Pub Date : 2023-08-28DOI: 10.1177/01614681231197278
Chinyere Odim
Background/Context: The experiences of Black girls navigating elite, predominantly white independent schools remain underresearched in the academy despite this issue being integral in disciplines such as sociology, education, and African American studies. Within such institutions, Black girls must navigate the duality of their privilege in having access to the highest quality and resourced education with the marginality of being a demographic minority within a space controlled by cultural elites. Purpose: This study investigates the experiences of Black girls in independent schools via the accounts of Black-woman-identifying alumni of such institutions. This study utilizes a Black feminist framework for understanding the often overlooked excess challenges that Black girls are forced to face. Research Design: Through qualitative semi-structured, conversational interviews with 13 Black women graduates of 10 Mid-Atlantic and New England boarding and day schools, this study explores how the graduates reflect on their experiences navigating elite schooling during formative adolescent years, decision-making processes, and management of Black girl identities within the exceedingly white and wealthy context of independent schools. Conclusions: Significant themes that emerged from the qualitative data generated by this study include feelings of rootlessness from Black and white communities, difficulty navigating a racialized and gendered social hierarchy, and heightened levels of social anxiety and self-consciousness about physical and ideological selves. Through a thematic retelling from those who have lived through the challenges and understand how they are presented in these contexts, the significance of this study’s exploration of Black girls in independent school is the (1) liberation of these historically marginalized voices and (2) potential to provide current school leaders a framework for how best to support their students.
{"title":"Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invisibilized Challenges of Black Girlhood in Elite Independent Schools","authors":"Chinyere Odim","doi":"10.1177/01614681231197278","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231197278","url":null,"abstract":"Background/Context: The experiences of Black girls navigating elite, predominantly white independent schools remain underresearched in the academy despite this issue being integral in disciplines such as sociology, education, and African American studies. Within such institutions, Black girls must navigate the duality of their privilege in having access to the highest quality and resourced education with the marginality of being a demographic minority within a space controlled by cultural elites. Purpose: This study investigates the experiences of Black girls in independent schools via the accounts of Black-woman-identifying alumni of such institutions. This study utilizes a Black feminist framework for understanding the often overlooked excess challenges that Black girls are forced to face. Research Design: Through qualitative semi-structured, conversational interviews with 13 Black women graduates of 10 Mid-Atlantic and New England boarding and day schools, this study explores how the graduates reflect on their experiences navigating elite schooling during formative adolescent years, decision-making processes, and management of Black girl identities within the exceedingly white and wealthy context of independent schools. Conclusions: Significant themes that emerged from the qualitative data generated by this study include feelings of rootlessness from Black and white communities, difficulty navigating a racialized and gendered social hierarchy, and heightened levels of social anxiety and self-consciousness about physical and ideological selves. Through a thematic retelling from those who have lived through the challenges and understand how they are presented in these contexts, the significance of this study’s exploration of Black girls in independent school is the (1) liberation of these historically marginalized voices and (2) potential to provide current school leaders a framework for how best to support their students.","PeriodicalId":48274,"journal":{"name":"Teachers College Record","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135033073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-01DOI: 10.1177/01614681231194404
M. Purdy
In this commentary, Purdy calls independent schools to grapple with their complicated and full institutional histories. Offering examples of schools and individuals doing this work, Purdy contends that independent schools need histories of diversity, equity, and inclusion that span the entirety of United States history, like those being uncovered by higher education institutions that are delving deeply into the relationship between their institutions and legacies of enslavement. Purdy presents a concise history of what we know now about how independent schools have reflected the racism embedded in United States society, how the civil rights movement pushed independent schools to desegregate and admit more Black students, and how Dr. William Dandridge, the first director of Minority Affairs for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in the 1970s, challenged independent school leaders on their thinking about race. This commentary concludes by encouraging independent schools to ask the hard questions, because even with all the progress that has been made to make independent schools more diverse, inclusive, and equitable, Black students continue to shed light on the institutional and interpersonal racism that they contend with today.
{"title":"Institutional Historical Acknowledgement: What Does It Hurt to Embrace the Past?","authors":"M. Purdy","doi":"10.1177/01614681231194404","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231194404","url":null,"abstract":"In this commentary, Purdy calls independent schools to grapple with their complicated and full institutional histories. Offering examples of schools and individuals doing this work, Purdy contends that independent schools need histories of diversity, equity, and inclusion that span the entirety of United States history, like those being uncovered by higher education institutions that are delving deeply into the relationship between their institutions and legacies of enslavement. Purdy presents a concise history of what we know now about how independent schools have reflected the racism embedded in United States society, how the civil rights movement pushed independent schools to desegregate and admit more Black students, and how Dr. William Dandridge, the first director of Minority Affairs for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in the 1970s, challenged independent school leaders on their thinking about race. This commentary concludes by encouraging independent schools to ask the hard questions, because even with all the progress that has been made to make independent schools more diverse, inclusive, and equitable, Black students continue to shed light on the institutional and interpersonal racism that they contend with today.","PeriodicalId":48274,"journal":{"name":"Teachers College Record","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86464192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-01DOI: 10.1177/01614681231194418
A. Howard, A. Keddie
Background/Context: Although the study of elite schools has been quite popular in recent years, elite all-boys schools in the United States have largely remained outside the gaze of researchers. Purpose: Two stories are presented to identify possibilities for advancing gender justice in those schools. Methods: Drawing on interview data of participants at two schools, the stories presented reflect common practices and relations found in a larger study on the lessons that 127 recent alumni of elite all-boys schools across the United States learned through their experiences at these institutions. Findings/Results: The stories reveal the disturbing ways in which hegemonic masculinities are reproduced through practices of homophobia, heterosexism, and misogyny within elite all-boys schools that highlight the challenges of engaging in gender justice work. Conclusions/Recommendations: Three areas of practice for elite all-boys schools are proposed that are imperative in working toward gender justice: (1) school climate and environment; (2) leadership for and commitment to gender justice; and (3) teaching and learning.
{"title":"Gender Justice within Elite All-Boys Schools? Possibilities of a Whole-School Approach","authors":"A. Howard, A. Keddie","doi":"10.1177/01614681231194418","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231194418","url":null,"abstract":"Background/Context: Although the study of elite schools has been quite popular in recent years, elite all-boys schools in the United States have largely remained outside the gaze of researchers. Purpose: Two stories are presented to identify possibilities for advancing gender justice in those schools. Methods: Drawing on interview data of participants at two schools, the stories presented reflect common practices and relations found in a larger study on the lessons that 127 recent alumni of elite all-boys schools across the United States learned through their experiences at these institutions. Findings/Results: The stories reveal the disturbing ways in which hegemonic masculinities are reproduced through practices of homophobia, heterosexism, and misogyny within elite all-boys schools that highlight the challenges of engaging in gender justice work. Conclusions/Recommendations: Three areas of practice for elite all-boys schools are proposed that are imperative in working toward gender justice: (1) school climate and environment; (2) leadership for and commitment to gender justice; and (3) teaching and learning.","PeriodicalId":48274,"journal":{"name":"Teachers College Record","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86704203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-01DOI: 10.1177/01614681231194416
Emily Meadows
Educators are increasingly facing questions around LGBTQ+ equity and belonging in their practice, and they may struggle to identify a position that does justice to the weight of these matters. Those with limited training and experience in LGBTQ+ equity work may find that relying on popular opinion or a search engine to develop answers feels unprofessional at best, and potentially dangerous at worst. This article proposes instead a conceptual framework with which to consider four prominent ethical lenses that educators may use in evaluating LGBTQ+ matters: professional, cultural, legal, and health and safety. The purpose of the framework is to apply these lenses to support equity, belonging, and identity affirmation for LGBTQ+ students. Each lens is laid out with relevant research and is designed with the specific context of international schools in mind, including those operating within socially conservative settings. The framework serves as a practical tool for conscientious educators seeking guidance to carefully and intentionally address varying perspectives around the sensitive and important topic of LGBTQ+ identity affirmation in schools.
{"title":"LGBTQ+ Identity Affirmation in International Schools: An Ethical Framework for Educators","authors":"Emily Meadows","doi":"10.1177/01614681231194416","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231194416","url":null,"abstract":"Educators are increasingly facing questions around LGBTQ+ equity and belonging in their practice, and they may struggle to identify a position that does justice to the weight of these matters. Those with limited training and experience in LGBTQ+ equity work may find that relying on popular opinion or a search engine to develop answers feels unprofessional at best, and potentially dangerous at worst. This article proposes instead a conceptual framework with which to consider four prominent ethical lenses that educators may use in evaluating LGBTQ+ matters: professional, cultural, legal, and health and safety. The purpose of the framework is to apply these lenses to support equity, belonging, and identity affirmation for LGBTQ+ students. Each lens is laid out with relevant research and is designed with the specific context of international schools in mind, including those operating within socially conservative settings. The framework serves as a practical tool for conscientious educators seeking guidance to carefully and intentionally address varying perspectives around the sensitive and important topic of LGBTQ+ identity affirmation in schools.","PeriodicalId":48274,"journal":{"name":"Teachers College Record","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73111918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-01DOI: 10.1177/01614681231194406
Ángel Gonzalez
Background/Context: Ongoing tensions surrounding equity and diversity work, particularly around race and gender, in independent schools have led to various responses. Many independent schools have made statements and pledges, and have crafted strategic plans to address systemic racism after receiving internal and external pressure to take action following the murder of George Floyd. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study examines how young adolescent cisgender Black and Latinx students, specifically cisgender boys at two independent middle schools, navigate the often-contradictory forces of gender, race, and class. Research Design: Drawing on one year of participant observation and 33 semi-structured interviews, I examine how these students contend with the simultaneity of color-blind and race-conscious realities in the United States. Conclusions/Recommendations: This study finds that as teachers, administrators, and boards engage in subsequent equity and diversity efforts, they must pause and reconsider our students’ lived experiences that are part and parcel of ongoing calls for action. Moreover, educators should center the interrogation of what it means to be human in independent schools—in our missions, policies, culture, curriculum, traditions, admissions, and hiring—as one of the most urgent institutional tasks needed to activate the most liberating possibilities of schooling.
{"title":"The Burden of Acting Human: Rethinking Race, Class, and Gender Experiences in U.S. Independent Schools","authors":"Ángel Gonzalez","doi":"10.1177/01614681231194406","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231194406","url":null,"abstract":"Background/Context: Ongoing tensions surrounding equity and diversity work, particularly around race and gender, in independent schools have led to various responses. Many independent schools have made statements and pledges, and have crafted strategic plans to address systemic racism after receiving internal and external pressure to take action following the murder of George Floyd. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study examines how young adolescent cisgender Black and Latinx students, specifically cisgender boys at two independent middle schools, navigate the often-contradictory forces of gender, race, and class. Research Design: Drawing on one year of participant observation and 33 semi-structured interviews, I examine how these students contend with the simultaneity of color-blind and race-conscious realities in the United States. Conclusions/Recommendations: This study finds that as teachers, administrators, and boards engage in subsequent equity and diversity efforts, they must pause and reconsider our students’ lived experiences that are part and parcel of ongoing calls for action. Moreover, educators should center the interrogation of what it means to be human in independent schools—in our missions, policies, culture, curriculum, traditions, admissions, and hiring—as one of the most urgent institutional tasks needed to activate the most liberating possibilities of schooling.","PeriodicalId":48274,"journal":{"name":"Teachers College Record","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90696997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-01DOI: 10.1177/01614681231194413
Jonas Nordmeyer
Background/Context: The landscape of English-medium independent schools today is increasingly multilingual, challenging traditional monolingual norms of English testing and teaching. Multilingual learners—students who are able to navigate school in more than one language—are more vulnerable to the negative impacts of standardized tests in English because in many schools, these assessments are used solely to determine students’ proficiency for placement, labeling, or tracking purposes. International schools provide a useful context in which to investigate the intersection of language and equity. As independent institutions situated in complex transnational and postcolonial linguistic ecosystems, international schools determine their own local policies and programs for English language assessment and support. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This article is about the relationship between testing and teaching, and how educators describe this relationship within a particular network of international schools. Examining the relationship between English language assessment and instruction for multilingual learners helps to describe pathways toward more inclusive schools. Inquiring into how schools can build on the assets of multilingual learners requires rethinking the monolingual norm of English as an exclusive path for learning and a marker of privilege. Additionally, studying a global network of schools illustrates how resources that were developed in the United States can be used more globally: at the classroom level, within a whole-school context, and across a transnational educational consortium. Research Design: I use a mixed-methods analysis to investigate how educators describe programs that serve multilingual learners. I analyze school-based narratives written by educators across a global consortium of 500 international schools to inquire into the relationship between testing and teaching. Findings/Results: Within this particular global network, I found that educators describe links between English language assessments and other program components: an asset-based approach, professional learning, and school-wide systems to serve multilingual learners. I explain how a systemic approach to connecting assessments and instruction can contribute to more equitable schools for multilingual learners. Additionally, by comparing schools that recently joined the network and schools that had been members for three or more years, I identified a developmental trajectory, moving from a primary focus on English language assessments to increased collaborative practices for serving a multilingual school community. Conclusions/Recommendations: This initial research has important implications for independent schools and educators of multilingual learners. Understanding how the global and the local integrate illustrates how schools can adapt rather than adopt new assessments and instructional resources: both changing and being changed by new tool
{"title":"From Testing to Teaching: Equity for Multilingual Learners in International Schools","authors":"Jonas Nordmeyer","doi":"10.1177/01614681231194413","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231194413","url":null,"abstract":"Background/Context: The landscape of English-medium independent schools today is increasingly multilingual, challenging traditional monolingual norms of English testing and teaching. Multilingual learners—students who are able to navigate school in more than one language—are more vulnerable to the negative impacts of standardized tests in English because in many schools, these assessments are used solely to determine students’ proficiency for placement, labeling, or tracking purposes. International schools provide a useful context in which to investigate the intersection of language and equity. As independent institutions situated in complex transnational and postcolonial linguistic ecosystems, international schools determine their own local policies and programs for English language assessment and support. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This article is about the relationship between testing and teaching, and how educators describe this relationship within a particular network of international schools. Examining the relationship between English language assessment and instruction for multilingual learners helps to describe pathways toward more inclusive schools. Inquiring into how schools can build on the assets of multilingual learners requires rethinking the monolingual norm of English as an exclusive path for learning and a marker of privilege. Additionally, studying a global network of schools illustrates how resources that were developed in the United States can be used more globally: at the classroom level, within a whole-school context, and across a transnational educational consortium. Research Design: I use a mixed-methods analysis to investigate how educators describe programs that serve multilingual learners. I analyze school-based narratives written by educators across a global consortium of 500 international schools to inquire into the relationship between testing and teaching. Findings/Results: Within this particular global network, I found that educators describe links between English language assessments and other program components: an asset-based approach, professional learning, and school-wide systems to serve multilingual learners. I explain how a systemic approach to connecting assessments and instruction can contribute to more equitable schools for multilingual learners. Additionally, by comparing schools that recently joined the network and schools that had been members for three or more years, I identified a developmental trajectory, moving from a primary focus on English language assessments to increased collaborative practices for serving a multilingual school community. Conclusions/Recommendations: This initial research has important implications for independent schools and educators of multilingual learners. Understanding how the global and the local integrate illustrates how schools can adapt rather than adopt new assessments and instructional resources: both changing and being changed by new tool","PeriodicalId":48274,"journal":{"name":"Teachers College Record","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91302594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-01DOI: 10.1177/01614681231207165
Nicole Brittingham Furlonge, Kenny Graves, Thu-Nga Morris, Sarah Odell
This special issue of Teachers College Record—“Minding the Gap in Education Discourse: Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Independent and International Schools”—aims to bring attention to independent and international private schools through the lenses of equity, inclusion, and belonging. In this issue, scholars and practitioners address gaps in education and education leadership discourse regarding considerations of equity, inclusion, and belonging. Historically, education discourse regarding equity, inclusion, and belonging has skewed largely toward public and charter education. While, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), just 9% of PK-12 students nationally are enrolled in independent schools, independent schools nationally have much to contribute to the critical conversation concerning equity across the educational ecosystem. When we expand our attention to include international private schools, the numbers and scale shift dramatically. According to ISC Research, international private schools serve 6.74 million students. When the growing engagement of international private schools in the work of equity, inclusion, and belonging is considered, even more questions and possibilities emerge for the examining, understanding, and acting in research-informed ways on behalf of equity, inclusion, and belonging in education writ large. This special issue insists on the importance of considering schools as national and global systems of learning and socialization, and independent and international schools in particular as important players in the ecosystem of education in the United States and globally. The works in this issue tune us to the complex, multileveled ecosystem that we refer to as PK–12 schooling and to the importance of noticing and acting at all levels of that ecosystem to ensure research-informed thinking, decision-making, action, and impact.
{"title":"Minding the Gap in Education Discourse: Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Independent and International Schools","authors":"Nicole Brittingham Furlonge, Kenny Graves, Thu-Nga Morris, Sarah Odell","doi":"10.1177/01614681231207165","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231207165","url":null,"abstract":"This special issue of Teachers College Record—“Minding the Gap in Education Discourse: Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Independent and International Schools”—aims to bring attention to independent and international private schools through the lenses of equity, inclusion, and belonging. In this issue, scholars and practitioners address gaps in education and education leadership discourse regarding considerations of equity, inclusion, and belonging. Historically, education discourse regarding equity, inclusion, and belonging has skewed largely toward public and charter education. While, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), just 9% of PK-12 students nationally are enrolled in independent schools, independent schools nationally have much to contribute to the critical conversation concerning equity across the educational ecosystem. When we expand our attention to include international private schools, the numbers and scale shift dramatically. According to ISC Research, international private schools serve 6.74 million students. When the growing engagement of international private schools in the work of equity, inclusion, and belonging is considered, even more questions and possibilities emerge for the examining, understanding, and acting in research-informed ways on behalf of equity, inclusion, and belonging in education writ large. This special issue insists on the importance of considering schools as national and global systems of learning and socialization, and independent and international schools in particular as important players in the ecosystem of education in the United States and globally. The works in this issue tune us to the complex, multileveled ecosystem that we refer to as PK–12 schooling and to the importance of noticing and acting at all levels of that ecosystem to ensure research-informed thinking, decision-making, action, and impact.","PeriodicalId":48274,"journal":{"name":"Teachers College Record","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135056274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-01DOI: 10.1177/01614681231204665
Sarah Margaret Odell
Purpose: This study is part of a larger study of 18 aspiring school leaders that aims to understand how gender identity and gender performance impacted their experience in the K–12 independent school leadership pipeline. One of the key findings was that meritocracy played an important role in how individuals understood what the outcomes of their ascent to leadership should be. This article focuses on that finding through the voices of aspiring K–12 independent school leaders who have tried to enter the pipeline or have come through the pipeline. Method: This study uses Carol Gilligan’s Listening Guide method of data analysis. It was important to use a method and frame the study in a methodology that enabled marginalized voices to be heard. The Listening Guide requires the research to go through three “listenings” of the data: listening to the landscape, where the researcher takes note of everything that was said in the interview and what was not said; listening for the I, where the researcher makes I poems out of all of the I statements in the interview to hear for a deeper layer of consciousness; and finally, listening for contrapuntal voices, which acknowledges that people speak in multiple voices. Through these three listenings, a voice emerged from the data of the keepers of the flame: White women believed that specific work would guarantee them access to leadership. Findings: White women believe and are complicit in upholding meritocracy while White men articulated meritocracy as a lie that they benefit from. One of the interviewees, Joe, was unique among the men I interviewed—he was the only sitting head of school that I interviewed, and he was the only man who spoke so pointedly about the leadership pipeline advantaging someone like him. Black women, on the other hand, have always known from their racialized and gendered experience of the world that their hard work will be overlooked. This also came through in study interviews with Black women aspiring to leadership. For them, keeping silent is an issue of survival. As Carol Gilligan wrote, the story of women’s voices and women’s silences is not a simple one: It is not a question of one gender or race being above another. Rather, it is a story about resistance. An individual’s belief about how much work is necessary to gain access to leadership proves how White patriarchy centers the pipeline and either enforces silence or enables voice in one’s ability to move up. Meritocracy, and whether or not the individual believed it, turned out to be explicitly tied to one’s gender and racial identities. More diverse school leadership may lead to more equitable independent schools.
{"title":"Keepers of the Flame: Gender, Race, and the Myth of Meritocracy in K–12 Educational Leadership","authors":"Sarah Margaret Odell","doi":"10.1177/01614681231204665","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231204665","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose: This study is part of a larger study of 18 aspiring school leaders that aims to understand how gender identity and gender performance impacted their experience in the K–12 independent school leadership pipeline. One of the key findings was that meritocracy played an important role in how individuals understood what the outcomes of their ascent to leadership should be. This article focuses on that finding through the voices of aspiring K–12 independent school leaders who have tried to enter the pipeline or have come through the pipeline. Method: This study uses Carol Gilligan’s Listening Guide method of data analysis. It was important to use a method and frame the study in a methodology that enabled marginalized voices to be heard. The Listening Guide requires the research to go through three “listenings” of the data: listening to the landscape, where the researcher takes note of everything that was said in the interview and what was not said; listening for the I, where the researcher makes I poems out of all of the I statements in the interview to hear for a deeper layer of consciousness; and finally, listening for contrapuntal voices, which acknowledges that people speak in multiple voices. Through these three listenings, a voice emerged from the data of the keepers of the flame: White women believed that specific work would guarantee them access to leadership. Findings: White women believe and are complicit in upholding meritocracy while White men articulated meritocracy as a lie that they benefit from. One of the interviewees, Joe, was unique among the men I interviewed—he was the only sitting head of school that I interviewed, and he was the only man who spoke so pointedly about the leadership pipeline advantaging someone like him. Black women, on the other hand, have always known from their racialized and gendered experience of the world that their hard work will be overlooked. This also came through in study interviews with Black women aspiring to leadership. For them, keeping silent is an issue of survival. As Carol Gilligan wrote, the story of women’s voices and women’s silences is not a simple one: It is not a question of one gender or race being above another. Rather, it is a story about resistance. An individual’s belief about how much work is necessary to gain access to leadership proves how White patriarchy centers the pipeline and either enforces silence or enables voice in one’s ability to move up. Meritocracy, and whether or not the individual believed it, turned out to be explicitly tied to one’s gender and racial identities. More diverse school leadership may lead to more equitable independent schools.","PeriodicalId":48274,"journal":{"name":"Teachers College Record","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135005002","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-01DOI: 10.1177/01614681231197279
Chenxing Han, Andrew Housiaux
In this article, we consider the intersection of experiential learning and equity work through the lens of a 10-week project: “Listening to the Buddhists in Our Backyard” (L2BB), undertaken in collaboration with a group of six high school seniors at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in the spring of 2022. L2BB was part of a broader undertaking known as The Workshop, an experimental school-within-a-school that seeks to reimagine education beyond the restrictive norms or “grammar” of schooling. Mirroring the emergent and adaptive methods of L2BB, this article incorporates student voices, narrative interviews, and methodological reflections to advance our claim that an embodied, listening-first model of learning avoids common pitfalls of community-based learning while enabling students to develop a more accurate picture of racial and religious minorities in the United States.
{"title":"Listen and Learn: Equity, Embodied Pedagogies, and Engaging Asian American Buddhists","authors":"Chenxing Han, Andrew Housiaux","doi":"10.1177/01614681231197279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231197279","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we consider the intersection of experiential learning and equity work through the lens of a 10-week project: “Listening to the Buddhists in Our Backyard” (L2BB), undertaken in collaboration with a group of six high school seniors at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in the spring of 2022. L2BB was part of a broader undertaking known as The Workshop, an experimental school-within-a-school that seeks to reimagine education beyond the restrictive norms or “grammar” of schooling. Mirroring the emergent and adaptive methods of L2BB, this article incorporates student voices, narrative interviews, and methodological reflections to advance our claim that an embodied, listening-first model of learning avoids common pitfalls of community-based learning while enabling students to develop a more accurate picture of racial and religious minorities in the United States.","PeriodicalId":48274,"journal":{"name":"Teachers College Record","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84717833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-01DOI: 10.1177/01614681231206709
Jessica Flaxman
Gender disparity at the leadership level of large (defined by the National Association of Independent Schools [NAIS] as > 700 students) K–12 independent schools is a critical and persistent issue in the ongoing effort to foster equity and justice in historically white and male-led independent schools in the United States. The number of women leading all independent schools has increased from 31% in 2009 to 41% in 2021. However, while a greater number of women lead independent schools today than in years past, they more often achieve the headship in small and K–8 schools and remain less likely (22%) to achieve headship of large (> 700) independent schools. Using mixed-methods research conducted with 30 of the 45 women leading large K–12 independent schools in 2020, this study identified some of the unique leadership literacies, or skills and competencies, that women possess and perform as heads of school. Refracted through the rhizomal lens of multiple literacies theory, findings from this study reframe traditional, gendered leadership theories and posit the importance for women leaders of habitually negotiating gender bias, anchoring in the personal, and demonstrating expertise.
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