A Latina Principal Leading for Social Justice: Influences of Racial and Gender Identity

Abstract

In this study, the role that racial identity plays among Latina school principals is examined through a case study of a principal in a K-3 elementary school. Based on a Latina/o critical race framework and a phenomenological research approach, the study explores the degree to which having a strong understanding of one's racial identity formation may fuel leadership practices geared toward social justice. The sociocultural and historical implications of how race, class, and gender get operationalized in the identity of this Latina leader are surfaced through the following: growing up living and understanding students' experiences; understanding the Latino family and advocating for community engagement; having high expectations for students of color by creating bridges between White teachers and students of color, as well as between families of color and White teachers; and having high expectations for students and an acute awareness of discriminatory practices in education. This study brings lessons related to improving the conditions of students of color through principals who are willing to reflect on their values, beliefs, and practices and to explore how these values and beliefs influence their work with students, families, and communities.

Counterstories about Leadership: A Latina School Principal’s Experience from a Less Documented View in an Urban School Context

“…Debra talked just briefly about gender challenges. Nonetheless, her experience portrays commonalities with other Latina women [30], who makes several sacrifices in their pursuit of a successful leadership career. Her dedication to education is also reflective of her gender since her choice of serving public urban schools is also reflected in the findings from the NLLP study.…”

“…Common characteristics among NLLP participants included formal training, demonstrated success in school in their leadership role, critical consciousness about gender and race, and principals serving changing demographics. Assumptions related to this research were present in the analysis, based both on our own experiences as a Latino principal a Latina teacher in international schools, and the racism that is commonly encountered by Latina/o principals as reported by NLLP participants serving K-12 schools [30]. This principal was also chosen because of the contrasting experiences she had growing up in an all Latino community to working, as a school leader, within a majority White community.…”

“…They recognized that within the Latina/o and general community, Latinas/os whose physical features connote Whiteness receive preference over those Latinos whose physical features do not. Physical features that are associated with Whiteness are still given preference over, and valued more than those Latinos who are darker and do not look White [30].…”

‘You guys are bilingual aren’t you?’ Latinx educational leadership pathways in the New Latinx Diaspora

“…Research has found that Latinx leaders adopt strengths-based perspectives in working with students and families, rejecting deficit perspectives about low-income, communities of color (Murakami et al, 2016;Martinez et al, 2016;Hernandez, Murakami, & Quijada Cerecer, 2014). As many are bilingual themselves, they understand how to harness the power of the Spanish language to support bilingual student learning (Hernandez et al, 2014;Martinez et al, 2016) or to increase the engagement of multilingual families in schools (Hernandez et al, 2014; Méndez-Morse, Murakami, Byrne-Jiménez, & Hernandez, 2015;Murakami et al, 2016;Pedroza & Méndez-Morse, 2016). Across the literature, Latinx administrators' personal experiences impacted their desire to lead for social justice (Peterson and Vergara, 2016;Murakami et al, 2016;Méndez-Morse et al, 2015;Hernandez et al, 2014).…”

“…As many are bilingual themselves, they understand how to harness the power of the Spanish language to support bilingual student learning (Hernandez et al, 2014;Martinez et al, 2016) or to increase the engagement of multilingual families in schools (Hernandez et al, 2014; Méndez-Morse, Murakami, Byrne-Jiménez, & Hernandez, 2015;Murakami et al, 2016;Pedroza & Méndez-Morse, 2016). Across the literature, Latinx administrators' personal experiences impacted their desire to lead for social justice (Peterson and Vergara, 2016;Murakami et al, 2016;Méndez-Morse et al, 2015;Hernandez et al, 2014). Studying Latinx leader experiences across diverse regions in the US is vital to understanding their potential to impact change for all students, especially underserved Latinx students and families.…”