Leadership Programs

The third edition of the Leadership Connection Rubric was developed amidst the increasingly polarized national context that has challenged our conception of equitable schooling and threatened our democracy. Holding steadfast to our commitment to preparing, inducting, and supporting inclusive, justice-oriented school leaders, in this edition, we aim to respond to the current climate that leaders must traverse. As our students and alumni grappled with crises at the site and systems levels, upheavals from the COVID pandemic, and reckonings around racial justice, we found ourselves testing the strength of our conceptual frameworks for social justice leadership. What does it mean to lead in this context? What skills and dispositions are needed for the current and future education landscape? Rather than returning to “normal” operations, the current context requires leaders who are savvy about local and national political tensions and strategic in their approach to creating a more just future for the students, families, and communities they serve. This edition presents a more complex and nuanced approach to social justice leadership that serves as a call to action for aspiring and veteran leaders alike to use their positional authority in service of improving equitable outcomes for all students while disrupting the system’s tendency to replicate historical inequities. The Third Edition The third edition benefits from our work over nine years in the Berkeley School of Education’s Principal Leadership Institute and Leadership Support Program, as well as with the Leaders for Equity and Democracy EdD program and 21CSLA (21st Century California School Leadership Academy). This edition contains more inclusive language, a recognition of white supremacy, an awareness of the current political climate, and a call for leaders to attend to the social-emotional developmental needs of children and adults. In addition, the third version of the Rubric references concepts such as anti-racist leadership, the social construction of race, and the impact of bias and microaggressions on school culture and climate.