Melissa A. Martinez
Division A Equity, Inclusion, and Action Committee Chair
Texas State University
I have been reflecting on my vision for the educational leadership professoriate, and I can truly say that my vision focuses on the need for a renewed commitment to change for equity, social justice, and inclusion. Given the current political and social climate in which we live, a renewed commitment to change to combat the rise of nativism, xenophobia, and violence against those that are “different” in our schools is vital. Thus, my vision for preparing educational leaders is rooted in hope and love for change. Preparation programs and their faculty must attend to renewing and fostering these qualities in our leaders.
Hope provides a means for establishing schools, systems, policies, and practices that are equitable and empower students and families instead of marginalizing them. In the face of such an arduous task, hope is requisite to believe that this can be done. With love comes a commitment to the work and the courage to engage in continuous critical reflection of self and dialogue with others in order to create an inclusive community for all. The field of educational leadership has increasingly focused on the preparation of transformational and social justice leaders and called for addressing equity issues in our school communities, but I don’t believe the commitment is shared to the same extent by all preparation programs and the faculty who run them. We, as faculty, cannot expect future school leaders to engage in the hard work and transformation that we are not willing to do ourselves. So my vision for preparing educational leaders begins with us as well. This is where I believe Division A can be of service and guide faculty and preparation programs in not only speaking equity, inclusion and social justice, but teaching and living it daily. I think Dr. Dantley has begun to do this in his efforts to incorporate more dialogue, interaction, and reflection within Division A meetings as they relate to where we want to go, and what we envision for our field.
Division A Equity, Inclusion, and Action Committee Chair
Texas State University
I have been reflecting on my vision for the educational leadership professoriate, and I can truly say that my vision focuses on the need for a renewed commitment to change for equity, social justice, and inclusion. Given the current political and social climate in which we live, a renewed commitment to change to combat the rise of nativism, xenophobia, and violence against those that are “different” in our schools is vital. Thus, my vision for preparing educational leaders is rooted in hope and love for change. Preparation programs and their faculty must attend to renewing and fostering these qualities in our leaders.
Hope provides a means for establishing schools, systems, policies, and practices that are equitable and empower students and families instead of marginalizing them. In the face of such an arduous task, hope is requisite to believe that this can be done. With love comes a commitment to the work and the courage to engage in continuous critical reflection of self and dialogue with others in order to create an inclusive community for all. The field of educational leadership has increasingly focused on the preparation of transformational and social justice leaders and called for addressing equity issues in our school communities, but I don’t believe the commitment is shared to the same extent by all preparation programs and the faculty who run them. We, as faculty, cannot expect future school leaders to engage in the hard work and transformation that we are not willing to do ourselves. So my vision for preparing educational leaders begins with us as well. This is where I believe Division A can be of service and guide faculty and preparation programs in not only speaking equity, inclusion and social justice, but teaching and living it daily. I think Dr. Dantley has begun to do this in his efforts to incorporate more dialogue, interaction, and reflection within Division A meetings as they relate to where we want to go, and what we envision for our field.