Emily Horita

The United States schooling system continues to uphold policies and practices that cause an inequitable education to students of color. Although some factors that contribute to educational equity may lie outside the school, there are factors within the school that can address inequity. Principals are one such within-school factor, and they can have a large impact on how a school functions. “Successful school leaders, particularly principals and head teachers, are shaped by and, in turn, shape the context within which their schools operate” (Bredeson, 2016, p. v.). Principals can impact efficacy in a way that reduces achievement inequities (Goddard et al., 2017). However, principal leadership can either positively or negatively influence teacher efficacy, which can either positively or negatively impact student achievement (Soehner & Ryan, 2011). Therefore, the type of leadership is critical when considering principals as a within-school factor to address inequity. Social justice leadership is a type of leadership that addresses inequity in schools. Social justice leaders make issues of race, class, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and other historically and currently marginalizing conditions in the United States fundamental to their advocacy, leadership, practice, and vision (Theoharis, 2007). Social justice leaders work to address the problems in schools by disrupting the systems in place that cause inequities (Kose, 2007). Factors like race and community contexts may impact social justice leadership (Hernandez et al., 2014). Because of the mitigating role of context on social justice leadership, there is a need for ongoing research into social justice leadership in a variety of contexts, including elementary schools. This research study will investigate what elementary school principals perceive as the benefits and obstacles of social justice leadership, as well as their overall philosophy on social justice in a school setting.