By no means does this chapter aim to exclude the impediments on students who arrive to school from low socio-economic families. As there are White students from low-income families who outperform against the norm when compared to students of color from affluent households, the notion that income level, not racial inequities, is the leading variable to educational disparities is overwhelmingly false. Ultimately, children need educators and leaders who are willing to recognize how their beliefs and perceptions impede quality teaching and learning for every child. Implicit biases and often racist beliefs prevent all students from gaining access to quality learning experiences. These biases and beliefs expose students of color to low academic expectations from their teachers. Therefore, the authors will briefly discuss White fragility and deficit thinking as barriers required to shift the educational landscape for students who need it most.
TopIntroduction
Research on leadership and its’ multifaceted approaches to leading a school organization are well researched. What is not well studied and consequently, made clear to school leaders is how to lead in today’s American public education school system-a system where the focus on equitable practices is considered a mammoth undertaking. In this chapter, the authors will reflect on leadership practices in pre-K-12 American public education. Inept leadership, unintentionally or not, allow for racial inequalities to impede academic progress for all children, especially children of color. The inequalities, therefore, lead to an inequitable system that hold children of color back from opportunities readily accessible to their same White aged peers. Observation of these significant disparities between students of color and their White peers exist in access to health care, rigorous and challenging coursework, school infrastructure, access to technology and/or internet connectivity in schools and homes, food insecurities, quality teachers and more.
By no means does this chapter aim to exclude the impediments on students who arrive to school from low socio-economic families. However, this work will directly focus on the disparities between the treatments of racial groups in American pre-K-12 public schools. Although the authors intentionally do not diverge when discussing public schools from charters and private schools, they assume that many of the inequalities discussed apply across these diverse school spectrums. In addition, although the authors will not make a distinction between traditional, private, and charter schools, they are also keenly aware there are pockets of success in all three sectors of education despite inadequate funding. It is well understood that students of color, regardless of family income levels, underperform against normed measures on standardized assessments (SAT, ACT, NWEA), graduation rates, dropout rates, acceptance rates into colleges and universities and many other measures of academic achievement. As there are White students from low-income families who outperform against the norm when compared to students of color from affluent households, the notion that income level, not racial inequities, is the leading variable to educational disparities is overwhelmingly false (Barnum, 2018). Ultimately, children need educators and leaders who are willing to recognize how their beliefs and perceptions impede quality teaching and learning for every child. Implicit biases and often racist beliefs prevent all students from gaining access to quality learning experiences. These biases and beliefs expose students of color to low academic expectations from their teachers (The Opportunity Myth, 2018). Therefore, the authors will briefly discuss White fragility and deficit thinking as barriers to required to shift the educational landscape for students who need it most.
This chapter, entitled, Leading Boldly, is divided into four sections. Section one examines the role of school leaders while briefly defining widely studied leadership styles. Section two explores why race matters in the confines of education. Section three unpacks what it looks like to lead boldly with the authors providing several explicit examples from their work as system leaders. Finally, this chapter concludes by sharing recommendations to school and district leaders looking to grow in this work with fervent speed.