Culturally Responsive School Leadership: A Synthesis of Literature
In this episode I unpack Khalifa, Gooden, and Davis’ (2016) publication titled “Culturally responsive school leadership: A synthesis of the literature,” which summarizes and synthesizes literature on culturally responsive school leadership as it relates to principals in urban schools.
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Welcome back to another episode of the CSK8 podcast.
My name is Jared O'Leary.
Each week of this podcast
is either an interview with a guest or multiple guests, or a solo episode
where I unpack some scholarship in relation to computer science education.
In this episode, I'm going to be unpacking a paper that Leon Zelizer actually
recommended in the previous interview that you may have listened to last week.
So this paper is titled Culturally Responsive
School Leadership A Synthesis of the Literature
and is by Mohammad a Khalifa Mark Anthony Gooden and James Earl Davis.
All these mispronounce any names.
All right.
Here's the abstract for this paper, quote, Culturally responsive school leadership,
CECL has become important to research on culturally responsive
education reform and social justice education.
This comprehensive review provides a framework
for the expanding body of literature that seeks to make not only teaching,
but rather the entire school
environment responsive to the schooling needs of minority students.
Based on the literature, we frame the discussion around clarifying
strands, critical self-awareness, cross-sell and teacher preparation,
cross-sell and school environments and cross-sell in community advocacy.
We then outline specific cross-sell behaviors that center inclusion, equity
advocacy, and social justice in the school,
pulling from literature on leadership, social justice, culturally
relevant schooling, and students or communities of color.
We describe five specific expressions of cross-sell found in unique communities.
Finally, we reflect on the continued promise and implications of CRC
and, quote, write off how to summarize this article into a single sentence.
I'd say that the article summarizes and synthesizes literature on culturally
responsive school leadership as it relates to principals in urban schools.
Even though this particular article is talking about principals
in urban schools, I will try my best to relate it to computer science educators
because I believe that many of us are actually leaders, even if we are
not the head of an organization or not in, like, I don't know, the board for Ccta
or something like that, you might likely be
the only person on your campus who is doing computer science education,
which means you are a leader within that specific context.
By the way, you can actually read the full article,
which I highly recommend doing by simply going to my website,
which is Gerard O'Leary dot com, or by clicking the link,
an app that you listening to this on to go directly to the show notes
underneath the article section you just simply click on the title
and you'll be
able to go to a PDF of the article which is provided on the Google Scholar.
Profiles of the authors.
Which, by the way,
if you click on the author last names, it'll take you to their profiles.
You can actually read some more publications by each of the authors.
In addition to the links related to this article.
There's also hundreds.
If not thousands, of free resources for computer science educators,
including a link to Buddha PD dot org, which is the nonprofit that I work for,
and I create 100% free coding curriculum that might be of interest to you.
All right.
So in the introduction of this particular article
that kind of unpacks some of these seminal works
that have led to these discussions, such as Gloria Ladson Billings,
who I did a podcast episode on their seminal work, or Geneva Gay,
who talks specifically about culturally responsive education
as well as millions talks about culturally relevant.
And then Paris, who talks about culturally sustaining pedagogies.
Now, why this is important is because the authors are saying that
while this is very important to focus on, it is not the only thing
that needs to happen in order to improve the lives
of minority students inside and outside of schools.
In fact, we can't just focus on the pedagogies,
but we also need to focus on how to reform and transform
all aspects of the educational enterprise,
such as funding, policymaking and administration.
So they too, are culturally responsive. End quote.
That's from page two of the PDF.
This is really important and it's something that I've been sitting with
for a while now Really thinking about is I grant initiative and research projects,
making sure that it actually improves the lives of the community.
And where this came out of is through an interview that I did with Mitch
Resnick, which will likely come out in the next couple weeks.
And one of the things that he mentions in that interview is wishing
that researchers focused more on
improving the lives of communities in which they do the research
rather than just proving whether or not a curriculum or PD works.
So when looking at some future grants that I'm collaborating on
and by the way, I'm happy to collaborate with you
if you're interested, it just reach out to me.
One of the things that we're really focusing on is how do we improve
not just what happens in the classroom, but the school life in general.
So specifically in relation to computer science education,
how can we also improve access
devices, access to broadband technology, improvements
in the structure of when computer science is implemented in schools,
like how much time is allocated for it, where does this occur, etc.
rather than just focusing on pedagogies or curriculum.
Now, from a leadership standpoint, this is interesting because it offers
point out that leaders need to not just focus on the pedagogies
that are culturally responsive or sustaining or relevant.
It also needs to sustain an environment that attracts teachers who
teach in this way and supports them in a way that makes them want to continue
to teach at that school and to work in an environment with that approach.
And in this particular study,
they specifically focus on urban school leaders.
However, these findings that are about to unpack
are definitely relevant outside of that.
All right. So here's a longer quote that I want to read.
That's from PDF Page four.
And it's an important quote to consider and to kind of contextualize
everything else that's about in a chat about boat culture,
the response of leaders develop and support the school staff and promote
a climate that makes the whole school welcoming,
inclusive and accepting of minority students.
Finally,
we recognize that culturally responsive leadership is needed in all settings,
including those not dominated by minority students,
and that not all students of color and minoritized.
In this article, we address culturally responsive
leadership of minority students.
Here we consider minority students individuals from racially oppressed
communities that have been marginalized both legally and as coercively because
of their non-dominant race, ethnicity, religion, language or citizenship.
Indeed, all minority students also have rich histories of agency
appropriation and resistance to oppression.
Yet this term recognizes the histories of oppression minority students have faced
and the need for schools to resist the continuing contexts of oppression.
We further acknowledge that gender, sexuality, income
and other factors lead to even further marginalization
because minority students
have become disadvantaged by historically oppressive structures
and because educators and schools have been intentionally or
unintentionally complicit in reproducing this oppression.
Culturally responsive school years have a principled,
moral, responsible party to counter this oppression.
End quote.
Now, if we replace the words like leaders or leadership with just
a computer science educator, I think this still makes a lot of sense.
Which is why I'm glad
that Leeann shared this with me and which is why I wanted to read this on
the podcast.
A while back, I did an episode where I discussed a paper by the UK
Power Center that discussed some survey findings from a national survey of science
educators, and I believe it is around 40% of educators did not think that we needed
to discuss social justice issues in computer science education classes.
I respectfully disagree with that, as I would argue that educators
who are typically leaders in this space in their schools that they are out
need to consider this.
And so hopefully this framework will help you with being able to lead
by example within your school or whatever kind of context you're working on.
All right.
So that was kind of the intro of the papers.
And the next section of this paper talks about the method.
So they kind of discuss their approach to reviewing literature.
I'm going to skip this, but it is very well thought out in terms of what kind of
terminology and key terms they are using, how they went about doing this.
As somebody who's done like discourse analysis,
I read this one as I get that solid.
So I have no complaints or criticisms about the approach that they used.
But if you are interested in again, you can actually check it out for free
as the authors have link to it on their Google Scholar profiles.
One thing that I will kind of talk about that is on page eight, within this method
section is their discussion on essentially colonization
or oppression that can occur in sometimes subtle ways.
So, for example, they cite some scholars that found, quote,
that when African-American students violated white middle class
rules of interaction,
such as speaking louder or questioning class rules or teacher authority,
they were referred to the principal's office more often than white students.
And despite there being no evidence for behavioral differences, blacks
and Latinos are more likely than whites to be referred to the office
for such subjective offenses, such as defiance and noncompliance.
These responses create a hostile school environment
and lead to student disengagement in school, as frequent suspensions
appear to significantly contribute to the risk of academic underperformance.
In quote from pages eight and nine.
In addition, they also cite some scholarship later on
that says that the teacher
expectations of minority students are often lower than white students.
These are some of the subtle or not so subtle ways
that minority students might be oppressed within classrooms.
Miranda's reading this.
I was like, I really wish I had some kind of a data on like the demographic
information of the students that I ended up sending to the office.
It was usually few and far between.
It's usually only when, like a student had another kid or something like that.
So I tried to handle like any issues within the house and try to make it like
a space where it can kind of calm down if they're just having a bad day.
But I don't know, like what was the different percentages
of different demographics
in something
as us educators that I really think that we should consider and think about,
even when it's just like, who are you calling on in class?
Like if if you're asking one question and five students
raise their hand to answer it, who do you pick and why?
And if you were to repeat this and actually,
like, track that data over time, is there a pattern that emergencies in it?
One of the things that I found in music classes is
I tended to really focus on percussionists because I was a percussionist.
And specifically if I was working with the drumline, I'd focus on snare,
which is the instrument that emerged.
And when I started to reflect on how this is creating an imbalance
in terms of feedback and instructional time and whatnot,
I consciously made some efforts, Hey,
I need to focus on the other instruments more.
If we extrapolate that and apply it into a demographic setting in six classes,
oh, I realize that I call on girls more than boys or non-binary students.
Maybe I need to spread this out more evenly or whatever it is.
It could also be like, Who you asking to teach other students?
So when you're engaging in peer to peer learning,
do you send them to a specific demographic more than another?
Now, I don't know, obviously, because it's your class,
but it's just something that I think is worth considering.
All right.
So the next section that starts on PDF page nine talks about some of the overview
character sticks or behaviors that they found in the literature.
So there are four major strands that emerged.
So the first strand is on critical self-awareness.
The second strand is on culturally
responsive curricula and teacher preparation.
The third strand is on culturally responsive
and inclusive school environments.
And then the fourth
strand is on engaging students and parents in community contexts.
Let's briefly unpack each one of these.
So the first one, Critical self-awareness.
So this found that principals in urban schools really tended to focus on
who they were, what their values were, what their beliefs and dispositions were,
and how that impacted the students that they were working with, in particular
the minority students.
And the authors suggests that this self-awareness
serves as a foundation for how they impact and influence and work with and support
the communities that they are serving and their schools,
which to me makes a lot of sense
if you're viewing students of the communities
that you work with from a deficit framework
that is going to have a significant negative impact compared to
if you are approaching this
from like a culturally relevant or responsive or sustaining mindset.
So the second one, culturally responsive curriculum and teacher preparation.
So the authors mentioned that at least at the time of this publication,
many teachers did not have access to culturally responsive training
or professional development either while they were getting their degrees
in education
or through professional development through continuing education credits.
So the authors argue that is really kind of up to the leader
to ensure that teachers not only have a background in it,
but continue to engage in culturally responsive practices.
It doesn't necessarily mean that the principal has to do
like a weekly discussion on these practices,
but they need to be able to support it in some kind of a way.
Acknowledge that there are some challenges involved with people not having enough
experience with culturally responsive pedagogies
and then find some ways that they can address it and talk about it as a staff.
So here's a quote from page ten.
Quote This outcome can be achieved by recruiting
and retaining culturally responsive teachers, securing culturally
responsive resources in curriculum, mentoring and modeling,
culturally responsive teaching or offering professional development
around CRC after they have become more culturally responsive.
Leaders must be willing to guide teachers into having courageous conversations
where they interrogate their assumptions about race and culture and their impact
on the classroom.
Research suggests leaders must develop strategies for developing teachers
who are not and may not ever resist becoming culturally responsive.
However, culturally responsive school leaders
must also be willing to make the hard decision
to counsel out those teachers who recognize this work is not for them.
End quote From page ten.
Yeah, and one thing
that I guess I want to add to this is that that's hard to do at times.
Like it's it's difficult to voice some of these things publicly
and then to engage in some of these conversations.
But we really need to do it, which is one of the reasons why, like I'm
so open about here's here's my honest thought about this
particular sensitive topic, whatever it may be in the podcast and I'm sharing
and why I'm speaking publicly about it is I just wish we had more communication.
Even if you disagree with me, which is totally cool,
let's have a conversation
that I think would be really helpful and which is why,
like I've invited a lot of people on this podcast who have published
something that I have unpacked in one of these solo episodes,
it certainly can be tricky having these conversations,
especially because I don't know how what I'm saying is interpreted.
So anyways, I hope that these podcasts kind of help spark
some kind of a conversation, either internally with yourself
or with some colleagues that you have in your community.
I said a third strand that's on here is the culturally responsive
and inclusive school environments.
So this is all about recruiting, retaining and developing teachers
and then trying to find some resources that you can leverage to address
some of the issues that might be occurring in the schools that you're working with.
So, for example, finding some resources to challenge like the issues
that are going on with suspensions
and how certain demographics might be unfairly targeted
during those kind of suspensions or other punishments and whatnot.
The fourth strand that they identified
is on engaging students and parents in community contexts.
And so that's kind of self-explanatory, but it's specifically doing this
in a culturally relevant or appropriate way.
Now, if we think of each one of these
different strands, the four strands of critical self-awareness,
culturally responsive curricula and teacher preparation,
culturally responsive and inclusive school environments,
and engaging students and parents and community
contexts, these are all things that we as educators can do on our own.
All right.
So I'm pages 12 and 13.
Here's like a really good summary
of some behaviors of culturally responsive school educators.
What I'm going to do is I'm going
to read off the different category or strand that I previously mentioned,
and then I'm going to read the quotes from each one of the things that's in here.
And then I'm going to dive deeper into this in the remaining pages
of this particular paper, which I again, highly recommend you read.
All right.
So under the first strand of a leader who critically self-reflect,
here is what they mention.
So a leader is, quote,
committed to continuous learning of cultural knowledge and context,
displays a critical consciousness on practice in and out of school,
displays self-reflection, uses school data and indicates to measure seriously
uses parents and community voices to measure
culturally responsiveness in schools, challenges whiteness and hegemonic
epistemology in school, using equity audits to measure students inclusiveness,
policy and practice, leading with courage and is a transformative leader
for social justice and inclusion in quote right.
So here is the characteristics or behaviors of a leader who develops
culturally responsive teachers.
So this kind of leader engages in, quote, developing teacher capacities
for culturally responsive pedagogy, collaborative walkthroughs, creating
culturally responsive PD opportunities
for teachers, using school data to see cultural gaps in achievement,
discipline, enrichment and remedial services, creating a carousel team
that is charged with constantly finding new ways for teachers
to be culturally responsive, engaging, or reforming the school curriculum
to become more culturally responsive modeling culturally responsive teaching
and using culturally responsive assessment tools for students in quote,
Now a leader who promotes culture responsive, inclusive school
environments is a leader who engages in, quote, accepting and digitized
local identities, building relationships, reducing anxiety among students,
modeling CRC for students in building interactions,
promoting a vision for an inclusive instructional and behavioral practice.
If need be challenging exclusionary policies, teachers and behaviors
acknowledges values and uses indigenous cultural and social capital of students.
Uses student voice using school data to discover and track disparities
in academic and disciplinary trends, end quote.
And then finally, the fourth strand.
The leader who's engaging in this kind of behavior engages
students, parents in indigenous context, and they do it by developing
meaningful, positive relationships with community as a servant leader,
as public intellectual in other roles, finding overlapping spaces for school
and community,
serving as advocates and social activists for community based causes in
both the school
and neighborhood community uses the community as an informative space
for which to develop positive understanding of students and families.
Resist deficit in measures of student and families,
nurturing, caring for others, sharing information
and connecting directly with students, end quote.
I said that made that hard to hear and really kind of see that through a podcast.
So again, I highly recommend checking out this table and it's on PDF pages
that is on the author's Google Scholar
profiles, which you can find at here to leave AECOM in the show.
Note Okay, so let's dive deeper into this.
So critical self-reflection.
So here's a quote that is actually a quote from somebody else.
So this is from Dantley, but this is quoted on page 14.
What is psychology of critical self-reflection involves
the education leader coming to grips with his or her own identity
and juxtaposing that against the identity of the learning community.
In this process, an individual leader is recognizing
that she or he is a cultural being influenced
by multidimensional aspects of cultural identity, even as she or
he attempts to do the work of leadership in the literature.
Such leaders are urged
to examine their own biases and how they affect
their professional practices and quote.
So that's a wonderful practice that I think
educators can really engage in Now, include a link to this in the show notes.
But if you haven't read the eight standards for teachers that have come out,
I highly recommend check those out.
So one of the whole like things is to really focus on engaging
in self-reflection and in particular, I love that
this is not just reflecting on your own identity, but juxtaposing it
with the identities within the communities that you're working with.
I think that is a wonderful idea and it's something that we should all do
as educators.
One example that really stands out for me is like then the very first school
that I started teaching in when I taught general music, a band is
I had a kid who was talking about how when they go home they are going to play
this game that I was also playing and I was like, Wait a minute, you're
you're now elementary school.
That game is not appropriate for you.
And they said that they could do it
because their parents work three or four jobs every day.
And so they almost literally never see their parents.
So if I were to juxtapose my own childhood
with that of that particular student, it's very different
and it's something that I need to consider.
Oh, what worked for me is not necessarily
going to work for this particular student.
And if we expand that just beyond that single example,
it wouldn't necessarily work for the hundreds of students
that I was working with each week in that particular school. All right.
So there's a subsection in this self-reflection, and the subsection is on
internalized racism and the normalization of white Western epistemology.
And I've actually talked about this a decent amount
and some of the other podcast episodes.
So if you have listened,
listen to the Pedagogy of the Oppressed
episodes in particular, those kind of unpack the different epistemology
or ways of knowing or ways of being ontologies in relation
to like theologies which are the values or ways of valuing.
So I really recommend checking those out
to kind of hear me talk about this a little bit more.
But what they're basically saying is, Hey,
as educators, we really need to think about the ways
in which we might be unintentionally colonizing ways of knowing
or being in the communities that we are working in.
And in particular, it's often through white Western ways of being.
So I recommend actually going through and reading this
like two pages of information and then listening to the episodes
or even reading Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Palo Verde.
And again, I'll include links to these in the show notes.
All right.
So the next section is on developing culturally responsive school
teachers and curriculum.
So building off of what I just mentioned, the teachers in the school
and the pedagogy,
the use and the resources like the curriculum that they use,
will have a direct impact on the kinds of ways of knowing and being
are encouraged or supported in a classroom and which ones are not.
Now, what the authors recommend is that while some teachers may
come into the classroom having a better understanding of culturally responsive
and relevant and sustaining pedagogies, others will not.
It is really up to the principal or the leaders on campus
to help people get more comfortable engaging in these conversations
and learning more about this.
Now, as the see us educator, you might be a leader in the space
and you might if you're working like, let's say
with the CTE team at high school, which is career and technical education,
or if you just happen to be integrating us in your elementary class or wherever.
I highly recommend trying to find ways to get more comfortable
with conversations around difficult topics in relation to education.
And so hopefully these studies that are kind of summarized and synthesize
in here and the synthesis itself is useful to you with starting
and continuing those conversations even when they get difficult.
Sit with it.
I believe it is the interview that I did with Joyce McCall,
or maybe it was even the interview with Nikki Washington, which, by the way,
I highly recommend listening to both of us.
But at least one of them mentioned, Hey, when it gets uncomfortable,
don't leave the room.
Sit with that uncomfortable feeling and continue the conversation.
As difficult as it may be, do what you can
and put yourself out there and continue the conversation on difficult topics.
And the last subsection within this actually talks about culturally
responsive leadership preparation programs.
So if you are maybe a board member for CTA or on some kind of a leadership capacity
within computer science education,
or maybe you're even a professor in higher education, find ways to engage
in these conversations about being a leader in the spaces
in check out Pages
All right.
So the next strand promoting culturally responsive
and inclusive school environments.
So the authors argue that many of the publications they look at had leaders who
were advocating for the inclusion of traditionally marginalized students,
and that in order to do this, leaders needed to be critically self-aware
and knowledgeable of the racism and the histories of oppression
that were likely occurring
in the school itself and in the community, and how they could try and reduce
that racism and other forms of systemic oppression that might occur.
Now, the authors mentioned that the school leaders
also tended to have like positive psychology characteristic traits.
So for example, engaging in growth mindset or like grit, etc..
It was interesting reading this because I also happened to be reading
another publication for an upcoming interview,
and the author in that publication actually mentions that Growth and Grit
mindset might actually be detrimental in that it is encouraging people
to work within systems of oppression rather than challenging the systems
of oppression.
And I thought that was a really interesting point
and hopefully I'll be able to talk about
that more later with that particular interview.
So giving you a teaser for an interview
that probably won't come out for another month or two.
All right.
So the last strand of engaging students in Indigenous community context,
this is all about
creating a welcoming space for students that demonstrates that you care
not only about them and the communities that they're in,
but also what they're learning.
And from a leadership standpoint, there are many ways that you can do this.
So for example, on page 20 mentions that leaders can engage
in some of the following, quote, Time allocations were granted to teachers
to allow them time to visit homes and other community based locations.
Similarly, cultural artifacts, curricula, space for community members
and partnerships
and other resources
were all leveraged in ways that responded to student needs and to.
Those are some examples of how you can do that.
Now, the next subsection,
and this specifically talks about social and cultural capital of students.
I can talk about this much more in some of the other podcasts
that I already mentioned, like pedagogy, the Oppressed,
and even like the discussion with Joyce McCall.
So I really recommend listening to that.
Like Joyce is way more of an expert on that than I am.
And again, I include the link to that in the show notes.
All right. So the next section on page 21.
So this actually basically provides some vignettes
of culturally responsive leaders in different communities.
So they have a discussion on Latino families and strong family bonds,
ever a discussion on indigenous leadership practices that focuses on tradition.
They have a discussion on blacks and advocacy of community based issues
and then they have a discussion on leadership in the postcolonial context.
And they also have a discussion on going between
criticality and spirituality, prophetic traditions of leadership.
Those were basically the subsection titles
or the next few pages of those vignettes.
All right.
So then the paper concludes with just kind of a discussion
that kind of recaps what's going on and then says,
Hey, if you want to engage in this, you really need to find some ways
to overlap both the school and community spaces.
So if it's going to be culturally relevant and needs to have input from everybody,
we need to all be able to learn from each other.
Can't be one direction top down or anything like that. Right?
So that's kind of an overall summary of this particular article.
I hope it serves as a teaser to encourage you to want to actually read it,
which again you can find for free.
Now at the end of these unpacking scholarship episodes, I just like to
share some lingering questions or thoughts that I have.
So one of them is kind of a framing of In what ways are you a leader in
CSE education?
Even if you are not on a board for like 60 or you're not developing standards
for your state or something like that, how are you still providing a leadership
role, even if it's just with your students in computer science education?
Once you think about that in relation to your students, how are you
providing leadership role on your campus or in your school or in your organization?
And in what ways can you expand that reach?
So in asking a similar question with myself, that's how I ended up
eventually joining Costa's board in Arizona from the Treasurer.
At the time of his recording, he was simply getting to know people
and trying to figure out what are some other ways
that I could help impact the field.
I'll include a link to in the show note to learn more about this,
but I also recommend listening to the interview with Jason Bourne,
who talks about how to kind of join and become a leader in your local
state chapter.
Now, another question that I have is how might you develop or improve your own
culturally relevant or responsive or sustaining leadership style?
So Lianne mentioned that this article was helpful for kind of framing
some of the things that she's learning as a leader.
And we talked a little bit about that in the episode that released last week,
but this is just one of many articles that you could read on this particular topic.
And the final question that I have at this point
is what surprised you about the categories of leadership in this article?
Like, for example, what leadership approaches
were not mentioned that you thought might have been mentioned?
So what would you add
if you were writing your own remix of this particular article or extension?
I hope this podcast encourages you to continue to learn more
about these different practices
and then engage in discussions within the field on them.
As uncomfortable as they might be, they are worth it.
And if you ever want to engage in a discussion with myself on the podcast
or even just one on one, feel free to reach out.
There's a contact Me button on my website,
especially if you disagree with something that I said.
I'm happy to chat through that and then we can learn from each other.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode.
You enjoy this. I hope you consider sharing with somebody else.
Stay tuned next week for another episode and until then,
I hope you are staying safe and are having a wonderful week.
Article
Khalifa, M. A., Gooden, M. A., & Davis, J. E. (2016). Culturally Responsive School Leadership: A Synthesis of the Literature. Review of Educational Research, 86(4), 1272–1311.
Abstract
“Culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) has become important to research on culturally responsive education, reform, and social justice education. This comprehensive review provides a framework for the expanding body of literature that seeks to make not only teaching, but rather the entire school environment, responsive to the schooling needs of minoritized students. Based on the literature, we frame the discussion around clarifying strands—critical self-awareness, CRSL and teacher preparation, CRSL and school environments, and CRSL and community advocacy. We then outline specific CRSL behaviors that center inclusion, equity, advocacy, and social justice in school. Pulling from literature on leadership, social justice, culturally relevant schooling, and students/communities of color, we describe five specific expressions of CRSL found in unique communities. Finally, we reflect on the continued promise and implications of CRSL.”
Author Keywords
Antiracist, antioppressive, community-based leadership, culturally responsive education, Indigenous leadership, school leadership, social justice
My One Sentence Summary
This article summarizes and synthesizes literature on culturally responsive school leadership as it relates to principals in urban schools.
Some Of My Lingering Questions/Thoughts
In what ways are you a leader in CS education?
How might you develop or improve your own culturally responsive leadership style?
What surprised you about the categories of leadership in this article?
Resources/Links Relevant to This Episode
Podcasts relevant to this particular episode
Lessons Learned From CSTA Chapters Across the United States with Jason Bohrer
In this interview with Jason Bohrer, we discuss lessons learned coming into computer science education from another subject area, lessons learned working with CSTA chapters across the country (and during a pandemic), how CSTA has impacted the field and continues to evolve over time, how Jason continued to learn about CS without getting burned out, considering equity and inclusion when recruiting for CS education, CSTA’s new CS Teacher Standards, and much more.
Nicki Washington is Unapologetically Dope
In this interview with Nicki Washington, we discuss the importance of cultural competency, expanding beyond “diversity” by focusing on creating inclusive and equitable environments, learning from people and scholarship outside of the field, lessons learned working with CS educators across the country, lessons learned while teaching during a pandemic, focusing on the humanity in computer science education, and much more. If you haven’t listened to it yet, check out the unpacking scholarship episode that unpacks one of Nicki’s papers.
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
This episode is the start of a miniseries that unpacks Paulo Freire’s (1970) book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” This particular episode unpacks chapter 1, which discusses how oppressors maintain control over the oppressed. Following unpacking scholarship episodes discuss what this looks like in education and how educators can adopt a “pedagogy of the oppressed” to break cycles of oppression.
This episode is episode two of a miniseries that unpacks Paulo Freire’s (1970) book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” This particular episode unpacks chapter 2, which discusses the “banking” approach to education that assumes students are repositories of information, and then proposes a liberatory approach to education that focuses on posing problems that students and teachers collaboratively solve. If you haven’t listened to the discussion on the first chapter, click here.
This episode is episode three of a miniseries that unpacks Paulo Freire’s (1970) book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” This particular episode unpacks chapter 3, which discusses the importance of dialogue when engaging in liberatory practices. This episode builds off the previous unpacking scholarship episodes on chapter one and chapter two, so make sure you listen to those episodes before jumping in here.
This episode is the final episode of a miniseries that unpacks Paulo Freire’s (1970) book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” This particular episode unpacks chapter 4, which synthesizes the concepts introduced in the previous chapters and discusses the difference between anti-dialogical and dialogical practices in education (and at large). This episode builds off the previous unpacking scholarship episodes on chapter one, chapter two, and chapter three so make sure you listen to those episodes before jumping in here.
The Computer Science Teacher Landscape: Results of a Nationwide Teacher Survey
In this episode I unpack Koshy, Martin, Hinton, Scott, Twarek, and Davis’ (2021) publication titled “The Computer Science Teacher Landscape: Results of a Nationwide Teacher Survey,” which report provides recommendations for the field based on a summary of findings on teacher demographics, current challenges for CS educators, and the state of cultural relevance in CS education.
The Shire as Metaphor for Systemic Racism with Joyce McCall
In this interview with Joyce McCall, we unpack and problematize some of the issues around race and racism in relation to education. In particular, we discuss the importance of allies not only showing up to support marginalized or oppressed groups, but staying when conversations get uncomfortable; the Shire from the Lord of the Rings as a metaphor for hegemony and systemic racism; as well as a variety of theories such as critical race theory, double consciousness, cultural capital; and much more.
Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
In this episode I unpack Ladson-Billings’ (1995) seminal publication titled “Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy,” which influenced much of the discourse around culturally relevant pedagogy in computer science education.
Unpacking Systems for CSforALL with Leigh Ann DeLyser
In this interview with Leigh Ann DeLyser, we discuss the purpose of CSforALL, considerations for leading people with different visions for (or interests in) CS education, the evolution and future direction of CS education, positive and negative corporate influence on education, thinking through equity from a systems perspective, and much more.
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