves to work, but this is precisely what our students need. The world needs the voices of Latina leaders, yet all too often, these potential leaders do not yet believe that themselves. This study documents an approach to supporting leadership candidates that is relevant for all marginalized and minoritized groups; it specifically contributes to showing the benefits of individual coaching for Latinas.

Author

• Jennifer Goldstein, California State University - Fullerton