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Journal of School Leadership

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Research article

First published online September 5, 2019

Transformative Leadership Approaches to Inclusion, Equity, and Social Justice

Carolyn M. Shields https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9595-7918 [email protected] and Kristina A. Hesbol https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2108-2618View all authors and affiliations

Volume 30, Issue 1

https://doi.org/10.1177/1052684619873343

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the leadership beliefs and practices of three school leaders in a large urban school district in the Rocky Mountain West to determine whether any are consistent with transformative leadership. We sought to (a) describe the challenges faced by these school leaders in addressing the needs of changing populations, (b) understand the ways in which these educators conceptualize an equitable education for all, and (c) identify the inclusive practices that they implement to ensure a socially-just education for all. This study used a transformative, multiple case study to understand the beliefs and practices of three school leaders. Data were collected for this study at one elementary, one middle, and one high school in the same urban school district. We used transformative leadership theory as a conceptual framework to guide the data collection and analysis, focusing explicitly on inclusion, equity, excellence, and social justice. The findings demonstrate how leaders exercise equitable, socially just leadership to create welcoming, inclusive schools where all students, including those who are minoritized or economically disadvantaged, feel affirmed, respected, and academically challenged. An important major challenge that emerged was the need for alignment of district goals and practices with those of school leaders. We conclude with a call to school leaders to disrupt inequitable school cultures and work in transformative ways.

Educational institutions (PreK-20) have been increasingly challenged by shifts in student demographics resulting from a rise of nationalism, strife, displacement, changing legislation, and fiscal exigencies. The global refugee crisis, which continues unabated, has sparked debates about the justice of immigration policies in general (Brooks, Normore, & Hodgins, 2017), about the resources needed for the inclusion of new populations, and about how best to integrate and educate students whose home language, backgrounds, or culture may be different from those of the traditionally dominant populations (Yosso, 2006). In some cases, jurisdictions have created separate schools, classes, and programs for English language learners, immigrants, or refugees, while in other cases, the goal has been the integration of diverse populations. Given the pervasive and persistent nature of these issues, although each context is discrete, it is critical for educators to learn from exemplary practitioners whose traditionally marginalized students have consistently improved learning outcomes.

The purpose of this article is to describe the leadership beliefs and actions of three urban educational leaders as they work to support the changing populations of students in their schools and to identify whether their practices are consistent with transformative leadership theory (Shields, 2009, 2011, 2016). We began with the research question: How, if at all, are the leadership beliefs and practices of three educational leaders consistent with transformative leadership theory? The subquestions were as follows:

What challenges are faced by these school leaders as they address the needs of demographically changing student populations?

How, if at all, does each leader transfer their conceptual beliefs about equitable education for every student into actionable leadership practices?

What leadership practices do they implement to foster the integration and inclusion of new populations?

Overview of Literature and Theoretical Framework

These questions will be examined through the lens of transformative leadership theory (Shields, 2009, 2011, 2016), a critical leadership theory that focuses explicitly on inclusion, equity, excellence, and social justice and which is therefore appropriate for this transformative multi-case study of three schools (Mertens, Holmes, & Harris, 2009). Transformative leadership operationalizes Burns’s (1978) concept of transforming leadership in that it addresses his call for leadership to undertake a “revolution—“a complete and pervasive transformation of an entire social system” (p. 202). In general, transformative leadership theory “begins with questions of justice and democracy; it critiques inequitable practices and offers the promise not only of greater individual achievement but of a better life lived in common with others” (Shields, 2011, p. 2). It responds to Capper’s (1989) call for school leaders to “encourage social justice” and to practice “transformative leadership which can transcend the intellectual bias in democratic schooling to the benefit of all students and staff” (p. 5). Transformative leadership also builds on other critical leadership concepts and theories including leadership for social justice (Brooks et al., 2017; McKenzie et al., 2008; Theoharis, 2007) and culturally relevant leadership (Khalifa, 2018). Literature related to these approaches as it applies to this study and to transformative leadership will be woven through the discussion of findings for this article.

Transformative leadership theory (Shields, 2011, 2016) comprises two basic and parallel theoretical propositions and eight supporting tenets (represented in the model exhibited in Figure 1). The first proposition pertains to individual, private good (Labaree, 1997) and posits that when the learning environment is inclusive, respectful, and equitable (Capper & Young, 2014), students are more able to focus on the academics, thus improving the distal outcomes of academic achievement. The second public good proposition is that when educational institutions address such public good issues as democracy, civic life, and citizenship, then democratic society will be strengthened through the participation of knowledgeable and caring citizens.

Figure 1. Model of transformative leadership theory.

The eight tenets represented in the model indicate that one begins with a mandate for deep and equitable change that requires knowing oneself, one’s organization, and one’s community. Once the mandate has been accepted, it is important to include a number of equitable approaches to both policy and practice. These include changing knowledge frameworks to ensure equity (e.g., becoming culturally and linguistically responsive, eliminating deficit thinking, addressing racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and other prejudices). Redistributing inequitable instances of power and balancing public and private good are also necessary. Pedagogical changes include an emphasis on democracy, emancipation, equity, and justice as well as ensuring that students learn about the global community through understanding interrelationships, interdependence, and becoming globally aware. Finally, transformative leaders ensure both critique and promise and, recognizing that transformation always involves some pushback, they must also summon considerable moral courage. Transformative leadership theory is normative; its benefits are intended both for individuals and for the collective good of society, with special attention paid to those who are from nondominant groups, including those who are the most recent arrivals, regardless of language, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, academic achievement, or immigrant status (Theoharis, 2007).

Another distinguishing feature of transformative leadership is that it explicitly addresses the importance of mind-sets and knowledge frameworks and emphasizes the need to change those that perpetuate inequity and to reconstruct them in more equitable ways. Van Oord (2013) posited that “The way leadership is perceived and shaped—will to a large extent determine the success of the transformation it instigates among its students and members of staff” (p. 420). For that reason, these case studies build on Johnson’s (2008) assertion that “What separates successful leaders from unsuccessful ones is their mental models or meaning structures, not their knowledge, information, training, or experience per se” (p. 85). In this study, therefore, we focused both on understanding the beliefs, assumptions, and mind-sets of the leaders in question and on identifying and describing what they actually do (Santamaria, 2014).

Research Design

The methodology for this critical transformative multi-case study (Mertens et al., 2009) is guided by a paradigm based on the “fundamental principles of the transformative axiological assumption” (p. 470), which are the “enhancement of social justice, furtherance of human rights, and respect for cultural norms” (p. 470). Mertens (2010) argues that this research paradigm reflects shifts in axiology, ontology, epistemology, and methodology—shifts that are also evidenced in transformative leadership. Mertens, Holmes, and Harris (2009) describe a transformative research paradigm as one that “directly engages the complexity encountered by researchers and evaluators in culturally diverse communities when their work is focused on increasing social justice” (p. 10). This method, including observations in situ, field notes, semistructured interviews, and document analysis, helps the reader make sense of and understand a leadership approach.

The choice of transformative leadership as a lens through which to examine the actions of three school leaders is not arbitrary. It responds to the argument by Caldwell et al. (2012) that a deeply ethical form of leadership is needed to address today’s complex challenges and also answers to their conclusion that what is needed is transformative leadership. Similarly, nearly three decades later, it responds to the statement from Quantz, Rogers, and Dantley (1991) who perceived that “schools are in a period of confusion” (p. 96) and hence that “of the commonly discussed theories, only the concept of transformative leadership appears to provide an appropriate direction” (p. 96).

Because we use transformative leadership theory (Shields, 2011, 2016) as our conceptual framework, we were keenly aware of the risk of interpreting data in such a way that it would influence the interpretation of the data (Evers & Wu, 2006). Littell (2008) describes “the tendency to emphasize evidence that supports a hypothesis and ignore evidence to the contrary” (p. 1). Acknowledging this, we were intentional that the data were carefully grounded in a reasonable inferential network (Evers & Wu, 2006) about socially just education and the need for a more equitable and inclusive approach to leadership.

Data Collection and Analysis

Respondents for this multiple case study were three school leaders who serve in schools located in a large urban city in the Rocky Mountain West (place and school names have been replaced by pseudonyms). To identify the leaders for the study (one elementary, one middle school, and one high school), the first author contacted a colleague at a local university with a national reputation for a strong principal preparation program known for preparing leaders “capable of changing the trajectory of schools and school districts facing serious problems” as well as having a focus on “turnaround leadership.” That university professor invited recent graduates and current students in their leadership program to respond to the request to participate in a study that would include a visit to their schools where an interview would be conducted with them. Thus, the sample was not random, since each had been prepared in a program specifically focused on transforming diverse, urban schools. The first three who self-selected for this case study were chosen; all were previously unknown to the researcher. In the city in which the study was conducted, only 52% of the 3 million occupants identify as White/non-Hispanic; hence, it was serendipitous that one identifies as White, one as a Latina, and one as an African American, providing a diversity of respondents for this small, multiple case study.

The researcher took field notes at each site, conducted an hour-long interview with each principal, facilitated informal conversations with other staff and students in each school, and conducted classroom observations at each of the three sites. Field notes from observing specific activities in each school, such as observing a grade-level assembly at the middle school, contributed to the data collection, and documents related to the activities and goals of each school were collected.

Data were coded and analyzed, in alignment with accepted transformative case study protocols (Mertens et al., 2009; Richards, 2014; Saldana, 2015). Consistent with accepted norms of qualitative research, the data were decontextualized and coded to identify themes and practices (Tesch, 1990). Using a process of abductive reasoning, described as “inference to the best explanation” (Evers & Wu, 2006, p. 528), data were also recontextualized and reexamined in light of the eight tenets of transformative leadership theory (Shields, 2016) identified earlier, and a profile was developed for each school.

Findings

It is important to first become familiar with the mission, demographics, and emphases of the district before examining the beliefs and leadership practices that support each school’s success with increasingly diverse populations. The strategic plan of the district’s board of education is based on six core values and six core beliefs, including the explicit statement that “Our diversity is a community treasure.” The district ranks schools by color on their School Performance Framework; blue is the highest, green suggests the school is still successful, while yellow, orange, and red place the school and public on alert that the school is failing in its mission. Both Mountain High School and Unity Elementary were “red” schools when the respondents for this study arrived to lead their respective schools. Only two years old, Aspiration Middle School was situated as a middle school within a high school that had been closed twice over a 15-year period and was still struggling to find a new and consistent identity.

Mountain High School

Mountain High School was founded approximately 20 years ago, first as a private school and more recently as an authorized alternative school within the public school board’s jurisdiction. Its 250 students, ranging from 9th to 12th grade, come not only from the city but also from the surrounding areas, with a few choosing to travel for more than two hours to attend. Over 85% of the students qualify for free/reduced-price lunch. Thirty percent have been identified as either “special education students” or English language learners; the majority of the school population identifies as either Hispanic or Black and the rest as either White or multiethnic. Some of the students are exploring their sexuality and “figuring out how they identify.” About 15% have been identified as gifted, and approximately 70% will be the first in their family to graduate from high school or to attend college. Most attend because they “felt that they didn’t belong” in their previous school, but here, they appear to have found a niche. During the past six years, 100% of the seniors have been admitted to a postsecondary program.

Emphasis and Initiatives

Because of needs specific to the alternative student population, teachers here are carefully selected and trained. As a staff, they go through training related to trauma-informed behavior management. Principal Lynn Carroll explains that much of the trauma training sometimes “sounds like common sense,” but that there are also “a lot of ah-ha moments” that lead to teachers being “more empathetic, patient, and compassionate and prepared to ask questions of students as opposed to making judgments.” Practice such as this aligns with the transformative leadership theory tenets that acknowledge power and privilege as well as public and private good.

All first-year teachers also undergo specific training related to teaching English language learners; Lynn Carroll conducts “some cultural sensitivity training,” introduces literature, and engages in discussion about “privilege and so forth.” She has instituted a restorative justice approach in the school, saying “It’s not about who’s right and who’s wrong. It’s about some choices that were made and how we can all hold ourselves accountable and repair that part.” Because Ms. Carroll believes that relationships are so important for student self-concept and academic success, she has used some of her limited budget to hire three student advocates to ensure that every student has an adult they can trust and talk to whenever needed.

Although the focus on creating an inclusive and caring climate is essential, Lynn has not stopped there. Mountain High School enrolls new students every six weeks to ensure that students who need admission do not have to wait until the end of a semester. Classes are small—between 10 and 25 students maximum, and teachers have learned to organize classes differently. While lessons align with the district and state standards, they are “chunked,” so that every six weeks, there is “some sort of end unit.” In this way, each six-week period “builds off some previous skills” and also “reteaches previous skills.” The curriculum and instruction have also been adapted (Reyes-Guerra & Bogotch, 2011) to be culturally responsive to the needs of the students, evidence of the tenets that require effecting both deep and equitable changes as well as promoting democracy and equity. Teacher feedback is strongly encouraged in “bite size pieces,” and for every class, every day, students complete an exit ticket indicating “what they have done and understood."

Perhaps the most important aspect of the curriculum is the emphasis on connecting to individual students’ interests and to making their education relevant to everyday life. Lynn asserted:

I really believe that allowing people to have some autonomy to create their own curriculum based on their passions and interests, on our student passions and interests is going to be more effective in dealing with our young people.…And so, I ask teachers to teach what they’re passionate about, and align it with the state standards and priority standards, of course, so that we are making sure students are learning those skills to be prepared. […] If you can’t show how it is relevant, you’re going to lose them.

When asked how one might make an advanced science unit relevant, Principal Carroll explained that one might teach physics but said that following the unit, the class could go snowboarding so they could see firsthand how their learning explained their movements. She indicated that as a school, they are moving more toward a project-based model of teaching and learning (Greene, 1998) and gave an example from the 9th- and 10th-grade wing. During a recent hurricane season, each content area taught something related to natural disasters, with the culminating experience being a trip to Houston. There students helped to reopen an elementary school that had to be moved because of significant flooding and volunteered in an animal shelter that had been overwhelmed with homeless animals. Such practice marks the tenets that emphasize both individual achievement and public good and that acknowledge our interrelationships and interdependence on others.

Lynn quickly added that “students do not necessarily get to choose their entire schedule but there are many learning opportunities that have a great deal of student appeal through elective or community-based program classes that were started about five years ago.” Instead of hiring teachers for elective subjects, the school has developed an array of electives built on community-based partnerships including a culinary academy offered through the city’s housing department, a neighborhood café, and various types of art classes related to such 21st-century skills as photography, developing a portrait project, or a welding project provided by a local arts group. This reflects the tenets that deconstruct and reconstruct knowledge frameworks that generate inequity as well as the focus on democracy, equity, and justice in the pedagogy and curriculum of the school. The principal added:

[One group] is a really amazing non-profit, right around the corner that does social justice and youth empowerment through music…. So students are learning about transformational musicians and artists and how they have been advocates in their community, and then they’re actually learning everything from how to play the guitar to how to create different instrumental beats.

Dual credits are offered through partnerships with a technical college or concurrent enrollment at a local community college as well. Counselors identify which “traditional classes” students have to take and also help students identify elective opportunities. Approximately 50% of the students at Mountain High School participate in these elective programs, which are paid for by the school. The rules are strict: If a student misses three days of an elective program, he or she not only has to withdraw from the coveted elective course but has to pay for it as well. Thus, with efforts to create an inclusive, trusting, and supportive climate and with flexible and relevant educational programming, it is not surprising that the school has become so popular.

Aspiration Middle School

Leslie Nathan, an African-American woman, has been the assistant principal of Historic High School for two years and, as a result, serves concomitantly as the principal of Aspiration Middle School. Aspiration Middle School is what the district calls a “replication and innovation” school, so named because of the explicit intent to replicate a successful school model from a different school. The year prior to this study, the school, now located within Historic High School, had been located at a different site. At the time of the research visit, the school was preparing to become a fully accredited International Baccalaureate (IB) school, a designation that replicates the approach of other recognized successful schools and would ensure that the school has a “priority” hiring window within the school district.

Similar in size and demographics to Mountain High School, Aspiration Middle School enrolled 230 students in Grades six and seven, with the goal of adding an 8th-grade cohort the following year. Because every school in the district is designated as a school of choice, 50% of its population (identifying as 35% White, 27% Black, and 41% Hispanic) came from within the school attendance zone, with the other 50% coming from outside the immediate area.

Emphasis and Initiatives

Having worked as an educator in large, diverse urban districts on the east coast, Leslie had returned to her home city with the goal of embedding equitable practices into this school’s model as well as emphasizing the importance of relationships. She described her focus on helping teachers to differentiate their questioning, to hold high expectations for every student, and to ensure that students and teachers are clear about expectations. So, as she interacted with teachers, she asked questions like, “What do we expect? Who are you asking questions? What are the tiers to that question? What are you expecting?” During these conversations, she indicated that she focuses specifically on supporting minoritized students and English language learners.

Leslie described how “empowering teachers and capacity building with them” gave her “excitement and joy.” To do so and consistent with the pedagogical emphasis of the tenet focused on democracy, equity, and justice, she focused on building relationships and emphasizing “culturally responsive work and pedagogy” (Khalifa, Gooden, & Davis, 2016). This involved a primary focus on “working with the adults—just changing their mind-set and inspiring them.” She also described how she developed relationships with parents and other community members, although she indicated that getting other teachers on board with home visits had been a challenge.

Leslie is responsible for weekly “family meetings”—meetings with all students and staff from each grade level in the middle school. At one of these sixth-grade meetings, she pointed to a large wall chart with the sixth-grade motto, “We Got This!” and the focus for the month “Be Reflective” and a “Be a Communicator.” After a couple of announcements, Leslie asked, “What do you need to be successful?” Students quickly responded with statements like:

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“I need people to respect me.”

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“I need teachers to listen.”

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“We need to listen to multiple perspectives.”

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“It would help if more people followed directions.”

When one student responded, “Respect each other and be who you are,” the rest of the students applauded. This was followed by another student, who suggested, “You need to be comfortable in the hallways with who you are; that’s where disrespect is shown.” In the spirit of hearing from the whole community, it is interesting to note that it was a student who said, “Let’s hear from teachers.” One teacher quickly responded, “I need positivity, everyone coming into the classroom, ready to go.” This emphasis on respectful communication was one area in which Leslie has clearly instituted change, aligned with the tenet that focuses on democracy, emancipation, equity, and justice.

Ongoing Tensions and Challenges

Unlike the other two principals in this study, Leslie is in the awkward position of being the principal of her middle school, while at the same time, serving as the assistant principal of the high school in which the middle school is located. This results in tensions that the other two principals do not experience. In Leslie’s case, this is unfortunately in part because her vision and values are not congruent with those of the high school principal to whom she reports and is accountable.

It is also the result of her role as the “disciplinarian” within the whole secondary school complex. She described the challenge. “Everything falls under me that’s related to school culture, but I live in the world of discipline and behavior.” She describes how this tension inhibits her ability to create cultural change and to build capacity among the teachers, using an example of what she noted as a common phenomenon in American schools—the predominance of Black boys being disciplined and removed from class for insubordination. To Leslie, the school discipline policy conflicted with the district’s push for fewer suspensions of Brown and Black boys. She expressed frustration that she seemed to be the only staff member who believed that conducting conversations with parents or convening family meetings was a powerful approach to rectify disciplinary challenges.

I see blatantly the same students who are getting put out of a classroom, and they are primarily Black boys and Latino boys—I would say more Black boys than Black girls here, and I’m pushing like, “Have you had a conversation with their family?”

Instead of aligning with Leslie’s vision, there are teachers who expect her to enforce order and discipline in their classrooms.

Leslie wanted to focus on capacity building and creating a team with a shared vision (Caldwell, 2012) of success and high expectations for every student and helping students take responsibility for their own behavior and their own learning. The dominant philosophy of the school, however (persisting from the approach of a previous principal), was that the leaders should “do as much as possible to lessen the load and the expectation of teachers.” This resulted, in her opinion, in a failure of administration to build capacity and consequently of teachers to take responsibility for every student. Furman (2012) professed that social justice leadership is “action oriented” and “involves identifying and undoing these oppressive and unjust practices and replacing them with more equitable, culturally appropriate ones” (p. 194). This approach to discipline was another indication of the need to redistribute power in the school. Leslie also identified a lack of empathy and supportive relationships among staff, asserting that “If there are some skills that students lack, we cannot punish them for lacking those skills” but need to “help them acquire the missing pieces.”

The middle school was introducing and attempting to replicate the IB program that had been successful in a “much higher income, predominantly White community,” however, “not every teacher was truly ‘on board’ with the IB program.” Leslie reported struggling with a culture marked by persistent deficit thinking (Bieneman, 2012), low expectations, and consistently boring instruction, with teachers looking to her to help keep students on task and engaged, instead of being willing to examine their own pedagogical practices. This became apparent when, during our interview, one teacher knocked on the door to her office and asked her to do a “class reset” because students were out of control and not listening to him. As we talked, Leslie observed that they would listen to her but that as soon as she left, unless he changed his approach, the class would revert to being disengaged. Her frustration was apparent as she described the situation.

Let’s talk about what instruction is. If I’m in your classroom and the classroom is boring and miserable, I’m sitting as an adult, and if I’m miserable, then this is probably not going to sit well with students in this classroom.

Additionally, the current shift to a middle-school emphasis and the decision to draw 50% of students from outside the designated attendance zone had heightened some tensions in the community. The high school is proud of its historic reputation as the only existing school that once had White students bussed to it under the city’s earlier integration initiatives. It is also proud to have graduated the city’s only two Black mayors. The changed demographics of the school raised some concerns in the wider community that the historic position of the school as one that truly served the Black community was being diluted.

Despite the many challenges Leslie noted during our time together, the responses from the group session with the sixth-grade students and teachers suggest that the small steps she is taking to change the culture of the school are making a difference. She indicated that her major goal was to get teachers and staff to understand how their actions and words impact students and to develop a sense of mutual respect. Despite the many challenges Leslie identified, the responses from this group session suggest she is making progress. Nevertheless, one important issue raised by this case study is the importance of shared vision on the part of a leadership team, and the ways in which its lack inhibits equitable change. In this, of course, Leslie’s situation is replicated across the country by numerous principals whose vision and that of their supervisors are incongruent; however, as Lambert (2002) has found, “shared vision results in program coherence” (p. 38).

Unity Elementary School

Upon entering Unity Elementary School, one is struck by a visual cornucopia of color: The doors are blue, and there is a bright rug in the foyer with a large world map design, ringed with children holding hands. There is a stylized blue falcon on the wall, and the school logo, consisting of blocks of primary colors, is prominently displayed on many surfaces both inside and outside of the building. Unity Elementary is the result of a consolidation of three schools and demonstrates in many ways the diverse demographics and values of the collective community. The principal, José Lopez, wearing a bright blue blazer, told me this was his intentional daily “uniform.” When he had been appointed six years earlier, the school was a “red” school, and he had always aspired to be rated “blue” on the district School Performance Framework. The blazer was a reminder of everyone’s hard work to attain that rating.

Walking around the foyer, one sees a “College Ready Wall” with images of students, selected weekly from each class. José explained that the teacher writes a “beautiful letter” for them, inviting their parents to school, and reads it at the whole-school assembly. The hall walls are covered with charts: student success data by class, monthly attendance by class, and the number of home visits conducted by teachers. José proudly pointed out the display cases outside of every classroom in which work was displayed with descriptions, in “student friendly language,” of the state content standard the assigned work is addressing, so that any visitor could know exactly what was happening in the classroom.

Other visuals included huge bilingual posters of children engaged in numerous activities, under the three core values of work hard/espuerzo, show respect/mostrar respeto, and be responsible/ser responsible. In addition, large images of students were depicted beside such words as gratitude/gratitude, empathy/empatia, kindness/amabilidad, leadership/liderazgo, trustworthiness/confiable, and self-control/autocontrol. These images were simply framed, shiny poster paper, but without the Plexiglas recommended by the district. Jose explained that the district officials thought the posters would not last without glass, but that he had resisted, assuring the district that students understood the need for respect in what was clearly their school. José was right.

The falcon on the foyer wall was a larger representation of one displayed in every classroom. At the beginning of each year, it is simply outlined, divided into multiple sections, and must annually be “built” from student successes—30 pieces for each classroom, with a more complex pattern of 100 pieces needed to complete the larger one in the foyer. José asserted, “Frankie the Falcon intentionally has the markings to honor the culture and historical contexts of who we are—our students and our community.”

The students were not all wearing similar shirts or colors. When asked about it, Principal José clarified:

The school uniform is a t-shirt in all the primary colors and several others—red, green, purple, gold, blue with a white logo. But the white one with the school logo—that’s for the champions. […] It is not for sale anywhere, because each week someone gets this special one.

In the classrooms, one notes a myriad of similar vibrant colors everywhere and a sense of happiness abounds.

In the gym, the kindergarten children were not simply engaging in physical activity, but they were learning two words: locomotion and strike. In other words, as the teacher developed their coordination, he was also teaching vocabulary. This sense of purposefulness was evident everywhere, as students engaged in active learning, supplemented with the “exit tickets” also used at Mountain High School.

It was clear that at Unity, transparency and communication through language and visuals was of prime importance, so much so that when we walked out onto the playground, José suggested we look back at the building. Another depiction of the logo and mascot was painted high on the wall of the building, so the community would not be able to pass by without being aware of what the school stood for. Interestingly, as one approaches the school, a huge image of the school mascot, Frankie, may also be found painted in the intersection of streets at the corner.

In this school, however, it was Jose’s commitment to conversations about equity and social justice that was most impressive. He had ordered 100 postcard-size posters of each of five different messages that he posted prominently on all entrance doors as well as every classroom and interior door. These colorful images included a butterfly and the words “Migration is beautiful,” a rainbow-striped heart with “LGBTQ+” under it, a cactus against a sunset stating, “Everyone welcome,” the colorful school logo with the school name underneath, and finally, a black fist against a yellow background with the words “Black Lives Matter.” José indicated he was in the process of having intentional conversations with all staff about these messages, so that when parents, community members, or students asked about them, they could engage them in meaningful conversation. This focus on dialogue about equity is inherent in much transformative leadership research (Hesbol, 2017; Shields, 2016).

The openness of this elementary school and the willingness of the staff, not only to hold all students to high expectations but to engage in what many might see as difficult conversations, potentially beyond the expected scope of elementary students, were reflective of exemplary and collective transformative leadership approaches.

Discussion

Analysis of interviews and observations in each school revealed transformative beliefs and practices of the individual leaders as well as, particularly in Aspiration Middle School, the influence of conflicts that exist in social justice leadership work (DeMatthews, 2015). Each principal expressed a need to find ways to offer inclusive, excellent, and equitable education to all students and described his or her own personal intellectual journey, the challenges they had confronted in their work, and the strategies they had implemented to provide these requisite inclusive and respectful learning environments for every student.

The leadership behaviors of innovative, equity-focused, transformative school leaders who have developed schoolwide, systemic strategies to make learning meaningful for their demographically changing student populations are exemplified in this study. As part of accepting the mandate for deep and equitable change, each leader established mutually respectful relationships with students, staff, families, and the community as a non-negotiable, prior to working with the teaching staff on implementing equitable and socially-just instructional strategies.

The three leaders who were the subject of this study work with their teachers to address context-specific issues related to their students’ race, ethnicity, linguistics, and economic situations. They are intentional about creating, supporting, and leading the entire school community to be responsive to the needs of minoritized students. These leaders consistently and regularly engage with families and the community, holding high expectations and providing high levels of support for every student.

In two of the three schools, the leadership team and teachers were fully on board with the stated goals, strategies, and mission of the schools and willingly engaged in extra training to help them meet the needs of all students. As we noted at Mountain High School, Lynn stated that because an increasing number of students have experienced trauma, she and several other staff members have attended trauma-sensitive training for educators and introduced specific trauma-related strategies into their school.

The electives offered at the secondary schools, through numerous partnerships with community groups, fulfilled the need for democratic, emancipatory, and equitable curriculum. This was evident in and exemplified by the fact that when the hurricane had devastated Houston, the ninth-grade teachers in Mountain High School abandoned the set curriculum and created a unit related to natural disasters in which all subjects (language arts, math, science, social studies, the arts) were taught interdisciplinarily. This project, which culminated in fund-raising for a group of students to travel to Houston to volunteer their assistance, helped students to understand the interdependence of communities.

As teachers focused on asking questions and learning about students’ experiences, instead of simply meting out discipline, deficit mind-sets (Valencia, 2010) about the students in this school were being overcome (Johnson, 2008; Shields, 2016), and power was redistributed to permit students to have considerable control over their learning experiences. In addition, individual achievement had been balanced with community partnerships that enhanced the civic participation of students in this school.

Numerous actions provided evidence of increased equity, democracy, and justice for all students (Shields, 2016). Flexibility was evident in the revised logos, core belief statements, and mascot of Unity Elementary because of the merging of three schools and in the ways in which teachers embedded learning and high expectations (Louis et al., 2010) in all activities. Moreover, at Unity Elementary School, the difficult conversations about issues of race, sexuality, and immigration, for example, were evidence of “efforts to promote civic engagement in education by distributing leadership throughout the system and utilizing the process of deliberative democracy” (Fusarelli, Kowalski, & Peterson, 2011, p. 43). Participation in transformative learning processes can increase students’ action toward social justice (Brown, 2006).

Aspiration Middle School experienced tensions that were not evident in the other two schools. The conflict may have been in part because the teachers were not fully on board with the equity focus of their principal and because the previous principal’s vision was assumed to still be in force. The divergence may have been exacerbated because it was unclear how the designated IB emphasis met the needs of the school’s changing student population. In this case, replication of programs from a school in a different region with dissimilar demographics does not seem to have been an appropriate choice. Moreover, this decision had been made without the full support and understanding of the teachers. This is particularly important given the research findings about the importance of shared vision (Kouzes & Posner, 2009; Lambert, 2002; Senge, 1995) and leaders’ abilities to distribute leadership to build capacity (Brooks, Jean-Marie, Normore, & Hodgkins, 2007; Gronn, 2002; Harris, 2004). The call of transformative leadership theory for changing mind-sets and capacity building was made much more difficult by the lack of shared vision. Deficit thinking still dominated the culture of the school and inhibited the empowerment of students, families, and the teachers themselves. Woods noted that

Democratic leadership is concerned with enabling people to share power (by dispersing leadership and diminishing hierarchy), share hope (by extending opportunities to realize humanistic potential), and share the fruits of society (through fair distribution of resources and cultural respect. (in Fusarelli et al., 2011, p. 47)

Sharing power, hope, and the fruits of society is inhibited when there is a lack of shared vision and conflicting leadership goals and approaches.

At both Mountain High School and Unity Elementary School, the strong sense of working with the community reflected the importance of partnerships, trust, and transparency (Hesbol, 2013; Hoy, 2012), all of which were also espoused goals of the principal of Aspiration Middle School but goals she could not successfully translate into images or consistent actions. During the grade-level community meetings, it was apparent that Leslie worked for transparency and openness but elsewhere, she seemed stymied by the leadership model she was expected to employ that failed to expect teachers to hold every student to high expectations. These findings underscore the significant influence of transformative leadership practices on building school cultures where students feel safe and appreciated, an antecedent to being available to learn (Duncan-Andrade, 2009).

The findings also confirm the critical need for leadership preparation programs to develop transformative, socially just, and culturally responsive curriculum and strategies (Khalifa, 2018; McKenzie et al., 2008) to prepare graduates to lead improvement in schools that are rapidly diversifying in terms of race, ethnicity, linguistics, and economics. Culturally responsive leaders must learn to coach teachers to design relevant lessons across content areas for their increasingly diverse student body (Khalifa et al., 2016). Transformative leaders also need to learn how to go beyond a focus on the curriculum to transform structures, policies, and mind-sets for the good of all.

In response to the main research question, “How, if at all, are the leadership beliefs and practices of three educational leaders, consistent with transformative leadership theory (Shields, 2016), a process of abductive reasoning demonstrated that the beliefs and practices of all three leaders were reflective of the tenets of transformative leadership theory. However, the lack of shared vision found in Aspiration Middle School was found to be a major challenge to the enactment of transformative leadership principles. The multiple challenges of educating all students to consistent high levels were, of course, also found at each site, as were actions taken to address site-specific challenges.

Concluding Reflections

What is clearly apparent to this research team is that transforming a school to meet the needs of changing demographics, at the intersection of entrenched teachers and technical approaches to leadership, is complex and highly engaged work. It requires considerable courage and flexibility on the part of the school leaders, as evidenced by Principal José’s willingness to tackle persistent prejudice and discrimination through discussions about the subjects highlighted by the postcards. Commitment to transformation was also apparent in Principal Lynn’s willingness to change the structures, policies, curriculum, and pedagogy and to partner with community groups instead of offering electives within the school.

Perhaps what this study demonstrates most clearly is the importance of the second tenet of transformative leadership. Despite a stated mission to “meet the needs of all students,” until mind-sets change, and both implicit bias and deficit assumptions are overcome, then equity, inclusion, and social justice will remain illusory (Johnson, 2008; van Oord, 2013). Principal Leslie has begun to undertake some of these courageous conversations, but they must be explicit and ongoing. She has recognized that because of the conflicts apparent in her current position, it may be time for her to move on. The courageous beliefs and actions of Lynn, Leslie, and José demonstrate ways in which school leaders can begin to transform negative assumptions, mind-sets, and culture. Lynn synthesized it well:

We address everything from the curriculum in classrooms being really relevant to approaches to discipline, to having multiple types of rules in the building that support students and removing barriers so that they can be successful.

To meet the needs of rapidly changing populations, whether immigrant or refugee, whether they speak the language of instruction or not, whether they have experienced trauma or not, whether the school is in a vibrant urban setting or a remote rural setting, it is incumbent on school leaders, despite limited fiscal resources and frequent community backlash, to lead in ways that promote inclusion, equity, and excellence for every student.

This study of three school principals adds to the growing body of literature that describes the need for school leaders to be dispositionally prepared to address the evolving, culturally distinct needs of students and their families, regardless of their background or country of origin (Brooks et al., 2017), in order to successfully implement high-stakes, content-centered turnaround strategies. This study contributes to scholarship that can inform future research, policy, and practice if social justice leaders learn from others in the field who disrupt inequitable school cultures and work courageously and consistently for transformative change that provides justice and excellence for all.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Carolyn M. Shields https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9595-7918

Kristina A. Hesbol https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2108-2618

References

Bieneman P. D. (2012). A study of collective efficacy in diverse award-winning elementary schools: An examination of tacit assumptions and underlying belief systems (Doctoral dissertation). University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana–Champaign, IL.

Abstract

Overview of Literature and Theoretical Framework

Research Design

Data Collection and Analysis

Findings

Mountain High School

Emphasis and Initiatives

Aspiration Middle School

Emphasis and Initiatives

Ongoing Tensions and Challenges

Unity Elementary School

Discussion

Concluding Reflections

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

ORCID iD

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