Nancy Gutierrez: Community Inspiring Leadership

Nancy Gutierrez is a former teacher and principal now serving as the President and CEO of The Leadership Academy, a nonprofit that has created a national model for teaching and inspiring leadership at every level of the school system. In our interview, she discusses the importance of proactive leaders who confront injustice, and how the love of her hometown inspires her work everyday. 

Words of Wisdom: “I’ve gone from identifying as Chicana, to identifying as Latina ... and that continues to broaden to identify as a woman of color, and identify as a queer woman of color ... I want to connect multiple struggles within anything I do, say, and fight for. I think that we need to care about each other’s liberation in very explicit and intentional ways in order for the work to really advance.”

Read the full episode transcript

Additional Resources from The Leadership Academy: 

• Equity Leadership Dispositions supports leaders in breaking down what they need to know and do to identify and disrupt inequities and build school communities by, with, and for every student.
• Culturally Responsive Leadership Framework outlines the actions and strategies leaders at all levels can use to lead culturally responsive schools and school systems. The framework includes actions for aspiring principals, school leaders, principal supervisors, and superintendents.  
• Portrait of a Culturally Responsive School offers school leaders and their teams guidance for developing practices, policies and structures that support the establishment of culturally responsive schools. The guide includes hundreds of reflection questions and possible action steps that leaders can take to accelerate learning for every student with a focus on disrupting systemic racism and decentering dominant culture. 
• Recommended Reading: Subtractive Schooling: U.S.-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring by Angela Valenzuela

Connect with Nancy Gutierrez ↘

 

 

 

 

 

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