A Developmental Continuum of Social Justice Leadership: Findings From a Large-Scale Qualitative Study

• In Event: Creating Greater Justice in Schools: Considering New Paths Forward

Abstract

Drawing from in-depth qualitative interviews and formal developmental assessment interviews with fifty educational leaders from across the country, this paper describes a newly-articulated, developmental continuum of social justice leadership. Centering on leaders’ real-life stories of leadership success and challenge, this paper describes how participants’ developmental ways of knowing (i.e., internal meaning making systems) influence their leadership on behalf of social justice. By mapping social justice leadership as a developmental continuum—influenced by leaders’ sense-making and scope of vision—this research illuminates underexplored dimensions of social justice practice and offers implications for leadership preparation and in-service professional learning.

Authors

• Eleanor E. Drago-Severson, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Jessica Blum-DeStefano, Bank Street College of Education

• Deborah Brooks-Lawrence