Abstract
Women continue to be underrepresented as P-12 school administrators, and this marginalization is more conspicuous in Appalachian Kentucky public schools. This chapter presents a review of extant scholarship on the intersectionality of the focus population as women, educational leaders, and residents of Appalachia Kentucky. The critical consciousness of administrators was examined in both male and female participants. Personal and school predictor variables served as additional variables in the prediction model to better understand the context of the participants. Comparisons of means and multiple regression analysis were utilized to potentially create predictive equation of social justice leadership propensity of school administrators and to determine differences between gender and if personal and school predictor variables had any effect on the critical consciousness of the sample. This chapter reveals the importance of context, intersectionality, and need for more inclusive quantitative instruments for the study of social justice leadership.
TopIntroduction
Legislative measures have been enacted to address the continued achievement gaps within schools in the United States. Nevertheless, socioeconomic disparities among students continue to be a significant signifier of academic achievement gaps in the United States (Darling-Hammond, 2007; Valant & Newark, 2016). Since the Great Recession of 2008, rural communities experience higher rates of childhood poverty than urban communities (Mette et al., 2016). The Appalachian region has a poverty rate of 16.3% compared to the national average of 14.6% (Appalachian Regional Commission, 2019c) and 80 of 420 counties in Appalachia are economically distressed according to the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC, 2020b) with the majority of these being in Central Appalachia (Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee). In the Central Appalachian states of Kentucky and West Virginia 1 in every 10 children live below 50% of the poverty line (Wright, Cunningham, & Stangle 2016). Additionally, minority students in Appalachia are classified as a gap population (Wright et al., 2016) and the minority population in the region continues to grow (Appalachian Regional Commission, 2019a) translating to potential growth in minorities within Appalachian school districts.
Educational researchers posit that social justice leadership practices can help close achievement gaps in schools (Bertrand & Rodela, 2018; Donker, 2013; Santamaría, & Jean-Marie, 2014). Social justice leaders are critically conscious of the lived experiences of those that are often disregarded by systems of power (Martinez, 2015; Miller & Martin, 2015). The awareness of the condition of students among educational leaders promote pedagogical practices Understanding the specific needs of the students under their care, educational leaders can promote pedagogical practices and advocacy that address the needs of students, ultimately leading to the development and attainment of all students (Feng & Chen, 2018; Hernandez & Marshall, 2017; Wang, 2018).
Numerous research studies have concluded that women educational leaders are likely to exhibit socially just leadership behaviors (Arar, 2018; Boske, 2014b; Grogan & Shakeshaft, 2011). Not only do women tend to lead in socially just ways, but they are also often marginalized through lack of representation in educational leadership positions (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2018; Grogan & Shakeshaft, 2011). This marginalization is also further perpetuated through social, cultural, and familial expectations of women that are often not extended to men (Bierema, 2016; Ispa-Landa & Thomas, 2019). Appalachia, as a socially conservative area where family values are often tied to long-held beliefs in the roles of men and women in households (Latimer & Oberhauser, 2004; Walker, 2009; Wilkerson, 2019), creates a context in which the voices of female leaders can offer valuable insights into social justice leadership research.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Poverty: In the United States of America, the poverty threshold is set by the U.S. Census Bureau (USCB) (2019; see Figure 2 ). Any person(s) who have income less than this rate is considered impoverished.
Sociopolitical: Sociopolitical factors that are a mixture of social and political that can affect a community. Specific to this study, these include items such as educational policy, standards, and standardized curriculum at the state or national level, neo-liberal emphasis on school improvement, and any law or mandate of governance ( Zhang et al., 2018 ).
Instructional Leadership: According to Grogan and Shakeshaft (2011) , instructional leadership is leadership for learning. It is defined by the priority of student learning in all decisions, providing professional development for educators to increase their teaching proficiency, and creating a structure within schools that promotes student learning above all else.
Sociocultural: Sociocultural factors that are socially constructed or culturally emphasized within a particular community or even nationally. These include factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and other characteristics (Ryan & Katz, 2007 AU86: The in-text citation "Ryan & Katz, 2007" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).
Marginalization/Oppression: Sensoy and DiAngelo (2017) define oppression as “a set of policies, practices, traditions, norms, definitions, and explanations (discourses), which function to systematically exploit one social group to the benefit of another social group” (p. 61).
Social Justice Leadership: Social Justice Leadership is a practice of leadership that promotes equity of rights, opportunities, access, participation, voice, and recognition within organization for all participants ( Feng & Chen, 2018 ; Jayavant, 2016 ), the recognition of structures within and without of an organization that causes marginalization ( Bertrand & Rodela, 2018 ) and to actively demolish structures and policies that may cause oppression within an organization ( Miller & Martin, 2015 ; Zembylas & Iasonos, 2017 ).
Intersectionality: Intersectionality is a concept developed by Crenshaw (1991) which espouses the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group (National Conference for Community and Justice, 2021 AU84: The in-text citation "Community and Justice, 2021" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).
Economically Distressed: For counties, the status of economically distressed is based on low per capita income and high rates of poverty and unemployment ( ARC, 2020b ).
Rural: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, rural areas are those areas that are not urban. Their definition of urban involves two categories: Urbanized areas which have more than 50,000 residents and Urban Clusters, which ranges from 2,500 to 50,000 residents, thus rural areas are those with fewer than 2,500 people (USCB, 2017 AU85: The in-text citation "USCB, 2017" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).