Developing Equity-Focused Superintendents

• In Event: From the Teacher to the Superintendent: Building Educational Systems to Support Racial Equity

Abstract

This paper presents preliminary findings from a longitudinal study of the Racial Equity Leadership Network (RELN), an 18-month fellowship, developed by the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) in partnership with the National Equity Project and the Learning Policy Institute.

Each RELN cohort is comprised of up to twelve (12) executive leaders (e.g., Superintendents, Deputy Superintendents, Chief Academic Officers, etc.) from school systems across the South.
Over the course of their fellowship experience, RELN fellows attend five (5) two-and-a-half-day network convenings focused on essential domains of equity-centered leadership and system transformation. In between network convenings, the fellows also receive customized coaching and webinars to support the identification of a context-specific equity challenge. Finally, fellows receive grant support and other technical assistance to implement an action plan addressing their unique equity challenge during a six-month in-district work period.
Over the course of the past three years, researchers have collected rich data from the fellowship including: interviews, surveys, observations, and analysis of documents and practices. Preliminary findings illuminate the support(s) RELN provides leaders to strengthen their capacity to lead for racial equity:
• Fellowship convenings provide a safe, supportive, validating, and culturally sustaining space, which allowed fellows to intentionally and explicitly discuss race and draw upon the space as a social, emotional and intellectual resource
• Effective facilitation by way of valuing culture, situating history, fostering community, and establishing meaningful connections were key elements in supporting the RELN Arc of Learning
• Liberatory design tools (e.g., self-reflection, helping trios, individual coaching, etc.) prepared fellows to navigate impulsive environments through employing iterative design processes (e.g., safe-to-fail experiments)
• Fellowship curriculum responded to the individual needs of fellows, their district, and the varying levels of support for equity work by operating at different registers at different points
• Equity-oriented lens and praxis encouraged fellows to grow in their capacity to enact distributive leadership within their district
Integral to the experiences of the fellows was the development of a theoretical framework for district and school leaders and staff to understand the ecosystem of policies and practices they design and enact. It also includes a set of measurable indicators to track progress toward greater racial equity and enable data-informed decision-making. The tool (which will be presented in this paper) is based on a systematic review of extant literature and instruments on educational equity (e.g. Annenberg, 2002; Authors, 2017; Del Razo et al., 2014; Nagaoka et al., 2015; National Commission on Teaching an America’s Future, 2016; Scheerens, 2011).

This paper is a significant contribution to scholarship because it brings together what is known about district racial equity in a uniquely comprehensive and practical tool. The tool helps conceptualize systems-level equity work for practitioners and researchers alike, and provides a resource for districts to self-evaluate, set goals, and track progress over time. Additionally, it provides a way for external users to systematically collect data to inform further research on racial equity outcomes. Ready for dissemination and use, this tool will help to inform research, practice, and policy in research-based, equity-oriented ways.

Authors

• Darion A. Wallace, Stanford University

• Larkin Willis, Learning Policy Institute

• Maria E. Hyler, Learning Policy Institute

• Marjorie E. Wechsler, Learning Policy Institute

• Desiree Carver-Thomas, Learning Policy Institute