| dc.description.abstract | Male high school principals surmount the number of female high school principals at both the national and Texas state level. In Texas, women make up the majority of the public school principal population; nevertheless, their placement is concentrated at the elementary school level. In addition, the ethnic representation of Texas high school Latina principals is atypical with respect to the Texas Latino student population. Hence, research into the placement of Texas high school female principals is crucial to the academic success of Latino students. In this phenomenological case study, I analyzed the leadership perspectives of 16 Texas Latina high school principals as the first phase of this project through an online open-ended questionnaire in a statewide scope. In the second phase, I implemented a phenomenological approach to examine the life experiences of seven Texas high school Latina principals vía virtual semi-structured interviews in educational leadership contexts by focusing on the challenges Latinas encounter on their journey to the principalship including: (a) the context of the dominant culture, (b) cultural stereotypes in the workplace, (c) balancing the Latina identity in the workplace and home, and (d) mentorship experiences. This narrowing in the scope provided an opportunity to examine the life experiences of seven Texas Latina high school principals within their educational leadership contexts through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The application of the Latino/a critical race theory lens served as a vehicle to obtain insight into the Texas high school Latina principal experience. Research findings include: (a) Texas Latina secondary school principal identities varied throughout the geographical regions of Texas, (b) the struggle of balancing work and personal life remains a challenge for Texas Latina secondary school principals to overcome, and (c) mentors from various ethnicities supported the career advancement of Texas Latina secondary school principals. Implications for principal preparation programs and school districts are discussed. | en |
