How District Leaders of Color Apply Learning From an Affinity Group to Design Equitable Schools

• In Event: Pandemics and Organizational Dynamics in Schools

Abstract

While there continues to be a growing body of research on how affinity groups shape the school-based practices for teachers of color (Kohli, 2019; Mosely, 2018; Pour-Khorshid, 2018), we know less about how professional learning communities (affinity group) shape the practices of senior district leaders of color. This 20-month (January 2019 – August 2020) study examines how superintendents of color and members of their leadership team learn to design equitable policies and practices by participating in an affinity group.

We drew on data collected from three sources: 70 hours of observations, 27 one-on-one interviews, and 3 surveys (pre, mid-point, and post). The affinity group was comprised of five district leaders of color from five school districts in the Midwest and East Coast, all of whom served predominantly students of color who also qualified for free or reduced lunch. Participants included members from three traditional school districts and two charter school networks. In addition to the most senior leaders, each district team included members of the senior leader’s cabinet as well as one school building leader. Finally, as part of the affinity group, each district identified one dilemma of practice.

We found that school closure and reopening plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic created a unique opportunity to understand how school systems were applying their learning from the affinity group to design policies and practices aimed at closing persistent opportunity gaps. Below we highlight the shift in one district.

The Mills team’s focus during the affinity group was on increasing learning outcomes for its English Language Learners (ELLs) population. Specifically, the team began the initial process of designing a school for its ELL students. One learning for this team during the affinity group was the importance of including the voices of the most marginalized in the design planning process (i.e., students and the families of ELLs). The district’s superintendent said:
We had this crazy thing [COVID-19] happen that caused us to halt our schools and stop and try to put something together quickly. And then you have got a little more time to put the whole thing together again, for the next year, how are you going to do that? I would say that the questions that we were asking, the students that we were thinking about, and for example, I had an advisory, thirty-person advisory, I made sure I had parents of English learners, participating in the advisory, that sort of attention to designing in the margin, I don’t know that I would have done it that way necessarily, you know, were it not for this.

Findings from this study underscore the importance of designing affinity groups for senior district leaders of color. Senior district leaders, based on their position in the organizational hierarchy, were uniquely positioned to design equitable policies and practices. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic as participants attempted to equitably re-open their schools – senior district leaders of color described how their learning from the affinity group shaped their reopening plans.

Authors

• Travis J. Bristol, University of California - Berkeley

• Rebecca Cheung, University of California - Berkeley