A Muxerista Politics of Education: Latina Mother Leaders Enacting Educational Leadership and Policy Advocacy

Abstract

This article presents findings from a qualitative research study conducted with and for Latina mother leaders. Using a muxerista (womanist) framework, we demonstrate how Latina mother leaders articulate forms of leadership to advocate for their children and utilize leadership strategies in the development of educational policy such as playground discipline policy. The process in which Latina mothers create and implement school policy is what we understand as a muxerista politics of education. A muxerista politics of education can help educators and educational policy makers include Latina mother leaders in the school policy decision-making process.

Organizational problem-solving and school discipline: comparing the roles of schoolwide behavior management technologies

“…Our findings suggest that behavior management platforms have the potential to spark or support basic communication with families, but that leaders had not carefully considered this potential. In contrast to calls from scholars (Gregory et al , 2017; Oliva and Alemán, 2019), we did not see leaders proactively incorporating the cultures and voices of families in improving school discipline or other schoolwide issues. By considering the present moment, where so many classrooms are now online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders now have a unique opportunity to go that extra mile.…”

“…This focus fails to account for calls from discipline researchers to include families as collaborators in framing and addressing problems (Gregory et al , 2017; Sugai et al , 2000). For example, Oliva and Alemán (2019) describe how Latinx mothers played key roles in identifying problems in school discipline practices and responsiveness to students' cultures. Their advocacy helped in framing problems for educators as well as whether their responses would be first- or second-order problem-solving.…”

Educating Children and Navigating Digital Literacy in COVID-19: Latina Mothers and Mother-Child Pedagogies

“…They did this through the creation of joint mother-child activities. Using race-based feminist or mujerista theory (Bernal et al, 2006;Dyrness, 2008;Oliva & Alemán, 2019), we highlight the resources, strategies, and agency of Latina mothers as they navigated and challenged their children's education system during COVID-19.…”

“…We also take a critical feminist perspective that is Latina-oriented, known as a mujerista perspective (Bernal et al, 2006;Dyrness, 2008;Oliva & Alemán, 2019). A racebased feminist theory, mujerista centers the "agency and cultural resources of local actors and their own strategies for making change" (Dyrness, 2008, p.24).…”

Theory Amid Policy and Practice: A Typology of Theory Use in Educational Leadership Scholarship

“…In addition, scholars in educational leadership are drawing on critical frameworks to analyze leadership practice as it intersects with policy and policy implementation in education. Critical theory encompasses several newer formations of theory in the field of educational leadership which include CRT, critical Latin studies (LatCrit), queer theory in education, feminist theory, Marxist theory, critical policy analysis, muxerista framework, DisCrit, critical discourse analysis, and more recently, critical whiteness studies (e.g., Carpenter, 2019; Diem & Carpenter, 2013; Diem et al, 2019; Grogan & Simmons, 2012; Horsford, 2019; Koyama & Chang, 2019; Oliva & Alemán, 2019; Parker & Stovall, 2004; Sampson, 2019; Tabron & Ramlackhan, 2019). Found in both educational leadership and education policy journals, this line of scholarship may focus explicitly on aspects of leadership practice, or center on various components of schooling.…”