Organizational Learning in Schools Pursuing Social Justice: Fostering Educational Entrepreneurship and Boundary Spanning.

The field of socially just educational leadership is focused on promoting improvements in the teaching and learning environment as demonstrated by student learning gains, particularly for traditionally marginalized students. The field has identified priorities (i.e., school improvement, democratic community, and social justice) and steps to pursue these priorities (specific strategies school leaders can take and conditions they can foster). Building on this literature, this article exam· ines organizational learning in school communities that claim to be pursuing these priorities. It argues that organizational learning is a lens for socially just educational leaders to link theory with practice and to shift their focus from the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of individuals to the communities of practice within schools. It first describes a theoretical framework for examining organizational learning in schools, then analyzes two school settings illustrating organizational learning in educational entrepreneurship and boundary spanning. It concludes with a discussion of the implications this has for the broader field of socially just educational leadership. T he field of socially just educational leadership is focused on promoting improvements in the teaching and learning environment as demonstrated by student learning gains, particularly for traditionally marginalized students. This Volume 5, Number 4 Scltolar-Practitioner Quarterly Organizational Learning in Schools Pursuing Social Justice 329 field emphasizes three primary concerns for school leaders in general and principals in particular: school improvement (the principal as the instructional leader), democratic community (the principal as a community builder), and social justice (the principal as a moral steward; Murphy, 2002). The field explicitly links theory and practice, as Theoharis (2007) demonstrates in defining this leadership: [Social justice school leaders] make issues of race, class, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and other historically and currently marginalizing conditions in the United States central to their advocacy, leadership practice, and vision. This definition centers on addressing and eliminating marginalization in schools. Thus, inclusive schooling practices for students with disabilities, English language learners (ELLs), and other students traditionally segregated in schools are also necessitated by this definition. (p. 223) Conceptualizing social justice leadership, in form, blends the three dimensions of the tripartite model: the school leader's moral stewardship guides his or her focus on building school community and instructional leadership (Starratt, 2003). Theoharis (2007) proceeds to point toward practical strategies to enact this definition: raising student achievement, improving school structures, building staff capacity, and strengthening the school culture. Empirical studies illuminate these practical strategies. For instance, school leaders drive the school toward structures supporting student achievement: strong professional communities, a student-centered learning climate, an aligned and demanding curriculum accompanied by student supports, and robust ties of the school to parents and the community (Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, & Easton, 2010). Conditions that promote school improvement include a common instructional vision, resources and a culture conducive to instructional improvement, individual and collective supports for teacher formation, and shared responsibility for student learning (Spillane & Louis, 2002). These conditions imply a collective, not an individual, approach to school improvement. For instance, having a common instructional vision or sharing responsibility for student learning implies that the school community, not just an individual school leader (such as the principal), shares responsible for social justice leadership. In these ways the field of socially just educational leadership has identified priorities (i.e., school improvement, democratic community, and social justice) as well as steps to pursue these priorities (i.e., specific strategies school leaders can take and conditions they can foster). This article builds on this literature by examining organizational learning in school communities that claim to be pursuing these priorities. Organizational learning provides a lens for socially just educational leaders to link theory with practice and to shift their focus from the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of individuals to the communities of practice within schools. This article explores organizational learning within two school communities that are explicitly pursuing social justice by effectively serving traditionally marginalized Scltolar-Practitioner Quarterly Volume 5, Number 4