Transforming Leadership: Equity and Agency in Academic Decision-Making

Outline

Introduction to the New Academic Model (10 minutes)
-Content: Present an overview of the Notre Dame teacher leadership model, emphasizing its principles of distributive leadership and equity.
-Engagement: Pose a reflective question to participants about their experiences with leadership models.
-Process: Use a brief poll to gauge familiarity with distributed leadership, encouraging active participation.

Understanding Change and Flexibility (10 minutes)
-Content: Discuss the importance of fostering an adaptive learning environment.
-Engagement: Pair-share activity where participants discuss their challenges related to change in their institutions.
-Process: Facilitate a group share-out of key points to highlight common themes.

Addressing Resistance to Change (10 minutes)
-Content: Identify common sources of resistance and strategies to overcome them.
-Engagement: Small group discussions focused on personal experiences with resistance to change.
-Process: Ask groups to create a visual representation of their discussions on a shared document.

Empowering Educators as Decision-Makers (15 minutes)
-Content: Explore ways to foster shared decision-making among faculty.
-Engagement: Brainstorming session where participants outline potential areas for shared decision-making in their contexts.
-Process: Participants can jot down ideas on sticky notes and share them with the group for collective feedback.

Using Data and Feedback for Continuous Improvement (10 minutes)
-Content: Discuss the importance of data collection and feedback in refining practices.
-Engagement: Interactive activity where participants analyze a sample data set and propose action steps based on findings.
-Process: Encourage participants to collaborate and present their insights to the larger group.

Q&A and Reflection (5 minutes)
-Content: Open the floor for questions and reflections.
-Engagement: Invite participants to share one key takeaway from the session.
-Process: Use a digital platform for attendees to submit questions or comments anonymously.

Relevance of the Topic to the Educational Field
This session addresses a critical shift in education: adapting leadership models to increase equity, agency, and flexibility within schools. The distributed leadership model explored in the session directly responds to ongoing challenges in education—such as rigid hierarchies, limited teacher agency, and the need for inclusive decision-making—by proposing a collaborative, equity-driven solution. As schools nationwide grapple with educational inequities, particularly post-pandemic, this model offers a timely and replicable framework for creating a more responsive, inclusive, and empowering environment for both educators and students.

Educational Significance and Contribution to the Respective Topic
The session contributes to the growing discourse on equity and leadership in education by illustrating how flattening hierarchical structures can foster a more engaged, empowered, and flexible learning community. Attendees will gain insight into how equitable leadership models can influence student outcomes, enhance collaboration, and address systemic inequities in education. By presenting data, outcomes, and challenges, this session offers a unique contribution to the fields of instructional leadership and school reform, especially as they pertain to teacher empowerment and equitable practices.

Ease of Replication
This session is designed to provide practical, actionable steps that schools and districts can replicate, regardless of their current leadership structures. By focusing on data-driven insights, concrete strategies for engaging teachers in leadership roles, and adaptable frameworks for shared decision-making, Attendees will leave with tools for collaboration, change-management and equity mindsets. Examples such as using teacher feedback, implementing feedback loops, and developing ongoing professional development models will be highlighted as initiatives that support flexible and equitable practices in diverse educational environments.

Value to Participants
Participants will leave the session with a deep understanding of how leadership can be reimagined within schools to foster equity and agency. Concrete examples, data, and interactive discussion that will allow them to explore the possibility of equitable leadership and flexibility to their own contexts.

Presenter Knowledge and Experience
With over 40 years of combined experience in education, leadership, and change management, we have been implementing student-centered strategies throughout our careers as educators. Our backgrounds in critical literacy, instructional design, DEI and educational leadership have guided our efforts to foster student voice and agency. We have established a flattened leadership structure that allows for collaborative decision-making, both among educators and with students. Our dedication to using current research and best practices ensures that our approach is evidence-based and scalable and will offer attendees informed, well-rounded perspectives on how

Supporting research

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781475852110/Leading-in-the-Belly-of-the-Beast-School-Leadership-in-a-System-Designed-to-Fail
Leading in the Belly of the Beast, School Leadership in a System Designed to Fail (2020)Edited by Trevor W. Gardner

https://www.akpress.org/emergentstrategy.html
Emergent Strategies: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown

We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom (2019) by Bettina Love

https://www.nationalequityproject.org/frameworks/liberatory-design

https://www.facinghistory.org/

"Dear White Teachers: You Can't Love Your Black Students If You Don't Know Them". Education Week, March 18, 2019. - Bettina Love

Cultivating genius: An equity model for culturally and historically responsive literacy. Scholastic: New York. 2020 -Gholdy Muhammad

Muhammad, G. E., *Dunmeyer, A. D., *Starks, F. D. & Sealey-Ruiz, Y. (2020). Historical voices for contemporary times: Learning from Black women educational theorists to redesign
teaching and teacher education. Theory into Practice.

Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students (Corwin, 2014) - Zaretta Hammond

Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us (2010)- Claude Steele

Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms, 2018 - Feldman

Marzano, Robert J. The art and science of teaching: A comprehensive framework for effective instruction. Ascd, 2007.

Learner-Centered Innovation: Spark Curiosity, Ignite Passion and Unleash Genius 2018 Katie Martin