This study harnessed the power of testimonio as a methodological approach and method, along with applied critical leadership as a framework to answer the following questions: What were defining aspects of the leadership journeys of four Latina assistant principals that enabled them to get to and thrive in their positions? How did their cultural…

The Listening Guide method was founded in opposition to other forms of interview coding which either put data into predetermined and/or binary categories. Feminist psychologists believed that other methods of qualitative research disappeared the undertheorized portions of subjects' narratives. This method does not seek to only hear voices of queer…

The rallying, clarion call to #SayHerName has prompted the United States to intentionally include the lives, voices, struggles, and contributions of Black women and countless others of her ilk who have suffered and strived in the midst of anti-Black racism. To advance a leadership framework that is rooted in the historicity of brilliance embodied…

There is fertile ground to expand the ideas of resilience and growth as two important skills in leadership (Bell, 2009). Little research has examined how trauma and violence are reappropriated in post-trauma contexts. In fact, resiliency and adaptive strategies often influence life and career choices (Wolin & Wolin, 1993). Although this…

This critical in-depth interview study examined four Black women principals' perceptions, descriptions, and enactments of school leadership as it relates to their intersectional identities as being both Black and women. The tenets of Black feminist epistemology and the theory of intersectionality form the conceptual framework of this study.…

This article situates the counternarrative of three African American female school principals and their leadership practices toward equity using a critical race theory framework (CRT). The data come from a larger exploratory study that addressed the understanding of the so-called achievement gap by school leaders. Four prevalent themes emerged…

Empirical studies indicate family concerns as a primary reasons why promising principals and central office administrators do not aspire to the superintendency (O'Connell, Brown, Guptil, Stosberg, & O'Connell, 2001; Volp & Rogers, 2004). Hesitancy to apply for superintendent positions is further complicated by the fact that the…

Based on qualitative analysis from 22 semistructured interviews, this article explores how Black women principals and assistant principals experience educational administration, with attention to issues of race at work in suburban school settings. Findings suggest that because they may be perceived as race tokens by White educators, Black women…

In this study, the role that racial identity plays among Latina school principals is examined through a case study of a principal in a K-3 elementary school. Based on a Latina/o critical race framework and a phenomenological research approach, the study explores the degree to which having a strong understanding of one's racial identity formation…

The purpose of this article is to share the findings from a 2-year ethnography that examined female practitioners' experiences in the field. The article describes the intentions, discourses, actions, and repercussions of female administrators and teachers working to accomplish social justice for racial/ethnic minority girls from challenging…

This qualitative study elucidated differences and commonalities among eight practicing women secondary leaders from different ethnic backgrounds. Its purpose was to add to the existing body of knowledge on women leaders in general and to contribute to the dearth of research on minority women leaders and women in the secondary leadership role in…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of teachers and supervisors toward the principal leadership behaviors of female secondary principals in Ohio. Principal self-perceptions were also included to complete the study. The literature shows that women continue to be underrepresented in a field in which the majority of…

This article reports the two-year tenure of a woman superintendent in a small southern city. Placed against the background of local community politics and school district politics it shows that women in the superintendency still face issues of gender stereotyping that influence the way they are perceived as leaders of school systems. A feminist…

Risk-taking is a critical leadership factor neglected in educational literature. A four-year national study explored risk-taking in the narratives of 12 women superintendents. These women had life circumstances (community and challenge) and personal characteristics (courage and curiosity) that helped them relax and take risks. (60 references) (MLH)

Examines dissertation research about women in K-12 educational administration, profiling dissertations completed between 1957 and 1989 according to purpose, subjects, and research findings. This literature review discloses a need to investigate how prospective women administrators may be identified and supported when hired. (MLH)