Schools that practice social justice see the value in embracing diversity and recognize that students who come from unique backgrounds and have experiences that differ from the privileged majority must be addressed in different ways as well; e.g. administrators cannot take a color-blind approach when dealing with students of color or those from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds because their life experiences also differ.

Social justice leadership must go beyond serving the needs of individual students and families, beyond an individual school or school district; social justice leadership in education must think about the broader social context of diversity and inequality in society. Serving others is therefore important, but true servant leadership means being a representative of all those marginalized in society and being an advocate for their unheard voices.

Social justice leadership follows the power to approach to leadership. In other words, administrators that are aiming for social justice in education should be cultivating a community of educators that are also working to achieve the same goals. Through this goal-oriented style of leadership, administrators can "strive to become leaders of leaders" rather than of subordinates (Sergiovanni, 2000, p. 273).

As educators and social justice leaders, we should be outraged when anything less than just and fair practices are being administered within our schools, and even within society at large. However, when women in particular are seen as showing moral outrage, they are often accused of being overly emotional. Social justice leadership is one in which leaders can and should be emotionally invested in the social and educational outcome of the community they are serving.