Leadership That Supports and Sustains Racial Justice in Schools

Purpose Leveraging existing theoretical frameworks on social justice leadership, this paper asks: 1) How do school leaders support racial justice efforts in their schools? 2) What approaches do school leaders take to sustain this work over time? Research Methods This paper is grounded in a case study of an elementary school engaged in a year-long racial justice program. Case study data includes interviews with the school leaders, teachers, and the program staff as well as observations of professional development sessions and Racial Equity Committee meetings. While most of the primary data was collected concurrently with the program's implementation, we also rely on follow-up interviews and secondary data collected by the district to explore if/how the racial justice work has been sustained over time. Findings Our analysis surfaced individual dispositions among leaders, approaches for engaging staff and parents, and systems of accountability that contributed to sustained organizational change. Specifically, this paper focuses on how school leaders: a) practiced and modeled critical self-reflection, vulnerability, and commitment; b) positioned multiple stakeholders as leaders in the school's racial justice efforts; and c) institutionalized racial justice commitments through school wide accountability structures. Together, these dimensions allowed for the school's racial justice efforts to manifest years after the program was implemented. Implications for Research and Practice Focusing on the richness of one case, we seek to illustrate holistic depictions of how school leaders may advance racial justice in their contexts and the foundational approaches that may support long-term transformation.