Leadership preparation for social justice in educational administration

This chapter reviews the research on leadership preparation for social justice independently as well as through two overlapping bodies of research: social justice leadership and leadership preparation. In our review we argue that in spite of calls by researchers across the field of educational administration, the literature that specifically focuses on leadership preparation for social justice by and large remains limited. Our central arguments in light of this review are that: 1. More effort is needed to ensure that school leaders are prepared to lead schools with diverse students in ways that lead to equitable outcomes. 2. Multiple tensions in the research need to be resolved before leadership preparation for social justice can be fully realized, including issues regarding candidate selection, faculty readiness, connection to standards, and program supports in the field. 3. More and different kinds of research are required to better understand how to address the first two arguments. Finally, we raise questions about how changing preparation programs to focus on social justice by using the frameworks found in the literature may in a paradoxical way limit the impact of true social justice leadership by focusing only those already oriented toward social justice rather than seeking to develop the capacities in all aspiring school leaders.