Community Organizing as Educational Leadership: Lessons From Chicago on the Politics of Racial Justice

Abstract

The collective power of community members has the potential to shape education reform efforts through activism and community organizing. In this article, we present two cases where community organizers exhibited key leadership strategies designed to influence district decision-making about school closures in Chicago. Employing a mix of interviews, observations, and document analysis, we discuss how community organizing can be used as a framework in which to advocate for racial equity in education. By highlighting the leadership tactics parents and community organizers used to confront the racial injustice of neoliberal reforms, we argue for a broadening of traditional educational leadership paradigms.