The Problems With Color-Blind Leadership Revealed: A Call for Race-Conscious Leaders

• In Event: 44.027 - Gender and Racial Identity Influences on Leadership Behavior and Choice

Abstract

This paper draws from data tied to a larger year-long interview study with 22 school leaders focused on how school leaders define and respond to the issue of “achievement gap.” For this paper, we examine how school leaders employ the practice of colorblind ideology, standpoint, or perspective. We explore three emergent findings of how a colorblind perspective influences school leadership practices: (1) non-reflective position, (2) recognition without action, and (3) the existence of what we are calling “multiple lacks.” This study attempts to make known the complexity of colorblindness as a phenomenon and explain not only its tenacity, but also potential breaks in its hold on leadership practice.

Authors

• Osly J. Flores, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

• Michael G. Gunzenhauser, University of Pittsburgh