ABSTRACT
Record levels of economic inequality and reduced social mobility amid widening and deepening class divides present tremendous challenges for school district leaders and education advocates committed to ensuring equality of educational opportunity for all students. A limited focus on preparing school and district leaders for the politics of education and education policy not only undermines their ability to be effective administrators, but also to demonstrate the leadership capacity, political awareness, and advocacy central to leadership for social justice. The aims of education began to change as education was viewed solely as linked to US competitiveness in the global economy. While education has historically been viewed as both a cost and an investment in the country’s future, the perception of its economic importance grew in the 1950s, when the Soviet Union put the first man into outer space and appeared to be surpassing us in math and science.
