Black Male School Leaders: Protectors and Defenders of Children, Community, Culture, and Village

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 29-49
Author(s):  
Phillip A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Black Male ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
School Activities ◽  
Gendered Identities ◽  
K 12

This study explored the ways in which the race-gendered identities and lived experiences of Black male K-12 public and independent school leaders inform their leadership in support of students, community, and village. The study draws from critical theories and perspectives, including a framework of Black Masculine Caring (BMC), critical race theory, culturally relevant and responsive leadership, leadership for social justice, and their relationship to and with a theory of Black male school leadership. The qualitative study used survey, phenomenological, and visual elicitation methods to examine the personal and professional experiences, philosophies, and praxis of 14 Black male school leaders. Study findings are presented as an intergenerational dialog with participants, based on their years of leadership experience. These leaders exhibit a liberatory care-based approach to leadership as an expression of social justice advocacy, civil rights activism, community and evidenced action-orientated commitment to a dismantling of structured and systemic forms of racism, anti-Black racism entrenched segregation, and other inequities that discriminate and disproportionately marginalize significant numbers of students and their communities. As captured through the narratives shared, this is evidenced through greater, and positively encouraged, levels of parental and other community member involvement in school activities, as a core aspect of the leadership and decision-making processes. The research expands understanding of paradigms of critical race leadership and disrupts the normative educational leadership that ill-serve significant sections of our student populations and communities.

Chapter 10: Teaching to Empower: Social Justice Action Projects as Imperatives for Educational Justice

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (13) ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Stephen D. Hancock ◽  
Ayana Allen-Handy ◽  
John A. Williams ◽  
Bettie Ray Butler ◽  
Alysha Meloche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Community Partners ◽  
The Status ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Action Projects

Background/Context Teaching to empower requires a critical focus on the unique challenges and opportunities of teaching in socially unjust educational environments. Effective teaching happens in an environment that engages students and teachers in critical investigation of content, knowledge, and activities. Critical learning environments simultaneously nurture the development of multiple perspectives and challenge the status quo. Establishing a critical learning environment is imperative in an educational system that is plagued with academic and social injustices. Therefore, teaching to empower necessitates that teachers, with the help of students, dismantle injustices through culturally responsive teaching, the development of agency and activism, the growth of multiple perspectives, and the capacity to challenge the status quo. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The purpose of this chapter, a conceptual paper, is to lay the foundation for a framework of social justice action projects, which we differentiate from social action projects on the basis that social justice action projects are enveloped in critical race theory. Three educator vignettes are shared to illustrate how this framework functions in practice. We provide an example of a classroom teacher, a teacher educator, and a research perspective. Research Design This chapter, a conceptual paper, examines four components that we believe are essential for transforming social action projects into social justice action projects. Through personal narratives, we illuminate the challenges and successes of social justice action projects as they relate to learning, students, educators, and the community. Four of the authors, who are also researchers and educators, share autoethnographic experiences of their participation in social justice action projects in education. Data Collection and Analysis This chapter is a conceptual paper that seeks to illustrate the conceptual framework presented in the introduction of the chapter with three practical examples told from the point of view of the author teachers. Findings/Results When critical race theory acts as a framework for social action projects, these become social justice action projects, which, when properly applied, avoid many of the pitfalls that are common when social action projects do not serve the priorities of their community partners. For students, critical race-based pedagogies can serve to develop critical consciousness. Meanwhile, critical methods provide means by which students and community partners develop agency and activism. Conclusions/Recommendations Teaching through social justice action projects engages both students and teachers in critical dialogues that support empowered, action-oriented learning. While many effective teaching methods and strategies exist, the use of social justice action projects provides knowledge production, dialogue, and thinking beyond the whitewashed curriculum to create a world in which students, teachers, and community partners are empowered to make positive differences.

“We Don’t Got Time for Grumbling”: Toward an Ethic of Radical Care in Urban School Leadership

2020 ◽  
pp. 0013161X2092589
Author(s):  
Rosa L. Rivera-McCutchen
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Black Male ◽  
Urban School ◽  
School Principal ◽  
Effective School ◽  
Urban School Leadership ◽  
Effective School Leadership ◽  
Document Review

Purpose: This article presents a case study of a successful Black male public urban school principal, offering a counterstory to discourses of failure in urban schools. I build on scholars’ work in critical caring, the Black principalship, and radical hope to call for an expansion of narrow frameworks of effective school leadership to include an ethic of radical care within urban school leadership. Method: This study represents a counterstory in the tradition of critical race theory, centering the voice and perspectives of a Black male urban school principal. Using ethnographic research methods, this case study was based on prolonged and embedded engagement in the field including observations, informal and formal interviews, and document review. Data were collected and analyzed over a 2-year period. Findings: Five components of effective school leadership emerged from analysis of the data that, taken together, can be described as a radical care framework. These components include the folowing: (a) adopting an antiracist, social just stance; (b) cultivating authentic relationships; (c) believing in students’ and teachers’ capacity for growth and excellence; (d) strategically navigating the sociopolitical and policy climate; and (e) embracing a spirit of radical hope. Conclusion: In addition to highlighting the power of counterstories in educational leadership research, this study reinforces the critical need for leadership preparation that is grounded in antiracism and social justice, and comprises all aspects of an ethic of radical care. Furthermore, the study points to the need for targeted recruitment of Black and Latinx school leaders, particularly in urban contexts.

scholarly journals Models of Success, Teacher Quality and Student Disciplinary Infraction: A Critical Analysis of Chicago’s Urban Preparatory Academies and Harlem Children’s Zone

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 73 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Williams, III ◽  
Greg Wiggan
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Teacher Quality ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Student Discipline ◽  
The Individual ◽  
K 12

<p>School discipline disparities in U.S. education is accompanied by a litany of literature that focuses on African Americans in low-performing urban schools (Civil Right Project, 2000; Losen, 2011; Mendez &amp; Knoff, 2003; Skiba, Michael, Nardo &amp; Peterson, 2002; Wilson, 2014). Public K-12 institutions in the U.S. report that African Americans are suspended at three-times the rate of White students (23% for African Americans as compared to 7% for Whites). Furthermore, the most recent Civil Rights Discipline Collection report (Office of Civil Rights, 2014) indicates that students who receive one suspension have a much greater chance of being suspended multiple times, ultimately leading to expulsion and or involvement in the juvenile justice system (Allen &amp; White-Smith, 2014; Gregory, 1995; Office of Civil Rights, 2014; Pane &amp; Rocco, 2014). A significant amount of research focuses on public education institutions’ dismal outcomes in this area (Skiba et al., 2002; Office of Civil Rights, 2014; Wilson, 2014), without examining charter schools to determine if discipline disparities are endemic in them as well. This study examined two urban, high achieving charter schools. Urban Preparatory Academies in Chicago and Harlem Children’s Zone in New York. The school characteristics are assessed through critical race theory to better understand the relationship between teacher quality and student discipline. The findings of the study indicate that while both schools had similar student demographics, lower rates of discipline infractions were reported in the individual campuses that employed a higher number of qualified teachers. These findings have implications for teacher preparation and urban education.</p>

scholarly journals Curriculum Integration and the Forgotten Indigenous Students: Reflecting on Métis Teachers’ Experience

in education ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-23
Author(s):  
Carmen Leigh Gillies
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Curriculum Integration ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Indigenous Education ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Race Theory ◽  
Curricular Integration ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
K 12

Curriculum integration, or in other words, changing what students are taught within racially desegregated Canadian schools, has served as a primary but incomplete pathway to racial justice. In this paper, I present evidence from a qualitative critical race theory (CRT) methodological study with 13 Métis teachers to demonstrate how curricular integration has been framed as a key solution to inequitable outcomes concerning Indigenous students. This strategy has been instilled within the Saskatchewan K–12 education system by a wide spectrum of authorities over several decades. Although absolutely essential for multiple reasons, I argue that teaching students about Indigenous knowledge systems and experiences, as well as anti-racist content, cannot resolve the systemic racial injustices encountered by Indigenous students who attend provincial schools. In particular, three CRT analytical tools—structural determinism, anti-essentialism, and interest convergence—are utilized to examine the limitations of curricular integration as a strategy of racial justice. Keywords: Métis teachers; Indigenous education; critical race theory; integrated schools

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