Gaetane Jean-Marie

Leadership for Social Justice: Preparing 21st Century School Leaders for a New Social Order

At the dawn of the 21st century, there has been an increased focus on social justice and educational leadership (Bogotch, Beachum, Blount, Brooks & English, 2008; Marshall & Oliva, 2006; Shoho, Merchang & Lugg, 2005). This paper explores and extends themes in contemporary educational research on leadership preparation in terms of social justice and its importance for both research and practice on a national and international level. In particular, we examine various considerations in the literature regarding whether or not leadership preparation programs are committed to, and capable of, preparing school leaders to think globally and act courageously about social justice for a new social order.

Black Women’s Leadership Experiences: Examining the Intersectionality of Race and Gender

In this article, the experiences of Black women educational leaders are highlighted to examine the intersection of race and gender in their leadership experiences and tease out approaches to gender inclusiveness to disrupt the isms (racism, sexism, etc.) in the construction of their leadership. The participants’ transcendence of racial and gender stereotypes became the impetus for developing a leadership style that is inclusive, builds consensus, and is collaborative. This issue is important given the increasing demographic changes in society in which more opportunities for Black women to ascend to leadership roles in professional organizations (e.g., business, higher education, and government) become prevalent.

Leadership for Social Justice: An Agenda for 21st Century Schools

Abstract The shift in the demographic data highlights the growth in minority, second language learner, and economically disadvantaged student populations that traditionally have been underserved in public schools (Marshall and Oliva 2006). The purpose of this discussion is to explore the leadership praxis of four female secondary school leaders faced with challenges of social justice, democracy, and equity in their schools. The principals could be characterized as stewards of social justice in their school communities.

Black Leadership, White Leadership: Race and Race Relations in an Urban High School.

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to investigate how race and race relations influence school leadership practice.Design/methodology/approach – This ethnographic study was conducted in a high‐poverty, high‐minority, urban high school in the Southeastern USA. The authors utilized an anthropological conceptual framework called a moiety, through which the schools leadership culture was conceived as two distinct racial leadership subcultures, one black and one white.Findings – Findings suggested that the members of each of these leadership subcultures conceived of and enacted leadership in a different manner. Members of each subculture interacted with one another in a manner consistent with anthropological inquiry focused on moiety cultures.Research limitations/implications – Though under‐used in educational leadership research, the moiety approach seems to have potential for explaining certain (sub)cultural dynamics of leadership in organizations. In the context of this school, race and race relations...

A diffusion approach to study leadership reform

Purpose – This study aims to draw on elements of diffusion theory to understand leadership reform. Many diffusion studies examine the spread of an innovation across social units but the objective is to examine diffusion of a collective leadership model within school units. Specifically, the strength of reform diffusion is tested to account for differences in instructional capacity and to explain the spread of leadership reform within Title I elementary schools.Design/methodology/approach – A mixed method design was used to understand how social factors facilitated the diffusion of leadership reform, and to test for a diffusion effect. Qualitative data were derived from interviews, field notes, observations, and documents using a grounded theory approach. Open and axial coding techniques were used to develop coherent categories of major and minor themes. Quantitative data were hierarchical, with teachers and students nested in schools. A random‐intercepts, means‐as‐outcomes model was used to test for a dif...

Female secondary school leaders: at the helm of social justice, democratic schooling and equity

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the leadership experiences of four female secondary principals (two Black, two White) in one south‐western state to create significant discourse for understanding school leadership nested in complex social, political and cultural contexts. These women confronted education challenges of social justice, democracy, and equity in their schools.Design/methodology/approach – The philosophical tradition of phenomenology was chosen as the qualitative methodology for this study “which is understood to be a concern for human meaning and ultimately for interpreting those meanings so that they inform our practice and our science”. As a secondary analysis of a specific finding (i.e. female leaders who exemplified a values‐orientation around issues of social justice in their leadership practices) from the original study the lived experiences of four female secondary school leaders were further explored.Findings – All four women engaged in leadership praxis by: transform...

Chapter 5 Mentoring and Supportive Networks for Women of Color in Academe

As more women faculty of color enter the professoriate, they are evaluating, clashing with, and challenging old practices, while simultaneously articulating and establishing new ones (James & Farmer, 1993). To do so effectively, these women are best served by a network of mentors (Baugh & Scandura, 1999; Higgins & Kram, 2001) who can facilitate their development of career competencies, help them understand “the rules of the game” for scholarly activity, and transform the normalized construction of academic environments that is sometimes exclusionary of women faculty of color (Tillman, 2001; Young & Brooks, 2008). Mentoring networks are vital support structures in a successful academic career, as emerging scholars seek to navigate the complex and protean racial and gender dynamics of academic institutions (Sorcinelli & Yun, 2007). In this chapter, we explore issues of acclimatization of women new to the professoriate, with a particular focus on developing and sustaining effective mentoring networks for women of color. Furthermore, we examined extant research to gain insights on how women new to academe can build mentoring networks to create peer communities that advance scholarship and teaching, provide useful advice on tenure and promotion, help scholars balance personal and professional roles, and manage time. The following broad questions guided our chapter: (1) What types of mentors and mentoring relationships should early career women of color faculty should seek? (2) How are norms between proteges and mentors created, reinforced and sustained? and (3) What are the benefits of same-race/same-gender mentorships and cross-race/cross-gender mentorships?

Resilience and Risk Competence in Schools: Theory/Knowledge and International Application in Project Rebound

Despite a 50-year interdisciplinary and longitudinal research legacy—showing that nearly 80% of young people considered most “at risk” thrive by midlife—only recently have practitioners/researchers engaged in the explicit, prospective facilitation of “resilience” in educational settings. Here, theory/knowledge distinguishing and extending risk and resilience from its risk-based social history to resiliences normative occurrence leads to the first known international and prospective application of resilience in school-based drug education, Project REBOUND [resilience-bound]. It will be implemented as a controlled pilot study, first in Germany, then expand to the United States, as well as other parts of Europe. With evaluation occurring throughout, the goal is to enhance the quality of drug decisions among young people, as well as support their overall competence-based learning and development throughout school. With limitations and underlying psychological mechanisms discussed, it is concluded Project REBOUND offers promising potential for supporting positive drug decisions as well as youth learning and development.

Renewing the Ed.D.: A University K-12 Partnership to Prepare School Leaders

This paper chronicles the evolution of an educational leadership program participating in the Carnegie Project on the Educational Doctorate (CPED) and its efforts to build strong university-school district partnerships to prepare twenty-first century school leaders. Of particular significance is how the Doctor of Education degree shows promise for improving student achievement and high-quality teaching that helps students meet high standards.

Development and preparation of leaders of learning and learners of leadership

This chapter focuses on how leaders of learning and learners of leading are developed and prepared to address and advance powerful and equitable student learning. Discussion focuses on several areas identified in the literature as critical including: leading and learning in context (Knapp, Copland & Talbert, 2003); leaders’ response to changing expectations and learning agendas, and professional development of leaders of learning (Normore, 2004). Earlier research by Knapp, Copland, and Talbert (2003) and the socialization processes of leaders of learners (Browne-Ferrigno & Muth, 2004; Leithwood, Steinbach, & Begley, 1992; Normore, 2007, 2004) will serve as the foundation for several areas of action identified by these researchers including: establishing a focus on learning by persistently and publicly focusing leaders own attention and that of others on learning and teaching; professional and organizational socialization processes; what leading for learning looks like in practice (Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, Meyerson, Orr, & Cohen, 2007); professional development including pre-service preparation, field-based learning, and personal and professional formation (Daresh, 1997; Gross, 2009; Normore, 2004); and creating coherence by connecting student, professional, and system learning with one another and with learning goals (Knapp et al., 2003).