Abstract
There is no doubt that we are living in challenging and uncertain times. We have witnessed the role back of programs supporting students marginalized in education systems, attempts to sanitize history and erase the contributions of Black people, mass killings and more. These events no doubt have impact on teaching and learning and students. With these factors impacting education, educational leaders need to reflect on not only their philosophy, but actions that will ensure that students continue to have the best possible educational outcomes. They must not only decide what is important, but how these factors are fundamentally reshaping education (Gurr & Drysdale, 2020). Educational leaders today are navigating multiple attacks on minoritized students and communities, perpetuation of colonization in education and schooling, and ongoing curricular inequities that demand a particular kind of leadership. The demands placed upon today’s educational leaders, both in a formal and informal capacity, have become increasingly complex in response to changes in policy and practice (Macken, 2018).
The context in which educational leaders find themselves require leadership praxis that name injustices, challenge the status quo, put forward practical and workable actions, and courageous behavior. The moment demands courage of leaders, not to be silent, but to be proactive in supporting and advancing equitable practices. Courageous leadership is needed that challenges white supremacy logics and advances justice in educational spaces. “Bringing justice, healing, and freedom to Black and brown people and demilitarizing neighborhoods is an uppermost responsibility recognized in the educational leadership community even while faced with rebuilding lives and communities that have been completely disrupted” (Mullen, 2021, p. 2).
While the notions of courage are varied, in this context courage is seen as the willingness to take risks, speak back to power, and challenge all forms of oppression. Some argue however that vulnerability and courage go hand in hand and daring to be courageous is also making oneself vulnerable (Brown, 2012). Brown argues further that in a world where vulnerability is seen as “subversive surrender”, and the oppressed do not find freedom, people must develop a strong sense of worthiness. To obtain justice especially in these times educational leaders must be courageous and engage with intentionality. Courage enables educational leaders to lead authentically with compassion and responsiveness. In these perilous times public education is worth fighting for. Lassiter (2017) suggests that courageous leadership is a) willful, intentional act; b) takes mindful deliberation; c) involves risk taking; d) motivated by the greater good and justice; and e) involves emotion of fear. Lassiter argues further that courage is central to educational leaders fighting for justice, and that courage must be a part of everyday practice. Maintaining focus on their desired outcomes, school leaders stay the course choosing to learn from challenging circumstances and not quit (Lassiter, 2017).
Educational leadership is a courageous endeavor, fraught with risks, resistance and unpredictability (Wilson, 2020). Educators must be supported and sustained to stay the course of critical socially just, antiracist, decolonizing education that challenges oppressive practices in education and schooling (Lopez, 2020). Educational leaders must be courageous and use their leadership agency in recognizing the following: a) what they will not be complicit in; b) what they will not be silent about; and c) what they will use their agency to advocate for.
This issue of the Journal of School Leadership is being published at a time of conflicts across the globe and attacks on public education in the US with efforts to close the Department of Education underway, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Initiatives being banned not only in K-12 schools, but in universities. These polices while creating difficulties for educators and educational leaders, those who are in the pursuit of justice, must continue to expand the knowledge base through research, collaborations, and critical engagement. The articles in this explore notions of educational accountability in urban schools; reflections about educational leadership and leadership lessons learned from school building leaders at the end of a Career in public education; and ways to support what the authors describe as equitable and ambitious teaching and learning through looking and listening. The first article entitled “Black Leaders and the Rise of Educational Accountability in Urban Schools, 1965-1983: Endorse, Adapt, Resist” by authors Craig peck and Tiffanie Lewis-Durham explores we examined ways in which Black educational leaders responded to the rise of widespread educational accountability in the 1960s and 1970s. Authors used a history research methods approach drawing on contemporary historical sources, including publications by the leaders that they examined. They also examined secondary accounts generated by historians and other scholars who studied the rise of accountability in the U.S. What the research found is that some Black leaders endorsed the use of test-based accountability, while others sought to adapt accountability systems to better engage Black communities. What the study also found is that Black leaders’ response to accountability measures varied. Three approaches were pursued to test-based educational accountability measures: a) endorse and apply; b) alter and adapt; or c) critique and resist. While these categories supported the conceptualization of how Black leaders approached educational accountability issues in the 1960s and 1970s, the authors indicate that this was not a linear process, and indeed there were overlaps across all three categories. An important aspect of the findings which is relevant current contexts is how accountability was both subject to and helped reify White Innocence, which continues to have a pervasive influence in U.S. educational policy.
The theoretical framework of White innocence that undergirds the study as the authors argue renders White people as blameless for existing inequities and negative conditions experienced by Black people, deflects blame for racism and in essence perpetuates ongoing racial inequalities. Another key component of White Innocence highlighted in the article and drawing on the work of Ross (1990) is Black abstraction, which represents the rhetorical and often subtle portrayal of Blacks as subhuman rather than as humans embedded in a complex and oppressive social context. The authors posit that “When Black people and other people of color are viewed outside of their actual lived experiences with discrimination and oppression, institutions like schools are relieved of their responsibility to directly undo systems of privilege and oppression” (p. 9). Given what we are witnessing in the world today, this article is a timely contribution not only in understanding White innocence, but the implications for practice. As the authors point out, this study has implications for the roles that leaders and leadership play in urban school reform.
In the second article entitled “Reflections About Educational Leadership: Leadership Lessons Learned from School Building Leaders at the End of a Career in Public Education” by Jacob D Skousen et al., the authors examined the experiences of recently retired educational leaders to better understand the essential elements of educational leadership from individuals who spent a career supporting schools and leading people. The themes that emerged include insights on a) the role and responsibilities of educational leaders; b) collaboration; c) relationships and love; d) building capacity in others; and e) self-care. This article highlights the experiences of experienced school leaders and how they understand notions of effective leadership. As the authors assert their aim was to curate the experiences and wisdom of educational leaders about the complexities of leading schools. The findings of this research will no doubt add to the body of knowledge on capacity building among school leaders, and ways to sustain the leadership the leadership journey. This has relevance for the moment and the challenges that educators and educational leaders face navigating their contexts in the face of changing policies and expectations of educators and educational leaders. Notions of collaboration, relationships and love, self-care are all essential to staying and sustaining the educators on their leadership journey and navigating complexities and tensions of the work.
The third article entitled “Leading by Looking and Listening: Observation Framework to Support Equitable and Ambitious Teaching and Learning” by Michael Neel Jr. et al. undergirded by a desire as the authors argue “taking equity seriously” explores the instructional experiences of students’ while in school. Authors drawing on the Ambitious Teaching and Learning (ATL) framework for classroom observation they examined instructional support to support and analyze classroom practice that support teachers to develop more “ambitious and equitable instructional practices and responsiveness to students” (p. 2). Gathering insights from various classroom observations they explored notions of “talk” and “power structures” in the classroom. The authors argue that this framework can enable school leaders to analyze classroom practice and cultivate productive instructional coaching conversations with teachers. They urge that the framework not be used as a means to “technocratically score teacher performance”, but instead, to see it as “providing an observer with the lenses to support ‘looking’ at classroom activity”. The authors identify four key areas of focus a) tasks, b) tools, c) talk, and d) participant structures, while explicitly inviting attention to questions of equity and power related to instructional interactions. The attention to equity and power is timely as diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are under attack and teachers and school leaders in formal and informal roles need support and practical suggestions for everyday practice to stay the course of equity education in these challenging times.
The articles in this issue will in no doubt add to the body of knowledge and actions that educators can draw on in these challenging and difficult times.