Latinx youth exhibit educational leadership and possess unique insight into experiences of youth of color in K-12 schooling. Yet, adultism hinders authentic youth participation in educational decision making. In this study we address the following question: What types of behavior do K-12 school leaders demonstrate in response to Latinx youths’ experiences of racism? We share the story of a structured interaction, guided by social justice and forum theater, facilitated by Latinx youth to adult school leaders. We present our findings via the school leader lotería typology model and discuss the spectrum of adult educator behavior in response to youth voice.
BellJ. (2010). Understanding adultism: A key to developing positive youth-adult relationships. In AdamsM.BlumenfeldW. J.CastañedaC.HackmanH. W.PetersM. L.ZúñigaX. (Eds.), Readings for diversity and social justice (pp. 540–546). Routledge.
4.
BertrandM.RodelaK. C. (2018). A framework for rethinking educational leadership in the margins: Implications for social justice leadership preparation. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 13(1), 10–37.
5.
BertrandM.SalinasS. M.DempsD.RenteríaR.DurandE. S. (2020). It’s everybody’s Job”: Youth and adult constructions of responsibility to take action for school change through PAR. The Urban Review, 52(2), 392–414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-019-00537-y
6.
BettencourtG. M. (2020). Embracing problems, processes, and contact zones: Using youth participatory action research to challenge adultism. Action Research, 18, 153–170. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750318789475
7.
BoalA. (1979). Theatre of the oppressed. Theatre Communications Group.
BrownT. M.RodriguezL. F. (2017). Collaborating with urban youth to address gaps in teacher education. Teacher Education Quarterly, 44(3), 75–92.
10.
CammarotaJ. (2008). The cultural organizing of youth ethnographers: Formalizing a praxis-based pedagogy. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 39(1), 45–58.
11.
CasanovaC. R.CammarotaJ. (2019). “You trying to make me feel stupid or something?”: Countering dehumanization of Latin@ youth through a liberating pedagogy of praxis. Journal of Latinos and Education, 18(4), 363–375.
12.
CasanovaC. R.KingJ. A.FischerD. (2023). Exploring the role of intentions and expectations in continuing professional development in sustainability education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 128, 104115.
13.
ConnerJ. O.OberC. N.BrownA. S. (2016). The politics of paternalism: Adult and youth perspectives on youth voice in public policy. Teachers College Record, 118(8), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811611800805
14.
ConnerJ. O.RosenS. M. (2015). Zombies, truants, and flash mobs: How Youth organizers respond to and shape youth policy. Teachers College Record, 117(13), 203–220. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811511701315
15.
CrenshawK. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics (Vol. 1989, pp. 139–167). University of Chicago Legal Forum.
16.
DarraghL. (2014). Asking questions and performing mathematics identity. Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia.
17.
DeJongK.LoveB. J. (2015). Youth oppression as a technology of colonialism: Conceptual frameworks and possibilities for social justice education praxis. Equity & Excellence in Education, 48(3), 489–508. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10665684.2015.1057086
18.
Delgado BernalD. (2001). Using a Chicana feminist epistemology in educational research. Harvard Educational Review, 68(4), 555–582.
19.
Delgado BernalD. (2016). Cultural intuition: Then, now, and into the future. Center for Critical Race Studies Research Briefs, 1, 1–4.
20.
DiemS.CarpenterB. W. (2013). Examining race-related silences: Interrogating the education of tomorrow’s educational leaders. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 8(1), 56–76.
21.
DomínguezA. D. (2021). “¡Venceremos!”: Challenging academic barriers with latinx youth participatory action research. Journal of Latinos & Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2021.1935258
22.
DomínguezA. D.BertrandM. (In Press). Where are the Co-Coconspirators?: Examining performative youth Allyship by educational leaders in K-12 Schools. The Urban Review.
23.
DomínguezA. D.CammarotaJ. (2021). The arc of transformation in youth participatory action research: Creative expression to creative resistance. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 35, 805–823. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2021.1985650
24.
EpsteinR.BlakeJ.GonzálezT. (2017). Girlhood interrupted: the erasure of black girls’ childhood. SSRN 3000695.
25.
FernándezE.Paredes ScribnerS. M. (2018). Venimos para que se oiga la voz”: Activating community cultural wealth as parental educational leadership. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 13(1), 59–78.
26.
FoxM. (2020). In the space between us: Reflections for adult audience members of youth-centered participatory research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 33(1), 98–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2019.1678780
27.
GonzálezN. (2010). Advocacy anthropology and education: Working through the binaries. Current Anthropology, 51(S2), S249–S258.
28.
GoodenM. A.DantleyM. (2012). Centering race in a framework for leadership preparation. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 7(2), 237–253.
29.
GuajardoM. A.GuajardoF. J. (2002). Critical ethnography and community change. In ZouY.TruebaE. T. (Eds.), Ethnography and schools: Qualitative approaches to the study of education (pp. 281–304). Rowman & Littlefield.
30.
HartR. (1992). Children’s Participation: From Tokenism to Citizenship. UNICEF Innocenti Essays, No. 4. International Child Development Centre of UNICEF.
31.
IshimaruA. M. (2019). Just schools: Building equitable collaborations with families and communities. Teachers College Press.
32.
JenkinsT. (2009). A seat at the table that I set: Beyond social justice allies. About Campus, 14(5), 27–29. https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.305
33.
KingkadeT. (2021, December15). As parents protest Critical Race Theory, students with racist behavior at school. NBC News.
34.
KohfeldtD.BowenA. R.LanghoutR. D. (2016). They think kids are stupid”: yPAR and confrontations with institutionalized power as contexts for children’s identity work. Revista Puertorriqueña de Psicología, 27(2), 276–291.
35.
KohliR.PicowerB.MartinezA. N.OrtizN. (2015). Critical professional development: Centering the social justice needs of teachers. The International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 6(2), 7–24.
36.
LacV. T.Cumings MansfieldK. (2018). What do students have to do with educational leadership? Making a case for centering student voice. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 13(1), 38–58.
37.
LacV. T.FineM. (2018). The Good, the bad, and the Ugly: An autoethnographic journey on doing participatory action research as a graduate student. Urban Education, 53(4), 562–583. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918762491
38.
Ladson-BillingsG.TateW. F. (1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97(1), 47–68.
39.
LoveB. L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Beacon Press.
40.
MalagonM.Pérez HuberL.VelezV. (2009). Our experiences, our methods: A research note on developing a critical race grounded theory methodology in educational research. Seattle University Journal for Social Justice, 8(1), 10.
41.
MansfieldK. C.WeltonA.HalxM. (2012). Listening to student voice: Toward a more inclusive theory for research and practice. In BoskeC.DiemS. (eds.), Global leadership for social justice: Taking it from the field to practice. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
MitraD. L.GrossS. J. (2009). Increasing student voice in high school reform: Building partnerships, improving outcomes. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 37(4), 522–543. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143209334577
44.
RadinaD.SchwartzT. (2019). Radical love as resistance: Youth participatory action research for transformation. Sentia Publishing Company.
45.
RodelaK. C.BertrandM. (2018). Rethinking educational leadership in the margins: Youth, parent, and community leadership for equity and social justice. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 13(1), 3–9.
46.
RodríguezL. F.BrownT. M. (2009). From voice to agency: Guiding principles for participatory action research with youth. New Directions for Youth Development, 2009(123), 19–34.
47.
SaldañaJ. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. OUP USA.
48.
SaldañaJ. (2013). The drama and poetry of qualitative method. In Cahnmann-TaylorM.SiegesmundR. (Eds.), Arts-based research in education (pp. 238–246). Routledge.
49.
SalisburyJ. D.ShethM. J.AngtonA. (2020). They didn’t even talk about oppression”: School leadership protecting the whiteness of leadership through resistance practices to a youth voice initiative. Journal of Education Human Resources, 38(1), 57–81.
50.
SánchezP. (2009). In between Oprah and Cristina”: Urban Latina youth producing a countertext with participatory action research. Social Justice, 36(4), 54–68.
51.
SpringJ. (2016). Deculturalization and the struggle for equality: A brief history of the education of dominated cultures in the United States. Routledge.
52.
WeltonA. D.FreelonR. (2018). Community organizing as educational leadership: Lessons from Chicago on the politics of racial justice. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 13(1), 79–104.
53.
WernickL. J.WoodfordM. R.KulickA. (2014). LGBTQQ youth using participatory action research and theater to effect change: Moving adult decision-makers to create youth-centered change. Journal of Community Practice, 22(1-2), 47–66.
54.
YorkA.KirshnerB. (2015). How positioning shapes opportunities for student agency in schools. Teachers College Record, 117, 103–118.
