Introduction to the special issue: Transforming school systems

Abstract

As scholars studying school districts, we became increasingly concerned with how research from the Global North dominates global understandings of school governance, organization, and reform—what we term coloniality in global education reform. This special issue seeks to broaden these perspectives by examining how schools might be governed and organized with a focus on power, history, local and regional contexts, multiple ways of knowing, and sociopolitical dynamics. Through six articles, this issue interrogates how power operates and shifts across school organizing, governance, and community engagement. Featured studies span topics such as anti-racist leadership practices, the sociopolitical contexts of reform implementation, the reproduction of inequalities through “shadow education,” and the racialized dynamics of state takeovers. Insights from the Global South, particularly from Mexico and Brazil, challenge dominant narratives rooted in the Global North, highlighting the need to decenter Eurocentric perspectives. Extending this analysis, we reflect on how coloniality shaped the editorial process itself, revealing tensions around language, power, and representation in academic publishing. By questioning both global education reform practices and traditional approaches to academic scholarship, this special issue invites readers to critically examine with us the dominant paradigms and imagine more just, inclusive, and contextually-grounded possibilities for school governance and organization.