African American Spirituality and Cornel West’s Notions of Prophetic Pragmatism: Restructuring Educational Leadership in American Urban Schools

Schools in America are facing rapidly changing demographics, and because of those changing demographics, this article makes the following propositions. First, the increasing demographic changes in urban schools demand new leadership approaches. Second, because many of the urban educational demands are shaped by ongoing social and cultural issues for addressing needs of African American students, perhaps the answer to leadership changes lies in African American culture. Third, and finally, one possible feature of the African American culture, the application of personal spirituality to community issues of social change and social justice, may provide a direction for educational leadership. The purpose of this article is to propose a theoretical base for reforming educational leadership in demographically changing public schools. With critical theory and antifoundational tenets of pragmatic thinking and postmodern thought interrogating the traditional canon of educational administration, educational leadership has had to, even if reluctantly, include voices of alternative perspectives into its discourse. This essay applies Cornel West’s notions of prophetic pragmatism along with the tenets of African American spirituality to serve as the foundation for this progressive transformation of leadership especially in urban schools.