Given the current, contested political climate, growing school-community inequities, and a renewed commitment to equity and justice in the National Education Leadership Preparation standards, aspiring educational leaders need practical approaches to leading school communities toward equitable outcomes. This conceptual article offers a comprehensive and practical approach for responsible community engagement for educational leaders. The authors outline a model that provides key examples of how contemporary educational leaders might begin: listening, engaging, advocating, and partnering with community-based assets to improve the outcomes of historically disenfranchised students. This scholarship concludes with implications for leadership preparation programs and aspiring educational leaders.
As many schools and school districts across the nation consider replacing traditional behavioral management strategies with restorative practices, this case asks the readers to consider the challenges a school leader may face when attempting to implement school-wide procedural change. In this case, a school leader faced with race-based discipline disparities attempts to challenge this nationwide trend by bringing in a local organization to conduct restorative justice facilitation and reduce the school’s out-of-school suspension numbers. This proves to be challenging due to the systems that existed prior to this change and her difficulties in getting buy-in from her staff. This case may be used in leadership preparation courses as an example of the complexity and considerations involved when implementing restorative justice as an alternative discipline strategy.
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