WHAT DOES IT TAKE? SUSTAINING K–8 SCHOOL LEADERS THROUGH EQUITY-CENTERED REDESIGN IN AN URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT

This dissertation study addresses the pressing need to improve school leaders’ working conditions and sustainability in race and equity work. Although frameworks and theories such as Critical Race Theory (Bell 1995; Crenshaw, 2019), Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995), Racial Literacy (Stevenson, 2014), Culturally Responsive School Leadership (Khalifa et al., 2016), EquityXdesign (Hill et al., 2016), Emergent Strategy (Brown, 2017), and Flux Pedagogy and Flux Leadership (Ravitch, 2020; 2022; 2023), exist in relationship to practices related to culturally responsive leadership, there is little research on the specific sustaining factors necessary for school leaders to engage in this work. The allostatic load faced by principals is staggering (Alston, 2005). This qualitative research study uncovered the barriers, enablers, and mitigating factors school leaders described as contributing to principal sustainability and supporting meaningful and impactful race and equity work for schools and the communities they serve. The findings of this study give voice to practitioners who shed light on the contextual factors that influence the sustainability of school leaders and the effectiveness of race and equity work within K–8 schools. Their stories highlight how sustaining factors create a path forward for school leaders engaged in race and equity work. The themes of their narratives led to the composition of a framework for school leader sustainability that emphasizes three major factors related to sustainability: 1) critical relationships, 2) differentiated professional development, and 3) self-care. The research identified the conditions school leaders deem necessary to engage in meaningful and impactful race and equity work in practice.

Author dc:creator

• Overton, Lauren, Joy

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ravitch, Sharon, M

• Education

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.500.14332/61034

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.upenn.edu:20.500.14332/61034