1. Greetings LSJ Members! AERA is quickly
approaching and the end of the spring semester
is just around the corner. For those of you who
will be in San Francisco for AERA, I hope you'll
join us for the LSJ Business Meeting on Sunday,
April 28th from 6:15p.m. until 7:45p.m. in the
Hilton Continental 8. We had over 30 people
attend our business meeting at UCEA and I hope
to see even more faces at AERA. We have a
packed agenda full of the recognition of
outstanding individuals and the sharing of
exciting ideas for the advancement of our LSJ
work.
We will also have a Coffee Talk Session prior to
our business meeting from 5:45-6:15. This is an
opportunity for graduate students to meet and
get to know an LSJ scholar. These informal
meetings are intended to allow for exchange of
thoughts and ideas along with stimulating
discussion. No previous registration is required!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank
Noelle Witherspoon Arnold for her service as our
Secretary/Treasurer for the past two years and
Katherine Mansfield for her service as our
Program Chair for AERA for the past two years.
They have both been phenomenal leaders who
have worked tirelessly to keep LSJ functioning
smoothly. In turn, I would like to welcome Frank
Hernandez as our new Secretary/Treasurer and
Hollie Mackey as our new Program Chair. They
will serve in these positions through AERA 2015.
Joanne Marshall will continue to serve as
Communications Chair and I will continue to
serve as Chair through AERA 2014.
Thanks to those of you who served on the
Nominating Committee for 2012-2013. Your work
was vital to identifying a new slate of candidates
for open leadership positions. And, I'd like to
extend a special thank you to those of you who
served on the Awards Committee for 2012-2013
under Sharon Radd's leadership. We had a
number of nominations for the LSJ awards!
Congratulations to: Ann Ishimaru, the recipient
of the LSJ Dissertation Award; Shelley Zion, the
recipient of the LSJ Teaching Award; and to
Anthony Normore, the recipient of the Bridge
Award. Please join us for the recognition of these
award winners at our business meeting at AERA!
We need to take the time to pat one another on
A Message From The Chair…
ISSUE VI, SPRING 2013
the back for the good work that we're doing to
promote socially just leadership.
At our business meeting in Denver at UCEA,
members indicated greatest interest in the
following Taskforce Committees: Research and
Writing Projects; Teaching for Social Justice; and
International Partnerships. The membership also
expressed the desire to continue to focus on
social justice through the lenses of gender, race,
intersectionalities, and poverty through these
taskforces. I'd like for us to spend time in these
Taskforces during our business meeting at AERA
to develop agendas for working toward at least
one deliverable to share at our fall meeting at
UCEA. I'd also like for us to spend some time
thinking about ways to partner with the UCEA
Center for Educational Leadership and Social
Justice. Please come to the meeting prepared to
share your ideas (i.e. white/policy papers, blogs,
ideas for new online journals...a website that
includes social justice teaching strategies, links to
syllabi, a directory of LSJ members, links to LSJ
book series and journal special issues, etc.)! Our
meetings provide space for you to get involved
and take action for leadership for social justice.
This is your chance to get to know other LSJ
members and to form partnerships that can
advance your career and impact change for social
justice. Please join us for the business meeting
and share your voice!
Have a wonderful spring and summer! I hope to
see many of you in San Francisco for AERA 2013
and Indiana for UCEA 2013. Safe travels!
--Whitney Sherman Newcomb
AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL
RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
LSJ SIG MISSION
To promote social justice
teaching, research,
service, and policymaking
agendas, with the
corollary aim of seeking to
proactively improve
educational leadership as
a means of addressing
equity concerns for
underrepresented
populations throughout P-
20 education; also to share
innovative, promising, and
research-based programs,
policies, and teaching
strategies and proactively
advocate on behalf of
underrepresented
populations in educational
leadership.
THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER
1 Message from the Chair
2 AERA 2013 Program
4 2013 LSJ Awards
4 A Word from the Secretary
5 UCEA 2012 Photos
6 Recent Publications
7 A Word from the Graduate
Student Committee
8 Recognitions
9 Learning to Speak from the
Trenches: High School
Students as Scholars, Activists,
and Leaders for Social Justice
LSJ Chair
Virginia Commonwealth University
whsherman@vcu.edu
Inside This Issue

2. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER, ISSUE VI PAGE 2
We have put together an exciting program
this year! Please, support our wonderful
scholars by attending the variety of
roundtables, paper sessions, and symposia
listed below. Also, please don’t forget to
attend our business meeting!
SATURDAY, APRIL 27
ROUNDTABLE SESSION
Social Justice Matters: Challenges and
Responses to Institutional Action and
Social Change
2:15 – 3:45 pm
Sir Francis Drake, Second Level – Empire
Chair: Aurora Chang, University of Wyoming
Using Critical Theory in Examining Obstacles
to Creating a College-Going Culture:
Perspectives of Urban Leaders
Eugene Fujimoto, California State University
– Fullerton
Yvonne Garcia, California State University,
Fullerton
Alisia Kirkwood, California State University,
Fullerton
Eduardo Perez, California State University,
Fullerton
Narratives of Privilege in Public Discussions
of an Equity Reform Effort: A Case Study
Terry M. Pollack, Mills College
Sabrina Zirkel, Mills College
Discovering the Other and Rewriting
Personal Autobiographies: What Happens
when Traditional College Students and
Prison Inmates Study Together?
Tabitha Dell'Angelo, The College of New
Jersey
Social Justice Leadership: How do
Elementary, Middle School, and High School
Principals view it?
Catherine M. Miller, Raytown Public Schools
Barbara Nell Martin, University of Central
Missouri
Educational Leadership as a Public
Pedagogy for Social Justice Praxis
Patrick M. Jenlink, Stephen F. Austin State
University
Karen Embry-Jenlink, Stephen F. Austin
State University
Culturally Responsive School Leadership
Therese Ford, University of Waikato
Leadership for Social Justice SIG Business
Meeting
6:15 – 7:45
Hilton Union Square, Ballroom Level -
Continental 8
Participants:
Whitney Sherman Newcomb, Virginia
Commonwealth University (President)
Noelle Arnold, University of Missouri-
Columbia (Secretary-Treasurer)
Joanne Marshall, Iowa State University
(Communication Chair)
Katherine Cumings Mansfield, Virginia
Commonwealth University (Program Chair)
MONDAY, APRIL 29
ROUNDTABLE SESSION
The Importance of Social Justice Oriented
Professional Development
8:15 – 9:45 am
Sir Francis Drake, Second Level – Empire
Chair: Madeline M. Hafner, UW-Madison
Just because you got the finisher t-shirt,
does not mean your work is done: The need
for continuous differentiated social justice
professional development
Tara Lynn Affolter, Middlebury College
Deborah Ann Hoffman, Madison
Metropolitan School District
Leading site-based education development
as praxis-oriented practice
Jane Wilkinson, Charles Sturt University
Christine Edwards-Groves, Charles Sturt
University
AERA 2013 Program
SUNDAY, APRIL 28
ROUNDTABLE SESSION
Children of Immigrants and the Need for
Global Social Justice Leadership
2:15pm - 3:45pm
Hilton Union Square, Sixth Level - Tower 3
Powell
Chair: Reva Joshee, OISE, University of
Toronto
Experiences of Undocumented Immigrants
in US Public Schools
Kaetlyn Lad, Saint Mary's College of
California
Desiree Braganza, Saint Mary's College of
California
Dream Act Students' Challenges and
Opportunities for Institutional Action
Maricela Oliva, The University of Texas - San
Antonio
Leadership for Social Change: Children of
Labor Migrants in Israel
Devorah Eden, Western Galilee College
PAPER SESSION
Just What is “Leadership for Social Justice”
Anyway?
4:05 pm – 6:05 pm
Hilton Union Square, Fourth Level - Tower 3
Union Square 3 and 4
Chair: Erin Atwood, Independent
Consultant
Discussant: Sonya Douglass Horsford, UNLV
Values and Motivations Common in Social
Justice Leadership
Katie Higginbottom, University of Toronto -
OISE
Stephanie Diane Tuters, OISE/University of
Toronto
Actions Most Characteristic of Social Justice
Behavior in Education Settings: Results of a
Prototype Analysis
Rodney K. Goodyear, University of Redlands
Janee Brooke Both Gragg, University of
Redlands
Philip S. Mirci, University of Redlands
Ronald D. Morgan, University of Redlands
Katherine Cumings Mansfield

3. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER, ISSUE VI PAGE 3
Exploring the Impact of Cultural
Proficiency Training for Central Office
Leaders
Daniel D. Spikes, The University of Texas
– Austin
Mark A. Gooden, The University of
Texas – Austin
Joshua Childs, University of Pittsburgh
ROUNDTABLE SESSION
The Role of Identity and Spirituality in
Educational Leadership
2:45 – 4:15 pm
Sir Francis Drake, Second Level - Empire
Chair: Lauri Johnson, Boston College
Negotiating leadership, love and
protocol: Learning from Latina/o
principals during their first years on the
job
Lauren M. Anderson, University of
Southern California
Diane Mendoza, University of Southern
California
Embracing Spirituality: African American
Women Leaders Pushing the Evolution
of Leadership Practice in Schools
Whitney Sherman Newcomb, Virginia
Commonwealth University
Irrekka Khan, VCU
Counter Story of An African American
Superintendent
Ardella Dailey, Cal State U-East Bay
TUESDAY, APRIL 30
SYMPOSIUM
What Every Principal Needs to Know
about Literacy, Science, Special
Education and Mathematics:
Instructional Leadership for Equitable
and Excellent Schools
8:00 – 9:30 am
Hilton Union Square, Fourth Level -
Tower 3 Union Square 1 and 2
Session Organizer: Discussant: Jeffrey S.
Brooks, Iowa State University
Chair: George Theoharis, Syracuse
University
Discussant: Jeffrey S. Brooks, Iowa State
University
What School Leaders Need to Know
about Literacy
Kathleen A. Hinchman, Syracuse
University (Author)
Virginia Goatley, University at Albany -
SUNY (Author)
Creating Effective School Leaders for
21st-Century Science
Sherry A. Southerland, Florida State
University
Victor Dale Sampson, Florida State
University
Leadership for Inclusive Education: What
Every Principal Needs to Know
Julie N. Causton-Theoharis, Syracuse
University
Christi R. Kasa-Hendrickson, University
of Colorado - Colorado Springs
Beyond the Achievement Gap: What It
Takes to Become an Effective Leader in
Mathematics for Marginalized Youth
Rochelle Gutierrez, University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign
PAPER SESSION
Title: Problematizing Conceptions of
Poverty and Capacity
12:10 – 1:40 pm
Hilton Union Square, Fourth Level -
Tower 3 Union Square 1 and 2
Chair: Lorri Michelle Johnson
Santamaria, The University of Auckland
Discussant: Muhammad Khalifa,
Michigan State University
Transformative Dialogue: An alternative
to the work of Ruby Payne
Jason Swanson, University of Illinois
Dialogue as an Educational Leadership
Strategy for Impoverished Contexts
Carolyn M. Shields, Wayne State
University
Is Poverty the Wrong Question?
Julie M McCann, Oregon State
University
Edith A. Rusch, University of Nevada -
Las Vegas
Building schools, building communities:
Leading praxis through school capacity
and community building in a rural
setting
Jane Wilkinson, Charles Sturt University
Laurette Maria Stacy Bristol, Charles
Sturt University
SYMPOSIUM
Risking Standing Out: Principals’
Perceptions and Advocacy of LGBTQ
Students
2:00 – 3:30 pm
Hilton Union Square, Fourth Level -
Tower 3 Union Square 1 and 2
Session Organizer: Rhonda McClellan,
University of Central Arkansas
Chair: Adrienne E. Hyle, The University
of Texas - Arlington
Discussant: George Theoharis, Syracuse
University
Rural Arkansas High School Principals’
Perceptions: Resistance to Social Justice
Shelly Lynn Albritton, University of
Central Arkansas
Stephanie Huffman, University of
Central Arkansas
‘Calling Attention to Themselves’:
Resistance of Principals in Texas
Holly Bishop, University of Texas at
Arlington
Rural New Mexico High School
Principals’ Perceptions of Social Justice
regarding LGBTQ Students
Dana E. Christman, New Mexico State
University
Crossing state lines: Synthesizing
Principals’ Perspectives of LGBTQ
Students Edit Paper Rhonda McClellan,
University of Central Arkansas

4. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER, ISSUE VI PAGE 4
The Leadership for Social Justice SIG established three awards in 2009 in order to recognize
individuals whose work advances the understanding and practice of social justice in school
leadership. This year, the Awards Committee consisted of Marilynn Bartlett, John Burkhardt,
Madeline Hafner, Noni Reis, Sharon Radd (Chair), Ricardo Rosa, and Victoria Showunmi.
We will honor the 2013 Award Recipients at the LSJ-SIG Business Meeting at AERA. This year’s
awardees are as follows:
The Social Justice Teaching Award in Educational Leadership for outstanding social justice teaching
by a professor or instructor in the field of educational leadership will be presented to Shelley Zion
of the University of Colorado-Denver.
The Social Justice Dissertation Award will be awarded to Ann Ishimara, who completed her
dissertation at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2011. This award recognizes an
exceptional dissertation that expands our knowledge of the complexity of social justice issues.
Finally, the Bridge People Award recognizes individuals or groups whose work “creates a bridge
between themselves and others” through scholarship and research. Anthony Normore of California
Lutheran University is the recipient of 2013 Bridge People Award.
We hope you will join us on Sunday, April 28 at 6:15 pm in Continental 8 of the Hilton Union Square
to honor these outstanding individuals whose work informs our teaching, practice, and scholarship.
I have been trying to think of something profound to say for my last message to all of you, but I
decided to speak from the heart. I want to say “thank you.” Thank you for selecting me for
Secretary/Treasurer and trusting me with this important task. For those of us who do social justice
research and advocacy, it can often feel like we aren’t doing enough. However, over the past 2
years, it has been such a joy to feel like I am contributing in making a change through serving this
important organization. While creating reports, agendas and menus to keeping up with budget and
membership may seem tedious to some, I sincerely say I never felt that way. It has been so
rewarding to be a steward in this way to serve the social justice community.
These past few years of working with all of you have also reaffirmed my commitment to maintaining
just relations in ALL I do and not just in my scholarship and service. I realize that even though many
of us do not take a public role in advocacy and social justice; there are many of us quietly pursuing
these paths every day. I am proud to know ALL of you and value both public and private justice
work.
Congratulations to Frank Hernandez on taking the mantle of Secretary/Treasurer for the next two
years. You are known for your commitment to social justice and the organization is in great hands. I
look forward to assisting you as a member and promoter of the SIG.
I would like to leave you with two of my favorite quotes. I hope they resonate with you as they did
me and energize your own pursuits of justice as it did mine:
I think one of the biggest failures of the pacifistic witness is when we don't practice
nonviolence in our personal relations. I spend most of my time thinking about violence in
my personal relations, how I treat people--my family, people at work, people at church,
people in the line at the store…My practice of nonviolence isn't heroic in scale. I practice a
little pacifism, a small pacifism. I try not to be a jerk. -Richard Beck
If one does not practice nonviolence in one's personal relations with others and hopes to
use it in bigger affairs, one is vastly mistaken. –Mahatma Gandhi
A Word from the Secretary/Treasurer
LSJ Awards Announcement
Sharon Radd
Noelle Arnold

5. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER, ISSUE VI PAGE 5
UCEA 2012 Photos
Tyson Marsh, Camille Wilson and Daniel D. Liou
With Michelle Collay, Kristin Huggins and Rosa Rivera-
McCutchen
Martin Scanlan and Leslie Hazle Bussey
With Whitney Sherman Newcomb.

6. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER, ISSUE VI PAGE 6
Recent Publications from Members
(a non-exhaustive list)
DVD/Discussion Guide
from Lee Anne Bell, professor of education and the Barbara Silver Horowitz Director of Education at Barnard
College, Columbia University.
40 Years Later: Now Can We Talk? is a documentary film which contrasts memories of desegregation related by
African Americans in the first class to integrate their high school in the Mississippi Delta in 1967-69 with
memories of white peers from the same class, 40 years after graduation. The film will be screened as part of the
AERA film festival on Saturday April 27, 2:15 to 3:45 in the Hilton Union Square. The DVD/Discussion Guide will
be available at the Teachers College Press booth at AERA.
Books
Sanzo, K., Myran, S., & Normore, A.H. (December, 2012). Successful school leadership preparation and
development, Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. This book will feature lessons
learned about the successful implementation of leadership program preparation and development
programs that are grant-funded by the United States Department of Education through the School
Leadership Program. Each chapter will highlight one or more practices that have been identified as a best
practice by the literature and detail how the program implemented the practice(s). It is clear from the
literature what should be done to prepare aspiring and current leaders (i.e. mentoring, in-depth
internships, partnerships) but what is not clear is how to do this. This book will do exactly that with real-life
experiences in the implementation of these practices (including successes, challenges, etc.). These will be
authentic examples from the field about how practitioners have addressed challenges in implemented
successful activities such as coaching, the internship, evaluating projects, and forging partnerships with
preparation entities.
Principal 2.0: Technology and Educational Leadership, edited by Matthew Militello (North Carolina State
University) and Jennifer Friend (University of Missouri-Kansas City), was released in April 2013 in hardcover
and paperback by Information Age Publishing. The book will be available as an eBook in June 2013 via
Google, Apple, as well as over 25 other online outlets. This volume of essays provides insights into
educational technology from a diverse set of vantage points. Each chapter provides school leaders with both
conceptual insights and practical guides. Moreover, the authors of these insights and guides are eclectic
including: current K-12 school educators and students, professors and graduate students of educational
technology and educational leadership, and technology industry leaders. Our goal was to provide a
thoughtful and thought-provoking set of essays that propels your own work in the world of educational
technology forward.

7. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER, ISSUE VI PAGE 7
A Word from the Graduate Student Committee
The LSJ-SIG’s graduate student committee is happy to announce that we will be hosting a Scholar/Graduate-student
informal “coffee talk session” prior to the SIG’s Business meeting at the AERA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The
purpose of this session is to provide an opportunity for graduate students to meet and get to know LSJ scholars in our
field. This “coffee talk session” is a continuation of the Brown Bag lunch series that the graduate student committee
initiated in 2011 at the UCEA annual meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. These are informal meetings intended to allow for
exchange of thoughts and ideas along with stimulating discussion
We will hold the “coffee talk” right before the LSJ-SIG’s business meeting in San Francisco. Working tables with posted
scholar's name and research interest will be prepared and graduate students will be invited to join the research group
of their interest. We would like to extend an invitation to all LSJ-SIG members to attend and share both research
interests and experiences with seasoned, new, and emerging scholars for the 30 minutes prior to our business
meeting.
A formal invitation was sent to scholars in the LSJ-SIG to solicit participation, however, if you did not confirm your
interest in participating, we would still love to include you! Likewise, all students are welcome to attend and we
encourage you to bring a friend! We look forward to seeing you Sunday, April 28 from 5:45pm-6:15pm at the Hilton
Union Square Continental 8 for the LSJ-SIG “coffee talk session” 30 minutes prior to the regular business meeting
starting at 6:15pm. If you have any questions, please email Maysaa Barakat at myb0002@auburn.edu .
Hollie Mackey
University of Oklahoma
Maysaa Barakat
Auburn University
Graduate Student Committee Chairs

8. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER, ISSUE VI PAGE 8
Recognitions
Jeff Brooks at The Anne Frank Center in New York City
Professor Jeffrey S. Brooks, director of the
educational administration graduate program at
Iowa State University, presented his two new
books in a special invited presentation at The
Anne Frank Center USA in New York City on
March 5, 2013: Black School/White
School: Racism and Educational
(Mis)Leadership, and What Every Principal Needs
to Know to Create Equitable and Excellent
Schools (the latter co-edited with George
Theoharis of Syracuse University).
Michael O'Malley, Texas State
University-San Marcos, completed a five
month Fulbright Scholar appointment in
Chile. His research focused on effects of
school administrators' leadership on the
success of school improvement
initiatives at the campus level, with
particular implications for educational
equity. Findings will be incorporated into
national implementation models
involving school improvement.
Gaetane Jean-Marie, former
LSJ Chair, has a new job:
Professor and Chair of the
Department of Educational
Leadership, Foundations &
Human Resource Education
(ELFH), University of Louisville.
Martin Scanlan was
promoted to associate
professor with tenure at
Marquette University.
Sharon Radd will be an
assistant professor in the
Masters of Arts in
Organizational Leadership
program at St. Catherine
University in St. Paul.

9. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER, ISSUE VI PAGE 9
Learning to Speak from the Trenches: High School Students as Scholars, Activists, and
Leaders for Social Justice
Introduction
“As a white person, racism makes me sick!” one sophomore
male interjects without “raising his hand” or being formally
called on by the teacher. This student was simply responding to
the pulse of the discussion topic: “If race is a social construct,
why do the effects of race matter?” In this class focused on
issues of social justice, with Ms. Moyer, the classroom teacher,
as the facilitator of the dialogue, students project verbal
responses back and forth to each other across the room like a
game of table tennis. As one student attests, “in social justice
class we have lots of debates that challenge me.” The students
enrolled are from a variety of peer groups and might not have
had interactions with each other prior to this class. However,
because their first two weeks of class were on “why identity
matters,” the students have come to appreciate the different
perspectives their identities bring to the table and have formed
relationships that enable them to engage in social justice topics
which even teachers and administrators would not necessarily
feel “prepared” or “comfortable” addressing. High school
students are engaging in scholarly debate and deconstructing
articles on topics such as “why is colorblindness the new
racism?” They spend time defining terms such as
“intersectionality,” “black feminist thought,” and
“heterosexism”; or discussing how heteronormativity plays out
in their high school.
The critical dialogue that occurs in just one semester of this high
school level course and its subject matter is something that is
not experienced or witnessed in many teacher education or even
educational leadership preparation programs. According to one
student in the class, “A great many of the ‘educated’ adults in
this country, despite their fancy credentials, are quite ignorant to
the issues of social justice that plague this country.” Thus, the
students in this class have learned to project their voice and
make it quite clear that scholars in the “ivory tower” and school
administrators have something to learn from youth.
Overview of the Urbana High School Social Justice Class
Urbana High School (UHS) is a public high school located in
Urbana School District 116. The school is composed of
approximately 1,200 students from 9th
-12th
grade and is a racially
diverse population of students who are 40% white, 40% black, 10
% Latina/o, 5% Asian, and 5% multiracial. UHS is located in the
semi-urban community of Urbana, IL, which is the home of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
As a traditional comprehensive public high school, UHS has a
variety of course options and extracurricular opportunities for
students to participate in. Currently, students are able to enroll
in an elective class entitled “Social Justice.” This is the second
year that UHS has offered the Social Justice class as a semester-
long course for students from 9th
-12th
grades. The course is a
course with no prerequisite requirements for enrollment.
Currently there are 32 freshmen and sophomores enrolled in this
course, well above the average course enrollment of 18-20, due
to the popularity and interest in the class. The students in this
class closely match the overall demographics of the entire
school. The class is diverse in terms of students’ racial, ethnic,
linguistic, social class, and sexual identities. The teacher of this
course, Rachel Moyer, is a white female English teacher who is
also the chair of the UHS Social Justice Committee, which is
comprised of teachers, administrators, students and community
members. Ms. Moyer is dually certified in English and Social
Studies and minored in women and gender studies as an
undergraduate. With her credentials, plus assistance from Dr. AJ
Welton and doctoral students Priya Goel, Jonathan Hamilton,
and Tiffany Harris, as well as the support of the principal, Joe
Wiemelt (who is also a doctoral candidate in educational
administration at UIUC); Ms. Moyer had a foundation for
embarking on new instructional territory by developing an
“unscripted” curriculum that still meets the Common Core
standards.
The overarching purpose of this course is to introduce students
to social justice topics such as identity, gender, LGBTIQ issues,
and race; while engaging in scholarly discussions, reading and
analyzing academic articles, and writing reflection and response
papers which include personal counternarratives to oppressive
stereotypes. The culminating project for students in the social
justice class is to conduct Youth Participatory Action Research
(YPAR) projects within the school setting at UHS. Students select
group research topics that they have identified as important to
analyze at UHS based on their individual and collective
perspectives related to the overarching issue of institutionalized
racism. Their topics thus far include:
1) Teacher and student relationships
2) Lack of faculty diversity (92% white faculty; 60% students of
color)
3) Underrepresentation of students of color in honors courses
4) Disproportionate dress code enforcement on females of color
5) Overrepresentation of students of color being disciplined
Dr. Welton working with a group of students in the Social Justice Class
Ms. Moyer working with a group of students in the Social Justice Class

10. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER, ISSUE VI PAGE 10
The students are conducting semi-structured interviews and
surveys with students, teachers, and administrators at UHS to
better understand the structures of UHS that pertain to these
five topics. With their findings, they are organizing group
presentations and papers that illuminate their findings and then
they will make recommendations via a formal presentation to
the administration and teachers, and perhaps most interestingly
to the incoming principal, who will be new in the fall of 2013 and
is currently unaware of the projects and research that the
students are conducting. This presentation will serve as an
opportunity to introduce the new principal to their work and to
give critical input to school improvement initiatives.
Youth Learning to Assert Their Voice
During the first half of the semester-long class, students
reviewed foundational terms and issues related to social justice.
Currently, in the last half of the semester, students are at the
emerging stages of learning how to use YPAR as a scholarly
process to exert their voice and as one student articulated
“speak on issues from the trenches,” especially on policies
concerning school improvement. However, in traditional
schooling students are commonly given limited opportunities to
engage in learning that leads to action-oriented changes in their
school community. Thus, as students transition to a more
democratic form of learning they must be given the opportunity
to dialogue about how and why their voice matters, so that they
can then gain the confidence to exercise their voice on school
improvement issues. Students have engaged in writing exercises
throughout the semester, such as the journal-writing excerpt
below, to begin to conceptualize the value of their voice. To
encourage the students to begin affirming the power of their
voice we asked students in one of their daily journal prompts to
articulate, “What can school administrators learn from you as
youth?” Students responded:
 They can learn that they are not the only ones that can
teach something. We are also smart.
 That you shouldn’t underestimate youth.
 School administrators can learn about the things that
affect us the most and the things that will help us make the
best of out of school. They could also learn the way we as
students look at things and how we differ in thinking.
 That school administrators can learn that we have an
opinion and also know what we’re talking about. Half the
time we make more sense than adults.
 By letting them listen to our suggestions they can learn
about what needs to be done to make school a better
place/environment for students.
 The school administration can take our presentations as a
learning experience because we are telling them from a
student’s perspective what’s wrong and what needs to be
changed.
 We have things to teach adults, and also there are lots of
them [adults] who are willing to listen.
 That students have thoughts, opinions, and feelings, and
that we do care about the issues very much at our school
and are willing to do what we can to fix them.
 Many people believe that administrators can only teach,
but I think administrators can learn just as much from
students teaching them.
Conclusion
Engaging today’s youth in relevant and meaningful learning is a
common objective in classrooms. The YPAR process teaches
youth to engage in critical thinking and advanced learning
experiences that exceed learning standards, and embark in
advocacy, activism, research, and ultimately use their voice to
push for equitable and social justice oriented changes in their
school. By listening to and incorporating student voice into
school leadership and school improvement initiatives, student
leadership becomes key. According to one UHS administrator,
the social justice class is the hub “for student voice in the UHS
school improvement plan.” Thus, faculty at UHS are realizing as
educators and leaders for social justice they should take the
opportunity to collaborate with and learn from students in the
Social Justice class. As educators we must step outside of
ourselves and see this is not as much about us, but this is about
what today’s youth experience and how structures, both
equitable and inequitable, are set up for students. Ultimately,
this newsletter shares the work of our students in the UHS Social
Justice class, which spans beyond the traditional notion of
schooling.
Authors
Joe Wiemelt, principal
Dr. Anjalé (AJ) Welton, assistant professor
Rachel Moyer, Social Justice class teacher
High School Student Authors
Yessica Bedolla
Acaisha Washington
Jala Payton
Adriana Alvarez
Ivan Roque
Leighanne Matson
Josh Rearden
Shonneeia Hill
Karla Altamirano
DeVonne Luster
Students working on their YPAR project in the in the Social Justice Class.
Emily Beverly
Kimberly Brunelle
Valentina Stafford
Tierra Williams
Lily Finell
Henry Ando
Ben Lambeth
Jackie Masiunas
Dania Avila-Cardona
Principal Joe Wiemelt

11. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER, ISSUE VI PAGE 11
The purpose of this book series is to promote research on work-life balance.
We seek edited volumes, textbooks, and full-length studies focused on research that explores the ways in which people manage their
work and “not-work.” The first books in the series have come from higher education, and from the specific discipline of educational
leadership, but we hope that other work areas and disciplines will follow. Possible topics include, but are not restricted to, the
following:
· Definitions and Conceptions of Work-Life Balance
· Critical Interpretations of Work-Life Balance
· Mentoring for Work-Life Balance
· Graduate Students and Work-Life Balance
· Gender and Work-life Balance
· Race and Ethnicity and Work-Life Balance
· International Perspectives on Work-Life Balance
· Elder Care and Work-Life Balance
· Singleness and Work-Life Balance
· Non-Traditional Families and Work-Life Balance
Proposal guidelines are available at http://www.infoagepub.com/series/Work-Life-Balance, or contact Joanne Marshall
(jmars@iastate.edu) for more information.
Work-Life Balance Call
The effects of campus climate on college and university constituents have been of interest to researchers and policymakers for
decades. Campus climate is “the total effect of the environment – institutional and community – that influences the experience of
those who work and study at the college or university…campus climate is about perception – about how it feels to be in that
community, not simply what happens” (National Institute of Independent Colleges and Universities, 1991, p 2). Campus climate studies
hold the greatest potential for understanding and objectifying the experiences of constituents in institutions of higher education as
revealed through their perceptions. This increased understanding is the first step in developing institutions of higher education that
are both equitable and high quality educational environments -- a goal that ought to be integral to the educational mission of all
institutions of higher education (Robinson-Armstrong, 1998). Climate data can promote transformational change by affecting
assumptions and ideologies that motivate institutional constituents to adopt new ways of thinking and perceiving. Using climate data
to inform difficult decisions can lead to altered organizational structures and processes, new beliefs and interpretations about
institutional activities and professional roles, new systems of reward, and realigned budgets (Bauer, 1998; Cabrera, 1999; California
Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC), Robinson-Armstrong, 1998; Sedlacek, 1995). The process for assessing camps climate is
as important as the results produced. An inclusive campus-specific study defined by clearly stated and agreed-upon goals holds the key
to the bringing about changes in institutional climate. Inclusive campus-specific studies also create psychological ownership among
faculty, staff and administrators, and focus energy on climate—a part of the college environment that seldom commands the attention
of a large percentage of the organization’s constituents (CPEC, 1990).
Inquiries and Word Document submissions should be forwarder electronically to:
Abbie Robinson-Armstrong, Ph. D.
Vice President for Intercultural Affairs
Loyola Marymount University
1 LMU Drive
University Hall, Suite 4820
Los Angeles, CA 90045
arobinso@lmu.edu
Call for Book Chapter Proposals: Conducting Effective Institution- Specific Campus Climate Studies

12. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADER, ISSUE VI PAGE 12
LSJ Executive Committee
LSJ Chair
Whitney Sherman Newcomb
Virginia Commonwealth
University
whsherman@vcu.edu
Secretary-Treasurer
Noelle Arnold
University of Missouri-Columbia
arnoldn@missouri.edu
AERA 2013 Program Chair
Katherine Cumings Mansfield
Virginia Commonwealth University
kcmansfield@vcu.edu
Communication Chair
Joanne Marshall
Iowa State University
jmars@iastate.edu
Graduate Student Committee
Chairs
Maysaa Barakat
Auburn University
myb0002@auburn.edu
Hollie Mackey
University of Oklahoma
hollie.mackey@gmail.com
AERA LSJ Website
http://www.aera.net/SIG165/LeadershipforSocialJusticeSIG165/tabid/12239/Default.aspx
Like Us on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/150822794956627/?fref=ts
The Social Justice Leader is seeking the following types of submissions for
the spring newsletter -- due October 15:
1. Announcements such as:
--new jobs / promotions / graduations
--awards
--new publications
--job postings
--photos from the UCEA LSJ meeting
--upcoming opportunities for publication, grants, collaboration, etc.
--anything else you think LSJ members should know
2. Brief (<1,000 words) articles highlighting topics such as:
-- examples of social justice in practice --the activity of the work group you
participated in during the last LSJ meeting --anything else related to the LSJ
mission, which is:
to promote social justice teaching, research, service, and policymaking agendas,
with the corollary aim of seeking to proactively improve educational leadership
as a means of addressing equity concerns for underrepresented populations
throughout P-20 education; also to share innovative, promising, and research-
based programs, policies, and teaching strategies and proactively advocate on
behalf of underrepresented populations in educational leadership.
Please send submissions - or questions - to jmars@iastate.edu .
CALL FOR FALL 2013 NEWSLETTER