Inverting the Leadership Paradigm: Voices of Youth and Parent Leaders for Social Justice

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium will present research examining the possibilities for inverting the social justice leadership paradigm and centralizing the contributions of parents and students—particularly those marginalized by race, ethnicity, gender, and/or social class. Often educational decision-making lacks the voices of these individuals, silencing those closest to educational disparities. This raises some questions: Whose voices matter in the pursuit of equitable schools? If parents and students get a voice, how do they develop social justice leadership knowledge, skills, and dispositions? Our symposium illuminates this area, potentially promoting efforts to challenge inequity in education. The first two papers consider possibilities for parents of color to become educational leaders, and the second two investigate students of color as educational leaders.

Sub Unit

• Division A - Administration / Division A - Section 1: Leadership

Chair

• Melanie Bertrand, Arizona State University

Papers

• Confianza for Social Justice: Latina Mothers Becoming Social Justice Educational Leaders - Katherine Rodela, Washington State University

• Transformational Resistance as Educational Leadership: The Role of African American Parent Leaders in School District Decision Making - Rhoda Freelon, Spencer Foundation

• The Racial Politics of Social Justice Education and Leadership: Perspectives of High School Students of Color - Anjale DeVawn Welton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Tiffany Octavia Harris, University of Illinois

• The Potential of Youth Participatory Action Research to Reposition Students of Color as Social Justice Educational Leaders - Melanie Bertrand, Arizona State University

Discussant

• Ann M. Ishimaru, University of Washington