Preparing Antiracist School Leaders in a School Choice Context

• In Event: 61.024 - Interrogating Educational Leadership: Critical Research on White Privilege and Racism

Abstract

Objectives
Over the course of several decades policymakers at the state and federal levels have enacted an educational reform agenda shaped by neoliberal discourses of deregulation and free market competition (Fischer, 2003). As a result, each of the major forms of school choice (e.g., charter schools, inter- and intra-district choice, vouchers, etc.) has grown in popularity and participation (Miron & Welner, 2012). This is a problematic trend for scholars and practitioners interested in issues of educational equity and social justice, as school choice policies are often enacted in a way that unequally disadvantage historically marginalized populations (Gill, Timpane, Ross, & Brewer, 2001). Subsequently, educational leaders called to serve within diverse school communities must be equipped to critically examine choice policies to determine how race does, or does not, influence the equitable implementation of district-level school choice policies.
The purpose of this study is to examine the racial awareness development of students participating in an educational leadership doctoral cohort. Our investigation focused on how students in this cohort attempt to interpret and engage in the race-specific issues connected to school choice and intra-district competition.
Perspectives
To accomplish the purposes of our study, we call upon three areas of literature – preparing leaders to address issues of social justice (Blackmore, 2009; Diem & Carpenter, 2012; Gooden & Dantley, 2012; Jean-Marie, Normore & Brooks, 2009), the literature on preparing anti-racist educational leaders (Brooks & Jean-Marie, 2007; McMahon, 2007; Mabokela & Madsen, 2005), and the literature on school choice (Feinberg & Lubienski, 2008; Lacieno-Paquet, 2012). We utilize this research to show that while the increased focus on the need to better prepare leaders for social justice suggests progress, there is still a dearth of scholarship focused specifically on the need to prepare anti-racist leaders.
Methods & Modes of Inquiry
In our study, we employed an instrumental case study design (Stake, 2005). We conducted focus groups and interviews allowing us to discuss the issues examined at various points. Each focus group and interview interaction provided us with an opportunity to identify and examine the ways participants interpret and engage in race-specific issues connected to school choice and intra-district competition. The analysis of the data gathered was iterative, allowing us to participate in a critically reflexive and collaborative process that was inductive and open-ended (Lincoln & Guba, 1986; Patton, 1990).
Results & Significance of the Study
Our findings illustrate that when discussing issues pertaining to school choice participants either implicitly or explicitly discussed the ways in which choice-related conversations are “racially charged.” Participants suggest conversations seemed to place them, as leaders seeking to build a successful career, in a precarious situation. Specifically, participants were unsure how their voice on such “politically challenging” and “emotionally draining” issues would be perceived by persons in authority. The uncertainty of the received voice on the racially-charged issue seems to silence leaders rather than forge critical conversations. Findings in this study will expand our understanding of how school leaders interpret and engage in race-specific issues connected to school choice policies and practices.

Authors

• Bradley W. Carpenter, University of Louisville

• Sarah Diem, University of Missouri

• Tiffanie Celeste Lewis-Durham, Montclair State University