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From the Field: A Proposal for Educating Leaders for Social Justice

Department of Educational Administration and Human Resources at Texas A&M University in College Station

Dana E. Christman

Department of Educational Management and Development at New Mexico State University

Frank Hernandez

Center for Excellence in Urban Teaching at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota

Elsy Fierro

Albuquerque Public Schools District

Colleen A. Capper

Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Michael Dantley

School of Education and Allied Professions at Miami University

María Luisa González

Center for Border and Indigenous Educational Leadership (CeBIEL) in the Department of Educational Management and Development at New Mexico State University

Nelda Cambron-McCabe

Department of Educational Leadership, Miami University

James Joseph Scheurich

Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development at Texas A&M University

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to suggest the structure and content of an educational leadership program whose aim is to prepare principals for social justice work. Research Design: The authors have conceptualized foundational components for a comprehensive principalship program focused on social justice. They assert that educational leaders for social justice must have three goals at the forefront of their efforts: (a) They must raise the academic achievement of all the students in their school, that is, high test scores do matter; (b) they must prepare their students to live as critical citizens in society; and (c) both of these goals can only be achieved when leaders assign students to inclusive, heterogeneous classrooms that provide all students access to a rich and engaging curriculum. The components addressed for this social justice—oriented principalship preparation program include (a) how students should be selected for such a program and (b) an outline of the knowledge and content for educating social justice leaders. The importance of induction/praxis after students graduate from these programs is discussed.

Conclusions: The aim of this article is to provoke a discussion in the field and spark faculty to engage in ongoing conversations and thinking about their own programs and to imagine new avenues for future research in this area. Faculty also can use these suggestions as a guide to assess their efforts and to bolster program quality, sensitive to the unique needs and schooling contexts of their particular students.

Key Words: educational leadership • equity • social justice • educational leadership programs • educational administration

This version was published on February 1, 2008

Educational Administration Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 1, 111-138 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0013161X07309470


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