Educational Equity Through a Critical Race Perspective of Antiracism and Intersectionality: Disrupting Colorblind Ideologies in School Leaders’ Praxis
摘要
Colorblind ideologies pervade school leaders’ educational equity initiatives, rendering Black and Brown students’ needs and experiences invisible. In this qualitative study, we examine the challenges and possibilities of disrupting colorblind ideologies in school leaders’ educational equity praxis. As an overarching query, we consider how professional development educators could more effectively facilitate school leaders’ onto-epistemological shifts from colorblindness to a critical race theoretical perspective of antiracism and intersectionality around equity. We focus on 30 school leaders (majority are of Color) enrolled in a two-year, grant-funded academy that aims to cultivate race-conscious, equity-minded school leaders in high-needs schools in three states in the U.S. East Coast. We ask: In what ways do school leaders’ perceptions of equity reflect colorblind ideologies? How do they envision implementing antiracist and intersectional equity initiatives at their schools? How do their envisioned approaches (dis)connect with critical race theoretical underpinnings? School leaders’ equity audits and leadership reflections suggest that they are committed to antiracist equity work but may struggle to interrogate race and racism when considering issues of inequities. A critical race perspective of antiracism and intersectionality around equity could help school leaders better understand the centrality of race and its intersections with gender and other marginalized identities. School leaders could benefit from engaging in ongoing critical reflexivity around their positionalities and critical racial praxis with community and colleagues, and through networks of support.