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CEDER 2023
Las Voces Nuevas: Emerging Scholarship on Latinas and Womxn of Color in Leadership
Martinez and Mendez-Morse (2021) have noted that “numerous research studies on Latina educational leaders remain virtually hidden in dissertations rather than in the realm of publications in learned journals or academic books” (p. xii). Their recent collection of scholarship fills a void illuminating Latinas in leadership (Martinez & Mendez-Morse, 2021). This volume sought to be inclusive of a diverse group of Latina leaders in P-12 across the United States, as well as abroad.
Without question, the need to highlight and further elevate Latina leadership is dire. Latina/o students need support, representation, and role models to aid their achievement in schools. According to the US Census Bureau (2021), the Latina/o or Hispanic population shares have risen to 18.7%. In fact, young Latinos increased by 45% since the 2000 census (Hernandez & Murakami, 2016). Demographic parity among teachers has not followed. Just 15% of state-funded teachers and six percent of state-funded school leaders are Latinos, in contrast to 82% of white educators nationally (Hernandez & Murakami, 2016). Furthermore, representation of Latinas in principal and superintendent positions across the country are comparably limited. Only eight percent of teachers and seven percent of school principals were Latina/o in 2013 (Bitterman et al., 2013; Goldring et al., 2013). Similarly, there is a dearth in Latina/o higher education administration (Sánchez, Salazar, & Guerra, 2020).
Despite some gains in female representation in the top leadership role generally, within the school superintendency, disparity still exists (Allred, et al, 2017). Teachers are predominantly female (Elafify, 2017); however, fewer than 20% of women hold superintendent positions (Duwe & Mendez Morse, 2010). Women of color are less represented, according to Sampson and Gresham (2017), who reported women superintendents’ ethnicities as follows: 91.5% Caucasian, 5.1 % African American, 1.3 % Latino, 0.7% Native American, and 0.7% other.
Therefore, building on the need for Latina leadership and seeking to highlight the successful experiences and stories of current Latina leaders in order to enhance the scant extant literature on their leadership, this proposed Consortium for Educational Development, Evaluation and Research (CEDER) volume has been inspired by the body of dissertation scholarship that has emerged from a group of Latina leaders who are current or recent graduates of the doctoral program in Educational Leadership. These studies are based on numerous pláticas with (Guajardo & Guajardo, 2013) and testimonios of (Beverly, 2005) of Latina leaders from South Texas, as well as several studies specifically from the geographic border region of Texas and Mexico. This scholarship that has moved us to initiate this call has also been predominantly authored by Latinas who live, work, and lead in public schools serving majority Latina/o students living in poverty. Clearly, we have been not only inspired by our students, but even more so, we are incredibly honored to call them our colleagues, as we have felt their struggles and heard their pain as they lead in their current roles, while also aspiring to ascend to the roles for which they have prepared but oft been excluded.
As a designated Hispanic-serving institution, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi invites manuscripts seeking to highlight las voces nuevas in Latina leadership in P-20 settings. We have erred too long in collectively marginalizing these leadership voices. We are overdue in welcoming and embracing the insight, passions and perspectives of Latina leaders, which must be now laid bare on the landscape of this critical transformative period in education.
References
Allred, P., Maxwell, G., & Skrla, L. (2017). What women know: Perceptions of seven female superintendents. Advancing Women in Leadership Journal, 37, 1-11.
Beverly, J. (2005). Testimonio, subalternity, and narrative authority. In Denzin, N. K., Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (pp. 547-557). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Bitterman, A., Gray, L., & Goldring, R. (2013). Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Schools in the United States: Results from the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey. First Look. NCES 2013-312. National Center for Education Statistics.
Duwe, K., & Mendez Morse, S. E. (2010). Women’s aspiration to the superintendency: A change of heart. Paper presented at the University Council for Education Administration Convention.
Elafify, R. (2017). Mentorship programs: A comparative study on mentoring novice teachers.
Goldring, R., Gray, L., & Bitterman, A. (2013). Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary and Secondary School Teachers in the United States: Results from the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey. First Look. NCES 2013-314. National Center for Education Statistics.
Guajardo, F., & Guajardo, M. (2013). The power of plática. Reflections, 13(1), 159-164.
Hernandez, F., & Murakami, E. (2016). Counterstories about Leadership: A Latina School
Principal's Experience from a Less Documented View in an Urban School Context. Education Sciences., 6(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci6010006
Hernandez, F., Murakami, E. T., & Cerecer, P. Q. (2014). A Latina Principal Leading for Social Justice: Influences of Racial and Gender Identity. Journal of School Leadership, 24(4), 568–598. https://doi.org/10.1177/105268461402400401
Martinez, M. A., Méndez-Morse Sylvia. (2021). In Latinas leading schools (pp. xi-xxiv). Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Kanter, R. M. (1975). Women and the structure of organizations., 34-74.
Sampson, P. M., & Davenport, M. (2010). The current women superintendents in Texas: Still in the minority. Journal of Women in Educational Leadership, 8(3), 143-158. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1 011&context=jwel
Sánchez, B., Salazar, C., & Guerra, J. (2020). “I feel like I have to be the whitest version of myself”: Experiences of early career Latina higher education administrators. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.