Social justice educational leadership

Social justice educational leadership is a style of educational leadership grounded in the belief that all students can and will reach proficiency, without exceptions or excuses. Rather than focusing on one group of students who traditionally struggle, social justice leaders address the equity needs of all students. This including needs based on race, income, language, ability, gender, and sexual orientation. Social justice leadership draws from inclusive education practices from disability education, but extends the concepts further to support students from diverse groups with a wide range of needs. Through restructuring staff allocation and assessing student progress through disaggregated data, school leaders strive to create schools with equal access and equitable student supports.

Goals

Social justice leaders recognize the role race, ethnicity, family income, ability, gender, and sexual orientation play in predicting student success in school. They commit to creating schools that address societal inequalities by striving to help all students reach academic proficiency. As described by Scheurich and Skrla, “In striving for both equity and excellence… we are aiming for schools in which there are no persistent patterns of differences in academic success or treatment among students grouped by race, ethnicity, culture, neighborhood, income of parents, or home language. In other words, we are aiming to foster schools that literally serve each and every student really well.” (pg. 2).[1]

In order to assess whether these patterns of difference exist, social justice leaders use rigorous equity audits to disaggregate student outcomes.[2] Equity audits involve assessing data indicators from standardized test scores, discipline rates, family involvement, advanced course participation, special education labeling, at-risk identification, and intervention placement. Schools usually see achievement gap trends in these areas, with traditionally marginalized students performing lower than their more privileged peers.[3] Many schools find demographically similar groups of students struggling in academics, language, discipline, graduation rates, and other markers of student success. Once these patterns are identified, leaders equip staff with the skills to address student needs.[4]

Student services

Social justice leadership builds on concepts of inclusive education, in which services are brought to students in the general classroom environment, rather than pulling students out to a resource room. However, social justice leadership diverges somewhat from inclusive education in that full inclusion at all times is not required.[4] Instead, social justice leaders eliminate all alternative rooms and focus on providing services in classrooms and other flexible spaces that can be accessed by all students.[5] Social justice leadership also emphasizes assigning students to classrooms and groups using proportional representation. In all environments, the proportion of students from any demographic group should match the natural proportion of students in the school.[2] For example, if 15% of the student body is Latino, then 15% of every classroom should be Latino, only 15% of students who qualify for special education should be Latino and only 15% of students receiving discipline should be Latino.

This method of bringing services to students in general education environments with proportional representation also differs from pull-out models like Response to Intervention (RtI). Many pull-out models identify students struggling in the classroom and assigns them to interventions led by interventionists, rather than their classroom teachers. For students with more significant needs, they may have pull-out interventions from the Title I teacher, reading interventionist, speech therapist, and social worker, introducing multiple adults and environments to students who would most benefit from consistency. This practice locates the responsibility for educating students with additional needs with the interventionist, rather than the classroom teacher, reducing their efficacy.[4]

Staff allocation

Both inclusive and pull-out models seek to reduce the student to teacher ratio, but inclusive models do so by bringing services and staff expertise to students. Thus, social justice leaders need to strategically plan how to effectively allocate their limited staff resources.[3] Rather than having several specialists who work with students with specific needs, leaders structure collaborative teams of classroom teachers, cross-categorical special education teachers, and bilingual resource teachers to support classrooms of students.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Glickman, James Joseph Scheurich, Linda Skrla ; foreword by Carl D. (2003). Leadership for equity and excellence creating high-achievement classrooms, schools, and districts. Thousand Oaks (Calif.): Corwin Press. ISBN 978-0761945864.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Salle, Ruth S. Johnson, Robin Avelar La (2010). Data strategies to uncover and eliminate hidden inequities : the wallpaper effect. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin. ISBN 978-1412914932.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Capper, Elise M. Frattura, Colleen A. (2007). Leading for social justice : transforming schools for all learners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. ISBN 978-0761931782.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Frattura, Colleen A. Capper, Elise M. (2009). Meeting the needs of students of all abilities : how leaders go beyond inclusion (2nd ed. ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press. ISBN 978-1412966955.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Theoharis, George (2009). The school leaders our children deserve : seven keys to equity, social justice, and school reform. New York: Teachers College Press. ISBN 978-0807749517.

General references

Capper, C. A., & Frattura, E. (2008). Meeting the needs of students of all abilities: How leaders go beyond inclusion. Newbury Park, CA: Corwin Press.

Frattura, E., & Capper, C. A. (2007). Leadership for social justice: Transforming schools for all learners. Newbury Park, CA: Corwin Press.

Johnson, R. S., & Avelar La Salle, R. L. (2012). Data Strategies to uncover and eliminate hidden inequities: The wallpaper effect. Newbury Park, CA: Corwin Press.

McKenzie, K. B., & Scheurich, J. J. (2004). Equity traps: A useful construct for preparing principals to lead schools that are successful with racially diverse students. Educational Administration Quarterly, 601-632.

McKinney, S. & Lowenhaupt, R. (2013). New Directions for Socially Just Educational Leadership: Lessons from Disability Studies. In L. Tillman & J. Scheurich (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Educational Leadership for Diversity and Equity. Washington DC: American Educational Research Association.

Scanlon, M. & Lopez, F. (2012). ¡Vamos! How school leaders promote equity and excellence for bilingual students. Educational Administration Quarterly XX(X), 1-43.

Scheurich, J. J., & Skrla, L. (2003). Leadership for equity and excellence: Creating high-achievement classrooms, schools and districts. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Theoharis, G. (2009). The school leaders our children deserve: Seven keys to equity, social justice, and school reform. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.