Latina Efficacy

School systems are notorious for resisting change and this causes moral and ethical dilemmas for those seeking equality within these settings. The primary barrier to current social movements is often the weariness of school organizations. Leaders who are tired of seeing the inequality in schools become the voice of change. Their mission is to make a difference, but ethical dilemmas may heighten when confronting social injustice within school systems. Although the Hispanic enrollment is schools has increased, Latina leadership remains unnoticed, and Latina superintendents are underrepresented in the superintendency. This chapter focuses exclusively on Mexican American female superintendents and portrays their ethical dilemmas while leading schools in what some may consider challenging school districts. There are distinct patterns in the types of school districts that Mexican American female superintendents choose to lead and they demonstrate a personal drive and commitment for improving educational opportunities for all children, regardless of social economic status and ethnicity.

Latina Efficacy

School systems are notorious for resisting change and this causes moral and ethical dilemmas for those seeking equality within these settings. The primary barrier to current social movements is often the weariness of school organizations. Leaders who are tired of seeing the inequality in schools become the voice of change. Their mission is to make a difference, but ethical dilemmas may heighten when confronting social injustice within school systems. Although the Hispanic enrollment is schools has increased, Latina leadership remains unnoticed, and Latina superintendents are underrepresented in the superintendency. This chapter focuses exclusively on Mexican American female superintendents and portrays their ethical dilemmas while leading schools in what some may consider challenging school districts. There are distinct patterns in the types of school districts that Mexican American female superintendents choose to lead and they demonstrate a personal drive and commitment for improving educational opportunities for all children, regardless of social economic status and ethnicity.

Life/ography as Storytelling: Using Letters, Diaries, Journals, and Poetry to Understand the Work of Female Leaders

This article reflexively engages and discusses a Life/ography project involving two female superintendents of schools in two U.S. North Central states who are dedicated to making their respective districts a better learning community. Life/ography is used to refer to life history, oral history, and biography as valued qualitative research approaches for understanding the social world of individuals—in this case, of female leaders. Originally, the study began with curiosity about gender issues; however, it became a study of shifting patterns in the workplace and the structure of work. The values of stories about real-life individuals lead us to understanding a person’s life in context in all of its raw truth, beauty, and suffering. By using letters, diaries, reflective journals, and poetry to augment the interviews in the study, Life/ography offers many paths to access imagination, curiosity, and critical reflexive practice and thought.

Female Superintendents and the Effects of Mentoring Relationships

Women make up the majority of personnel in today’s school systems yet few are employed in the highest position-superintendent. In one southern state, the State Department of Education (2009) reported 22 % of superintendents were women. Nationwide, the percentage is 24.1% (Kowalski, McCord, Petersen, Young, & Ellerson, 2011). However, in comparison to the number of women who begin their careers in education, there is still a wide inequity between the percentages of those in the ranks and those in positions of superintendent (Katz, 2012). One of the reasons for the lack of women in upper level administration is the lack of mentoring, both formal and informal. Therefore, mentoring becomes an essential element in providing the guidance and support for women who aspire to be in a leadership position.This study examined the effects of career and psychosocial mentoring functions on the careers of women superintendents currently serving in a southern state by exploring both informal and formal mentoring relationships and the way these relationships serve as effective tools on the position attained and career development. The results of this study showed that the career mentoring functions and psychosocial mentoring functions had a statistically significant impact on the careers of female superintendents. Findings from this research indicate that mentoring relationships have the potential for female administrators to make successful career advancement.