This timely book successfully combines theory and practice to intelligibly show how to prepare prospective school leaders for social justice, equity, and excellence.

The purpose of this book series is to promote research on educational leadership for social justice. Specifically, we seek edited volumes, textbooks, and full!length studies focused on research that explores the ways educational leadership preparation and practice can be a means of addressing equity concerns throughout P-20 education. Within this book Leadership for Social Justice: Promoting Equity and Excellence Through Inquiry and Reflective Practice the contributors provide a variety of rich perspectives to the social justice phenomenon from the lens of empirical, historical, narrative, and conceptual designs. These designs reiterate the importance of bridging theory and practice while simultaneously producing significant research and scholarship in the field. Collectively, the authors seek to give voice to empowering, social justice-focused research—an area that continues to garner much interest in the areas of educational leadership research, teaching, and learning. In conjunction with the “theme” of this issue, the chapters offer research from an American perspective and offer suggestions, and implications for the field of educational leadership on both a national and international level. The collection contributes to research, theory and practice in educational and community settings.

Social justice and leadership education are inextricably linked. In order to move social justice forward, we need to develop leaders with knowledge, skills, and values to engage effectively in the leadership process. We need socially just leaders now more than ever. At a time when our elected and appointed officials agree on very little, our communities are divided and distrustful of one another, and individual citizens struggle for fairness in the face of discrimination, society is at a crossroad. In one direction lies the reproduction of oppression and marginalization, continued distrust, and further fragmentation. In the other, a route toward healing, compassion, and fairness. How then do we prepare our leaders of tomorrow to walk the path of justice rather than take the road to ruin? Changing the dominant narratives in society involves preparing skilled social critics and knowledgeable advocates for positive and sustainable change through education. However, when leadership education fails to consider social justice issues, or when social justice education omits leadership learning, both fall short of their goals. This texts links issues of social justice, equity, and equality, to leadership knowledge, skills, and values, with the intent of offering theoretical, practical, and policy recommendations to improve the work of educators charged with preparing undergraduates for the complexities of leadership in all its forms. Collectively, the contributors inform much needed practices and pedagogies toward socially just leadership education. No single one of us can change the narrative alone, but together, we can amplify the voices of those leading toward justice. The perspectives offered here are but a sample of the work being done to make the future a brighter place for all. We invite you to be part of the conversation.

This book shares the thoughts of mostly North American scholars on many interrelated topics that have not previously been linked in academic research. The focus of the book is the belief that the Ed.D. can prepare highly competent justice-oriented scholars who will be engaged with communities. Among these future leaders, the contributors envision educators who not only lead public schools, but also private foundations, not-for-profit organizations, and community centers. An outstanding feature of this volume is that each chapter highlights existing and emerging issues such as, but not limited to, candidate recruitment and admission policies; program funding, fees, and student expenses; academic support services; faculty recruitment, compensation, evaluation, and promotion models; on-site/on-line instruction, internship policy, opportunities for graduate student employment, publishing, and conference engagement; student supervision protocols; and dissertation and capstone project parameters. In addition, the book explores cultural and socio-political contexts, public/private sector relationships, and the kinds of legislation that frame Ed.D. theory, policy, and practice from a social justice perspective. “At its best, higher education is an indispensable space for spotlighting, challenging, and addressing injustice. This important volume offers us the conceptual, methodological, empirical, and pedagogical tools necessary for understanding the relationship between doctoral education and social justice work. Antonio Ellis has assembled an impressive array of scholars who help us understand the promise and possibility of Ed.D. programs.” – Marc Lamont Hill, Host for the Black Entertainment Network, Contributor for CNN, and Distinguished Professor of African American Studies at Morehouse College “This volume helps to clarify what is meant by social justice in school leadership settings and provides both philosophical and theoretical perspectives as well as strategies and curricular content that can assist in developing a common sense understanding of social justice. The development of a mental frame of reference is critical to being able to transfer that understanding and curricular content into beliefs and practices. As a professor of educational leadership and a college administrator I am most pleased to find a volume that provides perspectives and strategies which can be employed by academicians teaching in leadership programs and practitioners as they lead and prepare others to become leaders.” – Zollie Stevenson, Jr., Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor, Philander Smith College

To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the International School Leadership Development Network (ISLDN), this book is a compilation of the work conducted by network scholars. This volume is the first comprehensive overview of the studies conducted by ISLDN members engaged in examining how social justice leaders and leaders of high-needs schools address the social conditions, learning experiences, and performance of their students. Other international school leadership research consortia have emerged in the 21st century; however, the ISLDN is the second longest operating project, after the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). Since its creation in 2010, ISLDN scholars have delivered papers at a variety of international conferences and shared findings in research publications, including books and special issues of journals. Until now, ISLDN research findings have been disseminated separately for the project’s two strands: (a) social justice leadership and (b) leadership in underperforming high-needs schools. Therefore, the purpose of the book is to document the history and evolution of the ISLDN and to provide descriptions and reflections of the project’s research findings, methodologies, and collaborative processes across the two strands. This volume captures studies of school leaders from 19 countries representing six continents - Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America. The authors examine important external and internal contextual factors influencing schools in different cultural settings and provide insights about the values and practices of social justice leaders working in high-needs school settings. Numerous practical strategies are provided for school leaders working in schools with similar conditions. The concluding chapter by the co-editors synthesizes the structural factors, personal beliefs and values, and contextualized change management strategies that shape school leaders’ actions aimed at ensuring the best learning outcomes for their students. Besides capturing the range of findings emerging from various ISLDN studies conducted over the past decade, several chapters critically examine the project’s current contributions to the field. Authors suggest broadening the dissemination of our findings to increase the visibility of the project, expanding the research methods beyond qualitative interviews, incorporating studies from non-Anglophone countries, and augmenting the scope of our analyses and research focus. These researchers’ journeys also reveal the obstacles to and benefits of engaging in these types of international collaborative research ventures.

Preparing and Sustaining Social Justice Educators spotlights the challenging and necessary work of fostering social justice in schools. Integral to this work are the teachers and school leaders who enact the principles of social justice—racial equity, cultural inclusivity, and identity acceptance—daily in their classrooms. This volume makes the case that high-quality public education relies on the recruitment, professional development, and retention of educators ready to navigate complex systemic and structural inequities to best serve vulnerable student populations. Annamarie Francois and Karen Hunter Quartz, along with contributing scholars and practitioners, present an intersectional approach to educational justice. The approach is grounded in research about deeper learning, community development, and school reform. Throughout the book, the contributors detail professional activities proven to sustain social justice educators. They show, for example, how effective teacher coaching encourages educators to confront their explicit and implicit biases, to engage in critical conversations and self-reflection, and to assess teacher performance through a social justice lens. The book illustrates how professional learning collaborations promote diverse, antiracist, and socially responsible learning communities. Case studies at three university-partnered K–12 schools in Los Angeles demonstrate the benefits of these professional alliances and practices. Francois and Quartz acknowledge the difficulty of the social justice educator’s task, a challenge heightened by a K–12 teacher shortage, an undersupplied teacher pipeline, and school closures. Yet they keep their sights set on a just and equitable future, and in this work, they give educators the tools to build such a future.