Leading Through the Fire: Responding to Racism in K-12 Schools

Racist incidents are a regular occurrence within K-12 schools and districts, often requiring educational leaders to steer their schools and districts through the ensuing crisis. Using episodic narrative methods, this study explores the experiences of educational leaders who have navigated racial crises within their schools. Findings emphasize the role that lived experiences play in shaping crisis response and demonstrate a need to increase racial literacy and equity-minded leadership development in leadership preparation programs. Lessons from their experiences offer implications for policy and practice related to preparing educational leaders to steer their schools through formidable, but not invincible racial crises.