Betwixt and Between Justice and Inaction: Full-Service Community School Principals and Community Equity Literacy

Abstract

Little research has focused on the extent to which community school principals approach family engagement efforts, specifically from an equity-centered perspective. This study examined how community school principals’ leadership practices exhibited tenets of Community Equity Literacy. Results from interviews with 13 administrators and 19 coordinators from three states highlighted the importance of equity, but participants’ conceptions were often embedded in school-centric paradigms that exhibited surface-level understandings of family and community strengths. Dispositions and skills principals need to forge relationships with families that extend beyond service provisions to create equitable community-centric partnerships inclusive of a broad group of constituents are discussed.