Date Approved
2-17-2025
Embargo Period
3-17-2027
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
Department
Educational Leadership
College
College of Education
Advisor
Ane Turner Johnson, PhD
Committee Member 1
Joanne Connor, EdD
Committee Member 2
Cecile H. Sam, PhD
Keywords
Administrator;Education;Gendered Organizations;Leadership;Mentoring;Women
Disciplines
Education | Educational Leadership
Abstract
This study explores the co-constructed mentoring stories of women administrators in K-12 public schools in New Jersey, using a feminist lens to examine how women experience, navigate, and understand leadership within gendered systems. Narrative inquiry (Kim, 2016) was used to co-create stories of four mentoring dyads. All eight participants held curriculum and instruction roles, and most women developed informal mentoring relationships that provided safe spaces for shedding gendered expectations and embracing authenticity. Through mentoring partnerships, women connected both personally and professionally. This study emphasizes the unique mentoring needs of women in mid-level, less visible roles as curriculum supervisors. Findings suggest that mentors helped protégés to navigate invisibility, embody leadership, and strengthen their leadership presence. Mentoring can serve as both an individual pathway for women and a collective strategy for advancing women in educational leadership. As women often enter leadership through curriculum and instruction (Sharp et al., 2004; Sperandio, 2015), providing formal mentorship for those transitioning into supervisory roles is essential. Finally, expanding supportive spaces to include male allies is also critical to addressing systemic barriers.
Recommended Citation
Jones, Karen, "CREATING AND EXPANDING SPACE: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY OF MENTORING PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN WOMEN ADMINISTRATORS IN K-12 EDUCATION" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 3334.
https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/3334
