The USLC at the University of Texas-San Antonio is a unique principal preparation program that focuses on preparing aspiring school principals to become transformational leaders who can work in diverse, ambiguous and challenging school contexts (Garza & Merchant, 2009; Merchant & Garza, 2015). Originating in a partnership with San Antonio Independent School District, now in its 11th cohort, the USLC model established new partnerships. This new program, USLC-South Bexar (USLC-SB), is in its fourth cohort, working to prepare school leaders for small districts in urban settings. A vital feature of the USLC is the leadership from its core faculty, former school principals, and district administrators who bring heuristic knowledge in preparing and developing school leaders for social justice.

This collaborative and collective partnership was significantly enhanced with the recent award of a multi-million-dollar grant from the Wallace Foundation, the Equity-Centered Principal Initiative. The collaborative has been nurtured, sustained, and studied for the past twenty years with unconditional support from the former and present district superintendents as well as the dean of the college of education and human development (Murakami-Ramalho, Garza, & Merchant, 2009).

A constructivist theoretical approach drives teaching and learning in this program. In a constructivist classroom, students and faculty engage in critical reflection, individually and collectively (Merchant & Garza, 2015). Coupled with constructivist learning theory, the Pedagogy of Collective Critical Consciousness (Garza, 2015) engages masters students deeply in collective learning activities, including shared critical reflection, written autoethnographies, digital life stories, community engagement projects, equity audits, and ultimately, the implementation of praxis (Freire, 2000). As co-constructors of knowledge, students, and faculty are both teachers and learners.

Embracing a bricolage approach, we grounded this study following Anzaldúa’s (1990) words, “by bringing in our own approaches and methodologies, we transform that theorizing space (p. xxv) to better understand how the program has influenced the students and professors in this innovative program. As such, in order to seek the insights from the experiences of our alumni and current students of this innovative program, several theoretical approaches were considered to highlight the collaborative lived experiences to include, social justice (Marshall & Oliva, 2006), and critical theory (Freire, 1993; Santamaria, 2013). Using testimonios (Anzaldúa, 2002) as a methodological approach, will help create salient depictions of experiences, identities, and new ways of knowing that center of culture and identity. A testimonio is viewed as a verbal journey (authentic narrative) of one’s life with a focus on the effect of injustice (Reyes & Rodriguez, 2012). As such, the testimonios of 36 students will offer a language of hope and insights into the ability of schools to promote equity, consciousness, and agency. During this session, we will engage in a presentation of testimonios about their lived experiences in the program. A theory in the flesh means one where the physical realities of our lives; our skin color, the land or concrete we grew up on, our sexual longings all fuse to create a politic born out of necessity. Here, we attempt to bridge the contradictions of our experience. (Moraga & Anzaldúa, 1981, p. 23) This study focuses on twenty students from a large urban school district in South Texas, and the faculty from the preparation program. Through their stories, they share how their lived experiences translated and influenced to the strategies necessary to meet the needs of highly diverse inner-city communities. These testimonios served as the leadership development to better understand how lived experiences influence and shape leadership identity. As such, the paper aims to highlight how a “different” model of leadership development advances interactive transformation for students to practice in urban schools where the student population is diverse, but predominantly Latino.

This study is important because we offer an alternative model to leadership preparation that aligns with the conference theme of, Education in an Age of Uncertainty: Memory and Hope for the Future, as it voices the lives of aspiring leaders. The ULSC preparation program adds depth and richness about how leaders learn best and apply their learning to their school settings. For instance, using their own voices and means for expressing their learning, this paper acknowledges one of the often-overlooked “faces” in our field —learners who have themselves experienced racial and human rights injustices. Furthermore, their concerns with equity and social justice, especially for underserved groups of children, are an absolute commitment and concern of the school leaders. Leadership preparation programs can make a difference in the lives of all school children. In that case, exploring the issues that will emerge in this study is another step toward preparing leaders with a social conscience and a passion for justice.

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