This article situates the counternarrative of three African American female school principals and their leadership practices toward equity using a critical race theory framework (CRT). The data come from a larger exploratory study that addressed the understanding of the so-called achievement gap by school leaders. Four prevalent themes emerged through the use of a CRT analysis: (1) Mind-set toward opportunity gap; (2) recognizing issues: race, racism, and interest convergence; (3) holistic approaches toward “Our” students; and (4) the (real) opportunity of loss. I conclude with four contexts for implication for school leadership practice.
AgostoV., KaranxhaZ., & BellaraA. (2015). Battling inertia in educational leadership: CRT praxis for race conscious dialogue. Race Ethnicity and Education, 18(6), 785–812.
2.
AlcoffL. (1991). The problem of speaking for others. Cultural Critique, 20, 5–32.
3.
AndersenM. L., & CollinsP. H. (2004). Race, class, and gender: An anthology.Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth.
4.
AvelingN. (2007). Anti-racism in schools: A question of leadership?Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 28(1), 69–85.
5.
BellD. A. (1980). Brown v. Board of Education and the interest-convergence dilemma. Harvard Law Review, 518–533.
6.
BellD. (1992). Racial realism. Connecticut Law Review, 24(2), 363–379.
7.
BellD. A. (1995). David C. Baum Memorial Lecture: Who's Afraid of Critical Race Theory?University of Illinois Law Review.
8.
BloomC. M., & ErlandsonD. A. (2003). African American women principals in urban schools: Realities, (re)constructions, and resolutions. Educational Administration Quarterly, 39(3), 339–369.
9.
BoykinA. W., & NogueraP. (2011). Creating the opportunity to learn: Moving from research to practice to close the achievement gap.Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
10.
BrownK. M. (2011). Pivotal points: History, development, and promise of the principalship. In FenwickF.W. (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of educational leadership: Advances in theory, research, and practice (pp. 81–109). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
11.
BuceriusS. M. (2013). Becoming a “trusted outsider”: Gender, ethnicity, and inequality in ethnographic research. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 42(6), 690–721.
12.
BushawW. J., & LopezS. J. (2012). Highlights of the 2012 PDK/Gallup Poll: What Americans said about the public schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 94(1), 8–25.
13.
CapperC. A. (2015). The 20th-year anniversary of critical race theory in education: Implications for leading to eliminate racism. Educational Administration Quarterly, 51(5), 791–833.
14.
CarterP. L. (2009). Equity and empathy toward racial and educational achievement Obama era. Harvard Educational Review, 79(2), 287–297.
15.
CarterP. L., & WelnerK. G. (2013). Closing the opportunity gap: What America must do to give every child an even chance.New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
16.
ChaseS. E. (1995). Ambiguous empowerment: The work narratives of women school superintendents.Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
17.
CollinsM.L., & AndersonP.H. (2004). Race, class, and gender: An anthology.Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth.
18.
CrenshawK. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299.
19.
CrottyM. (1998). The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
20.
DelgadoR., & StefancicJ. (2012). Critical race theory: An introduction.New York: New York University Press.
21.
DiamondJ. B. (2006). Still separate and unequal: Examining race, opportunity, and school achievement in “integrated” suburbs. The Journal of Negro Education, 75(3), 495–505.
22.
DillardC. B. (1995). Leading with her life: An African American Feminist (re) interpretation of leadership for an urban high school principal. Educational Administration Quarterly, 31(4), 539–563.
23.
DillardC. B. (2000). The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen: Examining an endarkened feminist epistemology in educational research and leadership. Qualitative Studies in Education, 13(6), 661–681.
24.
DixsonA. D., & RousseauC. K. (2005). And we are still not saved: critical race theory in education ten years later. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 7–27.
25.
EmersonR. M., FretzR. I., & ShawL. L. (2011). Writing ethnographic fieldnotes.Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
26.
FloresO., & GunzenhauserM.A. (2016, April). Justice in the gaps: School leader ethics and the use of data to address the opportunity gap. Paper presented at annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington, D.C.
27.
FusarelliL. D. (2004). The potential impact of the no child left behind act on equity and diversity in American education. Educational Policy, 18(1), 71–94.
28.
GatesS. M., RingelJ. S., SantibanezL., RossK. E., & ChungC. H. (2003). Who is leading our schools? An overview of school administrators and their careers (Vol. 1679): RAND Corporation.
29.
HillJ., OttemR., & DeRocheJ. (2016). Stats in brief: Trends in public and private school principal demographics and qualifications: 1987–88 to 2011–12.
30.
HeifetzR.A. (1994). Leadership without easy answers.Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
31.
hooksB. (1992). Black looks: Race and representation.Boston, MA: South End Press.
32.
HorsfordS. D. (2009). From negro student to black superintendent: Counternarratives on segregation and desegregation. The Journal of Negro Education, 78(2), 172–187.
33.
HorsfordS. D., & TillmanL. C. (2012). Inventing herself: examining the intersectional identities and educational leadership of Black women in the USA. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 25(1), 1–9.
34.
IshimaruA.M. (2014). When new relationships meet old narratives: The journey towards improving parent-school relations in a district-community organizing collaboration. Teachers College Record, 116(2), 1–49.
35.
KhalifaM., DunbarC., & DouglasbT.-R. (2013). Derrick Bell, CRT, and educational leadership 1995–present. Race Ethnicity and Education, 16(4), 489–513.
36.
KarpinskiC. F. (2006). Bearing the burden of desegregation: Black principals and Brown. Urban Education, 41(3), 237–276.
37.
KnausC. B. (2014). Seeing what they want to see: Racism and leadership development in urban schools. The Urban Review, 46(3), 420–444.
38.
Kuykendall (2004). From rage to hope: Strategies for reclaiming Black & Hispanic students.Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
39.
Ladson-BillingsG., & TateW. F. (1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97(1), 47.
40.
Ladson-BillingsG. (1998). Just what is critical race theory and what's it doing in a nice field like education?International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(1), 7–24.
41.
Ladson-BillingsG. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3–12.
42.
LeeJ. (2006). Tracking achievement gaps and assessing the impact of NCLB on the gaps: An in-depth look into national and state reading and math outcome trends.Cambridge, MA: The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University.
43.
LincolnY. S., & GubaE. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry.Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
44.
LomoteyK. (1989). African-American principals: School leadership and success (No. 124). New York, NY: Greenwood Publishing Group.
45.
LomoteyK. (Ed.). (1990). Going to school: The African-American experience.Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
46.
LopezG. R. (2003). The (racially neutral) politics of education: A critical race theory perspective. Educational Administration Quarterly, 39(1), 68–94.
47.
LortieD. (2009). School principal: Managing in public.Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
48.
McGee BanksC. A. M. (2007). Gender and race as factors in educational leadership and administration. Educational Leadership (Vol. 2, pp. 299–338). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
49.
MerriamS. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation.San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
50.
MertzN. T., & McNeelyS. R. (1998). Women on the job: A study of female high school principals. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(2), 196–222.
51.
MichieG. (2009). Holler if you hear me: The education of a teacher and his students.New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
52.
Milner IVH. R. (2010). Start where you are, but don't stay there: Understanding diversity, opportunity gaps, and teaching in today's classrooms.Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
53.
Milner IVH. R. (2012). Beyond a Test Score: Explaining Opportunity Gaps in Educational Practice. Journal of Black Studies, 43(6), 693–718.
54.
MiklosE. (1988). Administrator selection, career patterns, succession, and socialization. In BoyanN. J. (Ed.), Handbook of research on educational administration: A project of the American Educational Research Association (pp. 53–76). New York: Longman.
55.
MooreD. C. (2013). Race specialists: What a black administrator ought to be and do. Journal of school leadership, 23(6), 994–1014.
56.
MyungJ., LoebS., & HorngE. (2011). Tapping the principal pipeline: Identifying talent for future school leadership in the absence of formal succession management programs. Educational Administration Quarterly, 47(5), 695–727.
OrtizF. I., & MarshallC. (1988). Women in educational administration. In BoyanN. J. (Ed.), The handbook of research on educational administration (pp. 123–141). New York: Longman.
59.
PattonM. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods.Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
60.
ParkerL., & VillalpandoO. (2007). A race(cialized) perspective on education leadership: Critical race theory in educational administration. Educational Administration Quarterly, 43(5), 519–524.
61.
PetersA. L. (2012). Leading through the challenge of change: African-American women principals on small school reform. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 25(1), 23–38.
62.
PollardD. S. (1997). Race, gender, and educational leadership: Perspectives from African American principals. Educational Policy, 11(3), 353–374.
63.
ReedL. C. (2012). The intersection of race and gender in school leadership for three Black female principals. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 25(1), 39–58.
64.
RichardsC. (1988). The search for equity in educational administration: A commentary. In BoyanN. J. (Ed.), The handbook of educational administration.New York, NY: Longman.
65.
SeidmanI. (2013). Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences (4th ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
66.
ShakeshaftC. (1989). The gender gap in research in educational administration. Educational Administration Quarterly, 25(4), 324–337.
67.
SolórzanoD. G., & BernalD. D. (2001). Examining transformational resistance through a critical race and latcrit theory framework: Chicana and Chicano students in an urban context. Urban Education, 36, 308–342.
68.
SolórzanoD. G., & YossoT. J. (2001). Critical race and LatCrit theory and method: Counter-storytelling. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 14(4), 471–495.
69.
SolórzanoD. G., & YossoT. J. (2002). Critical race methodology: Counter-storytelling as an analytical framework for education research. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 23–44.
70.
StovallD. (2004). School leader as negotiator: Critical race theory, praxis, and the creation of productive space. Multicultural Education, 12(2), 8–12.
71.
TillmanL. C. (2002). Culturally sensitive research approaches: An African-American perspective. Educational Researcher, 31(9), 3–12.
72.
TillmanL. C. (2004). (Un)Intended consequences?: The impact of the Brown v. Board of Education decision on the employment status of black educators. Education and Urban Society, 36(3), 280–303.
73.
TyackD. B. (1974). The one best system: A history of American urban education (Vol. 95). Harvard University Press.
74.
TyeB. B. (1987). The deep structure of schooling. The Phi Delta Kappan, 69, (4), 281–284.
75.
Venzant ChambersT. T. (2009). The “receivement gap”: School tracking policies and the fallacy of the “achievement gap.”The Journal of Negro Education, 78(4), 417–431.
76.
YeakeyC. C., JohnstonG. S., & AdkisonJ. A. (1986). In pursuit of equity: A review of research on minorities and women in educational administration. Educational Administration Quarterly, 22(3), 110–149.
