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The purpose of this paper is to examine how 15 graduate students enrolled in a US school leadership preparation program understand issues of social justice and equity through a reflective process utilizing audio and/or video software.

The study is based on the tradition of grounded theory. The researcher collected 225 weekly audio/video reflections in addition to field notes and participants' written narratives.

Findings from the data analysis indicate participants perceive the use of audio and video as a valuable tool to increase their awareness and responses to addressing oppressive school practices as leaders for social justice.

Those who prepare school leaders might consider the use of audio/video reflections as an effective tool to examine the evolution of school leadership identities in an effort to interrupt oppressive school practices.

The purpose of this study is to examine the interactions among superintendents' chief executive school officers, multicultural attitudes and actions for children from marginalized populations.

Members of the American Association of School Administrators, 945 school superintendents, completed the self‐reported, single‐staged, electronic survey. The survey consisted of four sections: a modified multicultural questionnaire; a modified diversity action survey; a national diversity leadership questionnaire; and a personal heritage questionnaire.

Respondents scored moderate (2.0‐3.0) on both multicultural attitudes and diversity actions. The study found a positive correlation between multicultural attitudes and diversity actions. Through a regression analysis, a significant model predicting diversity actions from multicultural attitudes was selected. The study found a positive significant correlation between attitudes and diversity actions.

There is limited theoretical and practical implications regarding the multicultural attitudes of school leaders and how these attitudes influence their decision making. This paper addresses this.

The purpose of this study is to increase awareness of the interactions among school leadership standards, cultural competence, and decision‐making practices for chief school executives.

To achieve this objective, 1,087 chief school executives, who were members of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) in 2006, completed an electronic survey. Respondents rank‐ordered eight leadership standards, from most to least important. These standards focused specifically on diversity issues promoted through school leadership programs within the USA (American Association of School Administrators, National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium). Chief school executives also completed a 12‐item survey identifying what training they received during their graduate studies to help them meet the needs of diverse student populations.

Respondents ranked the three most important diversity standards that promoted the success of all school‐age children; the remaining diversity standards that focused specifically on marginalized populations were ranked as less important. The least important diversity standard was the ability and willingness to reject any arguments of a one‐to‐one correlation between race and culture or race and intelligence. Respondents indicated that their school districts do not promote culturally responsive professional development – also that their school leadership preparation programs did not prepare them for equity issues emphasized in the national standards.

The findings suggest that chief school executives might not have the ability or willingness to validate the cultural and ethnic experiences of the school communities they serve.

Understanding the implications of responding to marginalization as an institutionalized concept is just beginning to surface in scholarship and research. The study increases awareness of the interactions among school leadership standards, cultural competence, and decision‐making practices for chief school executives and makes recommendations for practice and further research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences of aspiring school leaders who utilized artmaking (in this case, photography, poetry, music, collage, and short films) through Microsoft MovieMaker as a means for addressing injustices within surrounding school communities. The paper aims to explore how aspiring school leaders understood contemporary curriculum issues within increasingly culturally diverse school communities in the USA.

This two‐year qualitative study embedded in grounded theory examined the experiences of aspiring school leaders who utilized artmaking (in this case short films through Microsoft MovieMaker) to examine contemporary curriculum issues within surrounding school communities. This study is conducted within the naturalistic tradition.

The significance of artmaking encourages participants to visually articulate the lived realities of disenfranchised populations. Participants engage in artmaking experience self‐transformation and a calling to encouraging human agency.

In the wake of addressing issues of social justice, the highly charged emotions associated with addressing such issues is evident in the range of emotions that surface including, anger, fear, intimidation, deep sorrow, resentment, joy, and others. Very little scholarship exists for aspiring school leaders who confront issues of social justice in relation to the intensity of emotions and their work.