Heard, Respected, and Valued: Leadership Dispositions and Practices During the Return to School Following Suspension
Open AccessThere is much left uncovered regarding how schools can meet the needs of Black girls when returning to school from suspension. An opportunity remains to identify best practices for Black girls as they reenter school following out-of-school suspension as studies suggest that they have specific needs in public education spaces (Hill-Collins, 2000; Mitra et al., 2014; Morris, 2012; Morris 2015). What is known from qualitative studies is that culturally responsive practices have a positive impact on school connectedness and student achievement for Black students (Archard, 2012; Deutsch et al., 2012; Gibbs Grey & Harrison, 2020; Huff, 2019; Ricks, 2014). This study contends that in addition to culturally responsive practices, Black girls can be successful when school leaders possess culturally responsive leadership mindsets. Moreover, this study maintains that these mindsets and practices should be leveraged alongside feminist pedagogies within an understanding of organizational theory.In an effort to increase the amount of scholarship regarding leadership practices that support Black girls, this study sought to answer the following research question: What are the leadership dispositions and practices that guide school leaders’ actions when Black girls return to school after suspension? The author used tree hypothetical vignettes as stimulus material to support leaders’ thinking within a sixty-minute semi-structured interview. Contemporary education research has supported the use of vignettes in qualitative methodologies when participants are asked to discuss sensitive themes or personal experiences (Finch, 1987; Hughes, 1998; Törrönen, 2002; de Macedo et al., 2015; Blum et al., 2019). The study’s findings indicate that school leaders who support Black girls returning from suspension believe in and build supportive and affirming environments for Black girls because they understand that suspension is not the goal or only outcome of the student discipline process. The study also revealed three core practices that should be leveraged by school leaders to enact their beliefs as they support Black girls returning from suspension. These practices were: reentry conferences, restorative circles, and mentorship and affinity groups. Implications for discipline policy and leadership professional development using vignettes was also discussed. These findings and implications can be used to reimagine how schools support Black girls during reentry after suspension as well as before they become engaged in exclusionary discipline activities.
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Saunders_gwu_0075A_16210.pdf | 2023-11-14 | Open Access |
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