Leading beyond the School Walls: Understanding Principal Community Activism
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| Title: | Leading beyond the School Walls: Understanding Principal Community Activism |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Jason D. Salisbury (ORCID |
| Source: | Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education. 2025 57(3):521-546. |
| Availability: | Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 26 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Principals, Administrator Attitudes, Leadership Styles, Activism, Community Needs, School Community Relationship, Racism, Neoliberalism, Educational Policy, Urban Schools, Equal Education, Educational Improvement |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11256-025-00740-0 |
| ISSN: | 0042-0972 1573-1960 |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to investigate the ways school leaders perceive and engage in community-focused, activist leadership in response to community needs. We rely on a critical qualitative research design that draws on critical urban theory. Sources of data include a pilot focus group, semi-structured in-depth interviews with activist leaders, and publicly available documents. Findings demonstrate the ways that leaders engaged in activism by developing understandings of the communities they served as a first step to activism, rooting their schools as a physical resource for communities, and responding to community needs via activist practices. Through their work, leaders intentionally countered the impact of white supremacist neoliberal policies that negatively impacted their school communities. Our research contributes to the growing scholarship of in-practice models of activist school leadership, highlighting the necessity for leadership practice that addresses the challenges of disinvestment and heightened resource competition in urban communities of color. Furthermore, this study advocates for an expanded concept of equitable school leadership that encompasses both in-school and community-focused justice work as to engage in wholistic school improvement. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1480989 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to investigate the ways school leaders perceive and engage in community-focused, activist leadership in response to community needs. We rely on a critical qualitative research design that draws on critical urban theory. Sources of data include a pilot focus group, semi-structured in-depth interviews with activist leaders, and publicly available documents. Findings demonstrate the ways that leaders engaged in activism by developing understandings of the communities they served as a first step to activism, rooting their schools as a physical resource for communities, and responding to community needs via activist practices. Through their work, leaders intentionally countered the impact of white supremacist neoliberal policies that negatively impacted their school communities. Our research contributes to the growing scholarship of in-practice models of activist school leadership, highlighting the necessity for leadership practice that addresses the challenges of disinvestment and heightened resource competition in urban communities of color. Furthermore, this study advocates for an expanded concept of equitable school leadership that encompasses both in-school and community-focused justice work as to engage in wholistic school improvement. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0042-0972 1573-1960 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11256-025-00740-0 |
