Developing Urban School Leaders: Building on Solutions 15 Years after the Los Angeles Riots

The 15th Anniversary of the Los Angeles riots serves as an impetus to continue efforts in addressing how institutionalized theories, norms, and practices in schools and society lead to social, political, economic, and educational inequalities. The challenges of school inequalities continue to be chronic and remain unresolved through traditional practices, scholarship, theory, and professional training of school leaders. The intersection between urban school leadership and diversity is examined through critically reviewing hurdles that school leaders encounter, such as low socioeconomics, low representation of leaders of color, violence, and academic underachievement. We argue that urban school leaders can change school conditions by facilitating the development of proficient and culturally-competent teachers and administrators, and creating a positive school climate. Two existing frameworks were used to guide the researchers in the development of the Leadership in Diversity Continuum Model (LDCM) that can help guide leaders in their efforts to transform schools through an introspective analysis of their own identity development.