CHEERleadership

Abstract

This chapter aims to define and describe CHEERleadership, a style of leadership inspired by the sport of cheerleading. CHEERleadership is a model that stands for Culturally Competent, Holistic, Equity-Minded, Empathetic, and Responsive leadership. Precision, poise, drive, enthusiasm, and stamina are only a few of the qualities and characteristics that are expected from a champion cheerleading team, or a team of educational leaders. With the role and goal of cheerleaders in mind, the authors link the acronym for CHEER to be a relevant, repetitive mantra for a type of school and district leadership for transformational change, based on current educational research. It is applicable in all 21st century K-12 schools, and its roots are grounded in practitioner research. The chapter is organized in a manner that highlights the background theories, the tenets of CHEERleadership, and how it can look in practice through literacy to improve student outcomes. It concludes with a discussion about how to further CHEERleadership to support teachers and staff who interface with students.