Critical Leadership Praxis for Educational and Social Change

Educational leaders confront instances of inequity every day, whether they are aware of it or not. Many find themselves inadequately reacting to such issues due in part to traditional preparation programs that fail to interrogate the existence and impact of systems of oppression. Why is naming and tackling inequity not at the forefront of every conversation about educational leadership? How do our social constructions of identity hierarchies and deficits (mis)shape what leaders think and do? How do leaders advocate for those who need and deserve advocacy? This volume considers these questions and more by offering unique leadership frameworks that integrate critical theories for social change with everyday practice. By bringing together diverse researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who are often pushed to the margins, this volume will help today’s leaders see with new eyes and gain the critical tools, language, and concepts for equity leadership. The text is organized into four sections: Transforming Self, Transforming Educators, Transforming Organizations, and Transforming Systems.

Book Features:

• Interrupts prevailing practices and advocates for a more inclusive, intersectional vision of leaders and the field of educational leadership.
• Specific and useful frames, concepts, and practices that leaders can adapt to their own context.
• Authors that reflect diverse perspectives with wide-ranging identities who intentionally push back against the White male-dominated discourse.
• A practitioner-friendly format that includes glossaries of terms and resources.
• Insights that reflect the worldwide pandemic crises of 2020.

Katie Pak is a school improvement and data specialist with the School District of Philadelphia, where she also provides leadership and support in the District’s newly formed Equity Coalition. Sharon M. Ravitch is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, where she co-founded the Inter-American Educational Leadership Network for leaders across the Americas.

“Overall, Critical Leadership Praxis for Educational and Social Change achieves an often hard-to-reach balance between practical and theoretical perspectives of critical and equitable leadership, and can thereby serve as a valuable resource for those unfamiliar with critical perspectives of schools as well as academics who are looking to add to their theoretical ‘toolbox’ or are searching for a book to use for curricular and programmatic work on equitable leadership practices. This book also serves well the authors’ purpose as ‘an urgent call to action’ for educators to reflect and counteract inequity in schools, and is a must-read for leaders and researchers interested in this work.”

—Teachers College Record

“This collection from editors Pak (School District of Philadelphia) and Ravitch (Univ. of Pennsylvania) is yet another volume in the field of leadership literature, nobly focused on the emboldened theme of leadership in a hurting world. Such a theme could not be timelier nor more important than today.”

—CHOICE

“Forcefully and persuasively, Katie Pak and Sharon Ravitch make the case for critical leadership practice—the ethical analysis and dismantling of the systemic foundations of educational inequalities essential to rebuilding schools and education systems that truly empower the most marginalized students. In the wake of the raw educational and social inequalities that the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare for all to see, this book is essential reading for every teacher and leader interested in building back better, so that schools advance democracy and social justice.”
—Fernando M. Reimers, Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice of International Education, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University

“The practitioner-scholars assembled in this book seek to rehumanize a school system and society whose economic, racial, and gender inequalities have been laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic. Each chapter is a testimonial on how to reprofessionalize teachers and leaders through dialogue and critical inquiry.”
—Gary L. Anderson, professor, New York University

“An important framework for reconceptualizing educational leadership and administration. The editors and chapter authors provide useful reframing tools to challenge traditional organizational norms of leading schools. This book will be most useful for teaching current and future school administrators to reframe the discourse and think about social justice leadership.”
—Laurence J. Parker, Department of Educational Leadership & Policy, University of Utah

Contents

Acknowledgments vii
Katie Pak and Sharon Ravitch

Preface: Leadership in a Hurting World:
Rupture, Reckoning, Reimagining xi
Katie Pak and Sharon M. Ravitch

1. Critical Leadership Praxis for Educational and Social Change 1
Katie Pak and Sharon M. Ravitch

DOMAIN I: TRANSFORMING SELF 27
Katie Pak and Sharon M. Ravitch

2. Critical Leadership for Transformation in Crisis 35
Sherry Coleman and Courtney Portlock

3. Asian American Women Leaders Reclaiming Leader Identities Through Collaborative Autoethnography 49
Katie Pak, Elaine W. Leigh, and Jennifer Phuong

DOMAIN II: TRANSFORMING EDUCATORS 63
Katie Pak and Sharon M. Ravitch

4. On the Ground, Every Day: Five Pillars for Developing Culturally Sustaining, Critically Conscious Practitioners 73
Andrew J. Schiera, Elizabeth Simmons, Latricia Whitfield, and Hayden Frederick-Clarke

5. Raciolinguistic Perspectives in Leadership Development: Testimonios Within and Across Bilingual Education 87
Karla Venegas, Erica Saldívar García, and Iván Rosales Montes

6. Transformative Storytelling as Critical Praxis for Educational Leaders 101
Laura Colket, Janay M. Garrett, and Mia S. Shaw

DOMAIN III: TRANSFORMING ORGANIZATIONS 115
Katie Pak and Sharon M. Ravitch

7. Developing Critically Inclusive, Anti-Ableist Organizations 123
Jennifer Phuong, Christa S. Bialka, and Megan MacDonald

8. Developing Education Organizations With Gender and Queer Inclusive Cultures 137
Charlotte E. Jacobs and Katie Clonan-Roy

9. Indigeneity, Engagement, and Responsiveness 151
Sia Elle Brown and Jacqueline G. Lopez

DOMAIN IV: TRANSFORMING SYSTEMS 165
Katie Pak and Sharon M. Ravitch

10. Minding the School–Community Leadership Gap: Reframing for Critical Praxis 173
Ankhi Thakurta, Laura Ogburn, and Atenea Rosado-Viurques

11. Trauma-Informed Leadership: Balancing Love and Accountability 187
Nimet Suheyla Eren and Sharon M. Ravitch

12. Decolonizing Educational Mindsets 201
Reima Yosif Shakeir, Rehana Thembeka Odendaal, and Atenea Rosado-Viurques

Conclusion 216
Katie Pak and Sharon M. Ravitch

Afterword: Leadership Development for Critical Leadership Praxis 218
Kathy J. Rho and Nikole T. Booker

About the Contributors 226

Index 233