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Principal Leadership for Racial Equity
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Principal Leadership for Racial Equity
A Field Guide for Developing Race Consciousness

Foreword by Glenn E. Singleton, A Joint Publication with Learning Forward



April 2021 | 248 pages | Corwin
Enhance your capacity for antiracist leadership! 

The COVID 19 pandemic has illuminated deep-seated structural inequities in our schools and across society.  More than ever, education leaders are being challenged to take action to disrupt the institutional racism that undergirds many of our longstanding policies and practices. Our students are challenging us to step up and be antiracists who commit to the uncompromising belief all children can learn and deserve an exceptional education. Based on 10 years of work leading the Institute for Courageous Principal Leadership, this book guides leaders to expanding their racial consciousness through self-reflection and provides the tools they need to counter implicit bias and respond to resistance. Grounded in research, but written in practitioner-friendly language, this book:

Focuses on systemic leadership and institutional failures as the source of predictable student outcomes
Leverages research and theory to create a process for principals to build racially equitable practices
Navigates the politics of leadership without compromising student achievement

The practical lessons and strategies in this book will equip you with the skills to implement the leadership and actions that must be taken to confront the reality of systemic racism in education and transform schools into learning environments with a student-centered commitment to high achievement for every learner. 
 
 
List of Figures
 
Foreword
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Introduction
 
Part I. Developing Racial Consciousness
 
Chapter 1. Developing Myself as a Racially Conscious Leader
 
Chapter 2. Discovering My “Why”
 
Chapter 3. Research Reality Check
 
Chapter 4. Racism at Work
 
Chapter 5. Understanding My School/District
 
Part II. Integrating Knowledge Into Practice
 
Chapter 6. A Principal’s Critical Duty
 
Chapter 7. Ensuring Racially Conscious Pedagogy
 
Chapter 8. The State of Things
 
Chapter 9. Good Trouble
 
Index
 
Learning from Mentors: Living the Theory of Action by Josh Fraser
 
Learning from Mentors: Living the Theory of Action by Kirk Morris
 
Learning from Mentors: Responding to Disaster by Isabel Rodriguez
 
Learning from Mentors: The Value of Racial Affinity Groups by Nan Yurecko
 
Learning from Mentors: Instruction that Supports Student Pride, Place, and Potential by Nasreen Fynewever
 
Learning from Mentors: Looking in the Mirror: Michael Walker’s Advice to Principals by Michael Walker
 
Learning from Mentors: Transforming Instruction by Silvy Un Lafayette and Jessica Busse

"Principal Leadership for Racial Equity offers readers a theory of action surrounding the role we must take in our schools and districts to support our next generation learners.  Implicit biases must be eradicated in order for each student to reach their own limitless potential. The authors provide clear examples, anecdotes, insights, and research to support a paradigm shift that will support learners and their overall achievement. Now is the time, the space, and the place to ensure that our youth thrive.

Dr. Jill Gildea
Superintendent, Park City School District, UT

"Principal Leadership for Racial Equity: A Field Guide for Developing Racial Consciousness in School Principals provides tools and reflection for all leaders in education to begin to become true agents of change in our schools and more importantly come to grips with their own biases so that we see more commonalities. This book will allow us to lean into discomfort and become more human."

Elizabeth Alvarez
Chief of Schools, Chicago Public Schools, IL

"Principal Leadership for Racial Equity:  A Field Guide for Developing Racial Consciousness in School Principals is a thoughtful, well written book that is current, relevant, and needed for now and the future.  I strongly recommend this book for current and aspiring administrators.  The book would be an excellent resource for a book study or a graduate course.  I am eager to share this book with my colleagues and administrators I mentor.  This book will be a valuable addition to my professional library."

Shelley Joan Weiss
President, Wisconsin Association for Middle Level Education, Wisconsin Commissioner for the Education of Military Children

"At this critical juncture in which the deleterious impact of race is so profoundly apparent in our schools, Krull, Raskin and Felix have provided us with an epistemological tour de force .   Research, evidence, strategies and practices have been blended into a vital metanarrative from which leaders can mindfully inspire and instill in staff the racial consciousness  needed to confidently enable students of color to demonstrate their innate propensity for high intellectual performances, self-determination and personal agency."

Yvette Jackson
Adjunct Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University

"The authors of Principal Leadership for Racial Equity mince no words and address head on the brass tacks issues that need to be confronted if American education is going to make any headway related to respecting and valuing every human being as a human being regardless of race, ethnicity, background, or any other factor. In the current political and social environment, this issue is more important than ever. This book expands on, differentiates itself from and is more direct than any other publications out right now on how to go about leadership equity work."

Karen L. Tichy, Ed.D
Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Saint Louis University, MO

"I only wish that this book had been available during my service in public schools – as a principal, Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent.  I would recommend that all leaders and educators who are interested in creating an environment of true understanding and equity utilize this text as the foundation for intentional professional learning, reflection and committed action.  As a leadership coach, this book will be an invaluable resource.  Principal Leadership for Racial Equity is a gift- to both adults and more importantly students!"

Lynn Macan
Leadership Coach Learner Centered Initiatives, NY

"Lights! Camera! Action! Inequities in education for students of color are now in focus and Principal Leadership for Racial Equity addresses the actions to be taken to make sure all students are successful."

Laura Schaffer Metcalfe, Ed.D.
Director, Early College Programs Mesa Community College, AZ

"The timing for Principal Leadership for Racial Equity is perfect and the structure of this book will best support leaders address issues we all face in the field.

Cathy Sosnowski
Assistant Professor, Central Connecticut State University, CT

"Leading for equity requires deep personal reflection, courage, and skill.  This book provides tools and resources to tap into all three.  Reading and completing the exercises within this book provide a platform for knowing yourself and developing that knowledge into a set of behaviors and actions that create equitable conditions within your school or organization.  Leaders who are continually growing in their confidence to do what is just and their ability to guide whole communities of practice in this work will want to learn from the experience and expertise of these authors. It will make a positive difference in the lives of the students and families in their schools.

Shannon Hobbs-Beckley
Director of Teaching & Learning, Graded – The American School of Sao Paulo, Brazil

"Principal Leadership for Racial Equity prompts deep personal reflection and goes beyond the ‘surface’ level work to get to the focus of this work. This topic can be a ‘courageous’ undertaking and this book provides the tools and personal reflection needed to truly engage in order to interrupt the cycle of practices that do not work for all students. It is not good enough to focus on success for most students – we need to focus on equity for all students!"

Lena Marie Rockwood, Ed. D.
Assistant Principal, Revere Public Schools, MA

Candace Raskin

Candace Raskin, Ed. D., served as an educational leader in Minnesota public schools for 18 years as a superintendent; director of curriculum, instruction and assessment; middle school and elementary principal; and high-potential coordinator. Her research on developing racially conscious leadership has been recognized nationally and is published in numerous scholarly journals. She currently provides leadership and teaches in the administrative licensure graduate program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, Twin Cities location. She also teaches doctoral courses and advises doctoral students as a professor in the Department of Educational... More About Author

Melissa Krull

Melissa Krull, Ph.D., has an extensive background serving in leadership capacities at a 10,000-student school district for 20 years, 10 of which were spent as superintendent. Her recent work includes leadership teaching and research toward the elimination of racial achievement disparities. She has served as a keynote speaker, panelist, and presenter for various organizations and universities, including Georgetown Law Center and The U.S. White House. Dr. Krull is the co-author of a chapter in More Courageous Conversations: From Theory to Practice (2012). She currently teaches graduate courses in the administrative licensure graduate program... More About Author

Antonia Jean Felix

Antonia Felix, Ed.D., MFA, is the author of 23 books including biographies of Senator Elizabeth Warren, Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, NATO Commander Wesley Clark, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She has taught literature, writing, and seminars on public intellectuals at the college level, and her academic research focuses on the use of expressive writing to develop racial consciousness and process race-related stress and trauma. More About Author

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Also available as a South Asia Edition.

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ISBN: 9781071803820
$40.95