Chapter 5: Leadership in Times of Crises: Information and Communication Technology as Praxis for Inclusive Education in New York City (USA) and Melilla (Spain)

School leaders face unique challenges educating historically excluded and disadvantaged immigrant youths during times of crises, especially in a rapidly transitioning, digitalized society. This chapter aims to analyze the potential use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in promoting the inclusion of students during and after the COVID-19 pandemic within two key international contexts of immigration, the cities of New York and Melilla. The authors inform the analysis with a survey of the international immigration, educational leadership, and ICTs application literatures. The authors describe the specificities of each educational context and expand the analysis with insights derived from interviews conducted among public school K-12 and higher education (HE) leaders. The literature and qualitative findings reveal that the use of ICTs is a powerful ally in the outreach, education, and inclusion of hard-to-reach and vulnerable students. Due to national mandates for distance or online education during the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic, ICT tools became widely available, increasing the inclusion of hard-to-reach students, mostly immigrants, despite challenges. The authors conclude with recommendations for public policies focused on the continued use of ICT tools as praxis for inclusive education within historical contexts of immigrant reception.