Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Floors: Black Women\u27s Experiences in Education Reform Leadership

Recent social commentary, articles, and research studies are increasingly discussing the ways in which urban education reform, which is overwhelmingly white and female, is failing communities of color in the United States by continuing to reify systems of oppression and inequity. As the faces of urban public school students in the United States become more African American and Latino, the faces of leadership in the U.S.’s urban schools should begin to reflect similar demographic changes. This study, to address the current gap in research literature, critically examines the narratives of Black women educational leaders who serve students in a mid-sized East Coast city. As an integral subset of educational leaders in education reform, Black women educational leaders’ narratives provide a window into their experiences in schools, and the meaning they make of their practices, to add to the limited information currently available. Educational leaders’ narratives also attest to the political nature of educating and give insight into school leaders’ personal values, morals, and beliefs. Ultimately, this study argues that to fully understand and address the ways in which institutions, specifically schools, disable and institutionalize the people within them, the theorizing of Black women educators, including educational leaders, about their experiences is essential