Improvement Science, DEI, And Self-Interrogation: A Pathway Towards Eliminating Traditional Indicators of Academic Success

• In Event: Building Equitable Leadership Capacity: An Improvement Science Toolkit

Abstract

As a school building leader, I was faced with the challenge of supporting students in Grades 3 to 5 who did not meet state proficiency standards in mathematics. My student body of approximately 300 was 80% Black and Brown students, with 40% of students identified as English language learners or students with a disability. As the assistant principal, I set out to decrease the percentage of students in testing grades who were not proficient in math. Much of my research and my approach to the work centered around Gholson et al.’s (2012) stance on “Black Excellence.” As such, particular attention was given to how teacher and leadership biases and perceptions contributed to the issue of poor student achievement. Using an Improvement Science approach, multiple “drivers” were identified that led to an intentional focus on how we, as a math community and department, used culturally responsive pedagogy during instruction to benefit student achievement. I engaged in a structured leadership reflection process using Drago–Severson’s (2009) Pillars of Adult Learning Theory to interrogate the impact that I as a leader had on staff and students and how these things impacted student achievement. My study generated several conclusions, some of them being the need to continue to engage teachers in work around culturally responsive pedagogy and biases, and the importance of school leaders to interrogate their own practice through the use of a theoretical framework.

Author

• Jermaine D. Dickerson, Fordham University