Purveyors of Change

School Leaders of Color Share Narratives of Student, School, and Community Success

Edited by:
Judy A. Alston, Miami University
Lawrence Scott, Texas A&M University-San Antonio
Sheree N. Alexander, Atlantic City Public Schools

A volume in the series: Research, Advocacy, Collaboration, and Empowerment Mentoring Series. Editor(s): Donna Y. Ford, Ohio State University.

Published 2021

Effective leadership is the necessary ingredient in achieving educational improvement in schools; everything rises and falls on leadership. For School Leaders of Color, this leadership imperative is more difficult than it is for their White counterparts. Concomitantly with this leadership necessity are the social and academic disparities of racism, student poverty, lack of resources, just to name a few. Yet these leaders have courageously accepted their role to disrupt low performance and thus they have created environments where students learn and professors teach. These leaders are “purveyors of change.” The purpose of this educational preparation supplemental text is to share stories of these exceptional leaders in the field and in the academy.

The experiences shared by the various authors cover four important areas in leadership: Culture & Climate; Student Success; Resilience, Persistence, & Turnaround; and Social Justice. The authors have shared some deeply personal issues and triumphs. These are the stories that resonate more deeply with students and that with these types of stories, the theory to practice bridge is successfully crossed. While many of the chapters include narratives of resilience and triumph in the context of the P-12 education system, the overarching themes and suggestions can be transmuted to any industry.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments. Introduction. PART I: CULTURE AND CLIMATE. From Peril to Promise, Donna Druery. Out of School Suspensions Impact on Students of Color, Dorothy C. Handfield. You’re Hired! An Administrator’s Tale of Attracting, Training, and Retaining Highly Qualified Teachers, Lawrence Scott. Selling Education, Charisma S. Popillion. PART II: STUDENT SUCCESS. “Cause You Talk Like Me”: Color’d Girl Leading, Patricia Virella. Coaching for Success: An Administrator’s Account About African American Leadership, Willie Black. Planning for Student Success: Addressing Academic Achievement, and Social Emotional Well-Being, Renee L. Garraway. District-Level Programs for Black Student Success: Constraints and Opportunities for Leaders, Staff, and Community, Wil Greer. PART III: RESILIENCE, PERSISTENCE, AND TURNAROUND. The Negligence of Conformist Leadership, Joseph Cerna. Dare to Dream and Keep It Moving: From GED to EdD, C. Dedra Williams. Leading and Surviving: Navigating and Surviving the Political Currents in Urban Education, Cynthia Alexander Mitchell. Inner-City Public Schools Still Work: How One Principal’s Life Is Living Proof, Mateen A. Diop. PART IV: RESILIENCE, PERSISTENCE, AND TURNAROUND. Talking Back: Two Leadership Dialogue About Leading While Black for Social Justice, Jamel Adkins-Sharif; and Natalie D. Lewis. Leading Against Anti-Blackness, Floyd Cobb. When Hegemony, Microaggressions, and White Fragility Undermine Your Leadership, Raphael Crawford. Leading While Black or Brown, Jerneé S. Kollock-Mann. About the Contributors.