Abstract
California school districts are now mandated by Assembly Bill 101 to implement Ethnic Studies courses for high school students as a graduation requirement. School administrators are responsible for guiding implementation and providing resources toward these efforts. Without support from these key decision-makers, the implementation of Ethnic Studies courses will look and feel different across the state. This research explores the degree and quality of how school and district administrators understand Ethnic Studies content and pedagogy. It also critically examines the leadership skills and attributes that school administrators need to demonstrate to support implementing principled Ethnic Studies.
Eight school leaders attended a series of professional development sessions facilitated by Ethnic Studies experts, which included the recommended components for preparing Ethnic Studies teachers: racial identity development, critical consciousness development, and youth-centered concepts (Ladson-Billings, 2014; Sleeter, 2017; Tintiangco-Cubales et al., 2015).
This study affirmed the recommendations and surfaced new findings. From the findings of this study a new framework emerged: Ethnic Studies Leadership Praxis. Ethnic Studies Leadership Praxis encapsulates the type of leadership and actions needed to create conditions for principled Ethnic Studies.
Recommendations were made for school leaders with Ethnic Studies programs to engage in Leadership Participatory Action Research (LPAR) with their communities to surface local needs toward self-determination. This study also provides guidance for Ethnic Studies professional development for school leaders, as well as practices and policies at the state, university, county office and school district levels.