George Theoharis

Social Justice Educational Leaders and Resistance: Toward a Theory of Social Justice Leadership

Purpose : A subgroup of principals—leaders for social justice—guide their schools to transform the culture, curriculum, pedagogical practices, atmosphere, and schoolwide priorities to benefit marginalized students. The purpose of the article is to develop a theory of this social justice educational leadership. Research Design : This empirical study examined the following questions: (a) In what ways are principals enacting social justice in public schools? (b) What resistance do social justice—driven principals face in their justice work? (c) What strategies do principals develop to sustain their ability to enact social justice in light of the resistance they face in public schools? Data Collection and Analysis : A critical, qualitative, positioned-subject approach combined with principles of autoethnography guided the research methods. Seven public school leaders who came to the principalship with a social justice orientation, who make issues of race, class, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and other historically marginalizing factors central to their advocacy, leadership practice, and vision, and who have demonstrated success in making their schools more just, were studied through interviews. Findings: A description of (a) how the principals enacted social justice, (b) the resistance they faced as well as the toll the resistance had on them, and (c) the strategies they developed to sustain their social justice work is provided in detail. Implications for administrator preparation are made at the close of this article.

Toward a Framework for Preparing Leaders for Social Justice.

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to propose one possible framework for conceptualizing the preparation of leaders for social justice. To this end, three central questions guided this conceptualization: “What are the common themes in the literature and research on preparing leaders for social justice?”; “How can this framework serve as a guide for developing a course, set of courses, or an entire program toward preparing leaders to lead socially just schools?”; and “How can this literature and conceptualization inform future scholarship in administrator preparation?”.Design/methodology/approach – This work included a review of 72 pieces of literature. To address the research questions, the growing body of leadership for social justice literature was reviewed. Each of these articles was analyzed and explicit recommendations for preparing school leaders noted. These recommendations were then catagorized into the proposed framework.Findings – Three domains: critical consciousness; knowledge; and pract...

Leading Inclusive ELL Social Justice Leadership for English Language Learners

Purpose: This article attempts to build a better understanding of the leadership necessary to create socially just schools for English language learners (ELLs) by addressing these questions: In what ways do principals create asset-based, collaborative, and inclusive learning opportunities and services for ELLs? What do varying approaches of these services and the leadership necessary look like in practice? Research Design: This article reports on the instrumental case studies of two urban elementary schools and the principals involved in school reform that resulted in inclusive ELL services. Findings: The first principal led her school to adopt a dual certification approach, where the staff engaged in professional development around ELL. They combined federal, state, and local resources to eliminate pullout ELL programs and reduce class size so elementary teachers would take sole responsibility for building community and instructing ELL and all students. The second principal led his school to adopt a coteaching approach where teams of general education and English as a second language (ESL) teachers planned as a team and cotaught all students. They eliminated pullout ELL services and focused on community building, professional development, and collaboration. Student achievement at both schools, and in particular the achievement of ELL students, greatly improved, as did the connection with ELL families. The cross-case analysis provides a comparison between the cases of inclusive ESL reform. Conclusions: The authors propose implications for school leaders that build on the literature, social justice leadership, and the work of the principals, staffs, and communities at the schools from the case studies described here.

Does Access Matter? Time in General Education and Achievement for Students With Disabilities

This study examined the relationship between hours in general education and achievement in reading and mathematics for students with disabilities. The study population included more than 1,300 students between the ages of 6 and 9 years old within 180 school districts. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was utilized with the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS) data set (Institute of Education Sciences). The relationship between hours in general education and achievement in reading and mathematics was explored while accounting for student- and district-level factors. Results suggest a strong positive relationship between the number of hours students spent in general education and achievement in mathematics and reading. Implications for policy and practice in special education are presented and discussed.

Oppressors or Emancipators: Critical Dispositions for Preparing Inclusive School Leaders

Leadership from school administrators is essential in creating inclusive schools. The purpose of this article is to outline the dispositions necessary for school leaders in order to develop and maintain inclusive educational services for all students. This work comes from a qualitative study of university-based experts who teach courses in leadership preparation and professional development specifically designed to address how to build and maintain inclusive schools. The article includes a description of these experts in leadership for inclusive schooling, what they see as the required dispositions, and how they foster these. The article concludes with a discussion of the educational importance of this study.

Teaching pre‐service teachers to design inclusive instruction: a lesson planning template

When designing lessons to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse population of students, educators need to rethink planning and structuring lessons so that all students achieve better results. Therefore, teacher preparation programmes need to prepare pre‐service teachers accordingly. Within this paper, a new lesson planning template is unveiled that builds on many of the foundational concepts of inclusive education. This template is meant for teacher educators to use with pre‐service teachers across the curriculum to guide the design of inclusive lessons. This paper discusses the foundations, unique features, and applications of this student‐centred lesson design template to create creative and active learning for students in inclusive classrooms.

Schools of Promise: A School District—University Partnership Centered on Inclusive School Reform

A university—school district partnership, Schools of Promise (SOP), was formed to improve elementary schools for all children through whole-school reform. This effort focused on the concepts of belonging and inclusion, positioning the needs of marginalized students at the center of the reform through a university-facilitated restructuring of service delivery and university-led professional development. This article reports on the findings from a mixed-methods study of this partnership, addressing two research questions focused on the experiences of the participants and major stakeholders involved in this reform effort. The questions include (a) What have been the major accomplishments of SOP? and (b) What barriers have been encountered? The findings suggest there are both significant accomplishments as well as ongoing barriers to these efforts. These themes are discussed, and implications for future research and future directions for this partnership are presented.

Preparing pre‐service teachers for inclusive classrooms: revising lesson‐planning expectations

The purpose of this article is to explore the use of a lesson‐planning template designed to support and scaffold pre‐service teachers’ lesson‐planning techniques for a wide range of learners in inclusive classrooms. This template is currently used across the final three semesters of a dual certification inclusive elementary and special education teacher preparation programme. This article reports on an empirical study using a mixed methodology that addresses the following question: How do pre‐service teachers, university faculty, supervising teachers and field supervisors perceive their experiences using this template? Addressing that question led to revising the original template. This article concludes with that revised lesson‐planning template.

Leading Inclusive Reform for Students with Disabilities: A School- and Systemwide Approach.

It is of great importance to maximize access to general education for all students with disabilities. This article focuses on how leaders create inclusive schools for all students—inclusive school reform. Inclusive school reform can result in all students with disabilities being placed into general education settings (including students with significant disabilities, students with mild disabilities, students with emotional disabilities, students with autism … all students) and providing inclusive services to meet their needs while eliminating pullout or self-contained special education programs. In this article, we outline a 7-part process, as well as a set of tools for schools to use to create authentically inclusive schools.

“We’re Going to Make Lemonade Out of Lemons” Urban Principals, Emotion, and Race to the Top Implementation

This study reports on four urban middle- and high school principals’ emotionally shaped sense making of Race to the Top policies and their ability to balance the competing demands of teachers’ emotional needs with the charge to implement mandated, accountability-driven, instructional, and evaluation changes in their schools. Despite the pressure and apprehension about Race to the Top, they expressed optimism and worked to align their schools to the established policy frameworks while honoring teachers’ feelings and supporting their needs at the same time. This study provides implications for research, practice, and leadership development regarding how social, cognitive, and emotional factors affect principals’ instructional leadership, particularly how they navigate changes and increasing, multilevel, policy-driven educational pressures.