Theorizing a Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining School Leadership: Exploring the Intersections of Cultural Sustenance and Care

Abstract

In the current American context where culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students frequently experience schools as uncaring spaces, exploring school leadership that values student identity is vital for providing an affirming environment for meaningful learning. Towards such ends, we echo the recent call for culturally sustaining approaches and explore the role school leaders might have in fostering cultural and linguistic pluralism at an organizational level. The purpose of this theoretical paper is to present a preliminary conceptual framework, culturally and linguistically sustaining school leadership (CLSL), that honors the intersections between critical caring and culturally sustaining theories. In doing so, we discuss reimagined school leadership values and practices that prioritize culturally and linguistically sustaining climates of care.