Using an arts-based methodology, this dissertation project moves beyond the traditional bounds of student and leader in schools by examining how elementary-aged youth of color are positioned to affect change within their school by way of centering student voice. Further, this study examines how school leaders engage the voices of elementary-aged youth of color. While there has been emerging research on the inclusion of student voice in the field of educational leadership, there is limited literature that provides an in-depth description of how school leaders implement student voice in the elementary school setting. Drawing from a critical leadership framework and Black feminist practices and epistemologies, the aims of this study are to contribute to the literature on student voice in the educational leadership field and to examine the ways in which youth voice can influence more critically reflexive approaches to school leadership practice. Using an art-based approach in our weekly dialogue group allowed for students to create poetry, collage, and other constructed artifacts that conveyed their ideas about what leadership should encompass and the changes they desired to see in their school, society, and local community. Through a thematic analysis of field notes, artifacts composed by the youth, recorded dialogue sessions with youth and repetitive interview sessions with the school leader, this study documents both youth and school leader perceptions of student voice and leadership in the elementary school context.
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