Radical Care: Leading for Justice in Urban Schools

by Rosa L Rivera-McCutchen, Jamaal A. Bowman (Foreword)

Educators often invoke the term care to describe why they entered the field and what compels them to continue. This book argues that care, as typically described and enacted, is not sufficient for leading schools, particularly those serving Black and Latinx children. Instead, school leaders need to embrace radical care. Drawing from 20 years of researching and working in New York City public schools, Rosa Rivera-McCutchen outlines the five components of radical adopting an antiracist stance, cultivating authentic relationships, believing in students’ and teachers’ capacity for excellence, leveraging power strategically, and embracing a spirit of radical hope. To demonstrate practical strategies, the author shares vignettes from her personal experiences that exemplify each of the components. Calling for today’s school leaders to thoughtfully challenge existing structures that reproduce inequality, Radical Care offers a much-needed framework that will guide leadership practice with a sense of urgency and a spirit of hope. Book

Genres: Nonfiction

120 pages, Hardcover

Published July 19, 2021

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a class.

I think all educators should read this, even if you are not in a leadership role,.but especially if you are! - principal, AP, Dean, Dept Chair, etc.. Radical Care is made up of 5 components: adopting an anti-racist stance, cultivating authentic relationships, believing in students and teachers. capacity for excellence, leveraging power strategically, and embracing a spirit of radical hope. You need all of these things working together, they are interconnected, if you want to truly care for your school community and be a change maker. Often, educators make the mistake of limiting care. We all care about kids, it's why we entered this field. However, we don't always use radical care, and as a result, students of color tend to suffer.

[Rolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and accessible book for provoking reflection and conversation around how to better lead K-12 schools (and how to better prepare K-12 school leaders).

Great as a book study for K-12 educators or faculty in educator preparation programs.