Enacting Social Justice and Culturally Responsive Practices in an Urban Educational Leadership Program

• In Event: Challenging Dominant Narratives Through Student Autobiographies and Testimonios

Abstract

Purpose
In this paper we share personal narratives as women of color faculty who take a critical approach towards teaching in an urban educational leadership program at one of the most diverse universities in the country. In developing leaders that are culturally responsive and social-justice oriented, a distinct level of self-awareness and self-reflection is needed (Martinez, 2015; Khalifa, Gooden, Davis & 2016). Through narrative and document analysis we explore how we revisit our positionality and educational stories through the process of facilitating critical consciousness-raising discussions and writing exercises in a doctoral course called Critical Issues in Urban Education. We explore these questions: How do students reflect on their experiences of exploring their positionality in this course? What role do faculty play in the critical reflection process?

Theoretical Framework
We utilize Afrocentric Feminist Epistemology (Collins, 1991) and Chicana Feminist Epistemology (Delgado Bernal, 1998), to inform our approach to Culturally Responsive School Leadership (CRSL, Khalifa, et al, 2016). As African American and Chicana scholars, we embrace an epistemological perspective borne of our intersecting identities and lived experiences of race and gender. Bringing these perspectives to bear in our research and teaching, we unpack them to provide foundation for our collective approach to CRSL within the context of our teaching.

Methods
We use narrative storytelling and document analysis to understand our approaches to teaching a Critical Issues course. Narrative storytelling is a common method of communication and making sense of personal experiences (Clandinin, Pushor, & Orr, 2007; Conle, 2000). Additionally, we use document analysis in order to triangulate and provide contextual dimensions (Glesne, 2011) to the data provided by the student narratives.

Data sources
The data sources for this study include the following:
1. Narrative analysis: Written faculty reflections and transcripts of our discussions of own exploration of positionality, privilege, tensions, etc.
2. Syllabi: Document analysis of syllabi from five semesters that address critical issues in urban education and diversity in an education leadership context.
3. Student critical autobiographies: These written narratives explore their own K-12 schooling experiences from a social, historical, cultural and political context, reflections of writing a critical autobiography, as well as how this exercise impacted their identity as education leaders.

Results
Findings indicate several common experiences in our teaching, as well as a number of areas for continued reflection:
*Reflection on how we can guide students from a place of believing themselves to be culturally responsive school leaders, into deeper self-reflection about where they actually are and where they want to be.
*Knowledge that these issues must be approached from an inside outward approach, where students begin coursework by thinking and reflecting on their own assumptions, beliefs and philosophies and work outward (Terrell, & Lindsey, 2009).

Significance
We add to the research around the role of faculty at institutions of higher education in urban environments and more specifically in leadership programs. We see this research as a project that will hopefully lead to action and social change in education through the critical self-reflection from school and district leaders.

Authors

• April L. Peters-Hawkins, University of Houston

• Ruth María López, University of Houston