Powerful Latinas' Process of Becoming: A Transformative Steadfast Journey

It is understood that Latinas who sustain a leadership position in PK–12 education have the shared experience of enduring systems of power and oppression, though the challenging pathways they endure in their journey to educational leadership are still not fully explored. As a Latina leader, I witness the daily operations of racially oppressed systems that exclude students of color from instruction and systems of power and disregard the voices of unprivileged students, staff, parents, and community members. In this qualitative ethnographic study, I engaged in critical reflections on the practices that continue to reinforce systems of power and keep minorities from advancing and being promoted. Furthermore, I examined my own leadership practices and their interrelatedness to transformational leadership. My experiences were interweaved with the unsilenced voices of five successful Latina leaders in PK–12 education. The research questions were: (a) What does the journey of the Latina school leaders in this research project look like? (b) What are the driving forces that influence their identity, their work, and their purpose in life? (c) How do Latina school leaders negotiate their racial, ethnic, and cultural identities as they seek career advancement? Data collection sources consisted of pláticas and testimonios, artifacts, field notes, a researcher’s journal, and relevant documents. As an insider in this ethnographic study, I employed the use of pláticas and testimonios as methods to engage in critical conversations with the research partners. Each research partner also shared an artifact that represented them and why they chose to serve as school leaders. In addition, they wrote a reflective letter to their younger self about the challenges they faced in their trajectory to leadership and how they overcame them. Following Taylor-Powell and Renner’s (2003) five steps of data analysis while simultaneously attending to Fitzpatrick and May’s (2022) nine tenets of critical ethnography, the main findings and themes emerged. The results revealed the challenges the participants faced in their pathway to leadership, as current school leaders, and in the different roles they portrayed in life. The success of the Latina leaders in this research was reflected in their resilience, which was grounded in their identity formed by faith and family. They valued mentoring/networking and feedback in their pathway to leadership. This research reflects the agency Latinas have in campus leadership roles. It helps inform recruiting, development of people and systems, and decisions on policies as practice. The findings resonate the voices of marginalized leaders, once silenced as students in a deficit school system. The results of this investigation reflect the lives of six Latina leaders and their intersecting identities, their trajectory to leadership, and their purpose in life. Results contribute to the body of knowledge concerning Latina leaders in K–12 education. Specifically, school district leaders need to implement practices to provide constructive feedback after they interview assistant principals and principals. Conclusions and implications based on this research findings are fully discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School Improvement

Grantor

Texas State University

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Luna, Sandra

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Arar, Khalid

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Guajardo, Miguel A.
• Larrotta, Clarena
• Martinez, Melissa A.

• women
• leadership
• education

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10877/20275

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.txst.edu:10877/20275