Meeting Principals Where They're At: Leadership Coaching Moves to Support Leadership for Racial Justice

• In Event: Coaching and Mentoring for Social Justice Leadership

Abstract

While there is a growing literature base about what anti-racist school leadership looks like, there is little existing research on how to support principals’ learning for how to do it. In this study we used qualitative methods to investigate a year-long, cohort-based professional learning experience for school leaders aimed at re-imagining equity-centered instructional leadership. We analyzed the participants’ learning and the coaching moves that supported their journey within the context of their intersectional identities. We found that over the course of the program, nearly all of the participants improved in making explicit connections between their leadership and racial justice and in describing specific leadership actions that could lead towards anti-racist teaching and learning.

Authors

• Jessica G. Rigby, University of Washington

• Sarah Clancey, University of Washington

• Xinyi Zhong, University of Washington - Seattle

• Natalie Rasmussen, Minnesota State University - Mankato

• Jessica Quindel, Self-employed

• Ken Simon, Institute for Educational Leadership