A Review of Evidence about Equitable School Leadership

Kenneth Leithwood

doi:10.3390/educsci11080377

Abstract

This paper reviews the results of 63 empirical studies and reviews of research in order to identify those school leadership practices and dispositions likely to help improve equitable school conditions and outcomes for diverse and traditionally underserved students. Guided by a well-developed framework of successful school leadership, results indicate that most of the practices and dispositions in the framework can be enacted in ways that contribute to more equitable conditions and outcomes for students. A handful of these practices and dispositions appear to make an especially significant contribution to the development of more equitable schools as well as several additional practices and dispositions associated with equitable leadership merit mastery by equitably-oriented leaders. Among the especially significant practices are building productive partnerships among parents, schools, and the larger community as well as encouraging teachers to engage in forms of instruction with all students that are both ambitious and culturally responsive. Leaders are likely to be more effective when they adopt a critical perspective on the policies, practices, and procedures in their schools and develop a deep understanding of the cultures, norms, values, and expectations of the students’ families. The paper concludes with implications for practice and future research.

Highlights

The inequitable treatment of diverse groups of children in schools has been a concern for policy makers and practicing educators in many countries for decades
Have deep knowledge—or work to acquire such knowledge—about (a) effective and equitable educational experiences for the full range of diverse students served by the school (e.g., [101]), (b) in the case of schools serving English Language Learning (ELL) students, productive approaches to language learning (e.g., [102]), and (c) in the case of schools serving students with disabilities, approaches to inclusion most likely to result in least restrictive environments for students and which converge with the interests of majority families and students;
A strong moral purpose including a heightened sense of awareness related to the marginalization of students with disabilities, and habits of mind that help identify and challenge sources of oppression [111]. This is a narrative review of research and theory aimed at identifying school leadership practices and dispositions that help to improve equitable school conditions and outcomes for diverse and traditionally underserved students

Summary

Introduction

The inequitable treatment of diverse groups of children in schools has been a concern for policy makers and practicing educators in many countries for decades. This concern was, for example, the foundation of the “effective schools movement” in the 1970s [1], a movement aimed at improving equity, especially for low socio-economic status (SES) black children in inner city schools; it gave rise to school desegregation in parts of the U.S [2] and transformed approaches to educating students with special needs in many countries by mandating “least restrictive environments” [3]. Concerns about inequity have never been more widespread or garnered more public energy than they do

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