Breaking Barriers: Educational Leadership and Policies for Diversity and Inclusion

Dear Colleagues,

Existing political discourse, policies, education systems, and professional practices have created multi-layered (systemic) barriers that prevent students with diverse academic and social backgrounds from accessing quality education and support services. For example, a handful of states in the United States restrict classroom teachers from discussing divisive topics such as LGBTQ, American history, race/ethnicity, and gender. This political and policy decision deprives students in these categories of significant educational opportunities. Inconsistent implementation of school discipline and suspension policies disproportionately sanctions students of color and results in a substantial loss of learning time that leads to poor academic outcomes. This significantly impacts students in their pursuit of higher education where many of these issues follow them into the postsecondary education arena. The educational pipeline is littered with personnel who hold implicit biases and flawed assumptions and treat unfairly students who require interventions or need additional support.

In response to these educational environments, there has been a renewed commitment towards eradicating barriers to student success and embracing policies and structures that foster justice and equity. In particular, educational leaders across educational sectors have created a sense of urgency that puts a priority on teaching, learning, student support, and professional development that foster strength-based approaches especially when dealing with marginalized populations. More specifically, educational leaders have been engaged in ameliorating structures, interrogating policies, and interrupting practices that promote deficit ways of knowing. The renewed focus on strength-based approaches promotes more inclusive educational settings, improves student outcomes, and empowers highly effective personnel to forge new pathways towards educational success.

In this Special Issue, we provide a platform for educational researchers and scholar-practitioners to communicate the work of educational leaders that removes barriers faced by students and teachers/instructors and promotes diversity and inclusion in the PreK-12 and higher education systems. We seek empirical studies of all kinds (i.e., qualitative research studies, quantitative research studies, mixed-methods research studies) that speak to the role of educational leaders in this effort. Theoretical papers are not considered in this Special Issue. The audience for this Special Issue includes researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.

In addition to papers that foster diversity and inclusion, we welcome manuscripts that examine the role played by and the impact of educational leadership and policy in eradicating barriers created by, but not limited to, the following policies and practices:

• Academic tracking;
• Developmental education;
• School discipline and suspension;
• Laws prohibiting the teaching of divisive content;
• Laws prohibiting activities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion;
• Accountability;
• Teacher evaluation systems;
• Overidentification of students of color in special education;
• Overidentification of English language learners in special education;
• Implicit biases/flawed assumptions against students with special needs;
• College admission;
• Grading;
• Financial aid;
• Low salaries;
• Gender- and race-biased practices;
• Teacher hiring;
• Teacher efficacy;
• Culturally relevant curriculum and practices;
• Campus police;
• First generation students;
• Academic and student support services;
• Campus culture and climate;
• Pre-College support and transition programs.

Dr. Hajime Mitani
Dr. James Coaxum, III
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• leadership
• leadership skills
• policy
• diversity
• equity
• inclusion
• justice