This research article shares findings from a qualitative study out of Montclair University’s Educational Leadership program on how 83 pre-service school leaders (PSLs) made sense of their call to lead from an equity-oriented perspective. Participants enrolled in a graduate-level instructional leadership course and navigated scenarios that required them to consider their equity-oriented leadership.

The authors found that PSLs relied on course resources as well as their own identity and prior professional experiences (professional development and interactions with students and their families) to make sense of their role in promoting social justice. The authors conclude that leadership programs need to provide PSLs with tools, including frameworks and shared language, that help them think and talk about forms of inequity.