Teaching literacy skills is inextricably meshed with the work of transformation. When students learn to read and write, they are learning the knowledge and skills needed in order to better understand their world and ultimately to participate in the remaking of their realities. Leadership for social justice is a democratic, empowering relationship involving human beings who are bound together by common and distinct purposes. These principles of social justice are not only inherent in teaching literacy. Most subjects carry weighty moral concerns and overt political/power relations; therefore, the topic of social justice should not be something that is sequestered to literacy classes. Specifically, the authors argue that pedagogical content knowledge--a marker of professional teaching competence--must eventually engage students in the moral and ethical issues surrounding the use of knowledge in democracy. Any conception of literacy teachers' work must account for subject matter taught in schools; and, as a corollary, teachers are positioned to help K-12 students understand "knowledge relations" that reify race, class, and gender inequities still prevalent in the democracy. As a way to demonstrate how this can be achieved, the authors begin this article with a brief review of the literature that recognizes teachers as educational leaders. They use the case of literacy instruction to illustrate transformative pedagogical principles and practices that serve other university faculty in PK-12 educational leadership programs. (Contains 3 notes.)