Advancing racial equity for Black students during the pandemic: public school principals navigating a perfect storm

Research focused on equity has saturated academia. However, advancing racial equity specifically for Black elementary students during the COVID-19 pandemic is a recently developed phenomenon. Racial equity is corrective justice for communities that have been oppressed and denied educational opportunities because of a long history of legislated and institutionalized racism. This research is based on the premise that race should not predetermine student success. This qualitative study focuses on the work of five veteran public school principals in a Mid-Atlantic state serving a population of 40% or more Black students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The practices of the principal participants are examined and checked for alignment with the Dimensions of Equity Framework targeting: a) access, b) achievement, c) identity, d) power, and the Equitable Leadership Practices Framework centered around the 6 Interstate School Leader Licensure Consortium Standard (ISLLC) now known as the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders. The research analyzes the principals’ practices to identify how they informed the leadership approach of each principal. Utilizing deductive coding to analyze ten in-depth semi-structured interviews and several artifacts, 6 themes and 12 standard practices emerged. The following research questions guided this study: RQ1: What practices do school principals focus on and value to advance racial equity for marginalized Black students during the pandemic? RQ2: Of these racial equity values embraced by principals, which were the most salient that aligned with the Dimensions of Equity and the Equitable Leadership Practices Frameworks? RQ3: Based on these Frameworks, how do these racial equity values inform the principals’ leadership and efforts to help marginalized Black students during the pandemic? The findings from this qualitative study demonstrate the need for educational leaders to not only acknowledge institutional inequities and academic setbacks because of the COVID-19 pandemic but to appreciate the brilliance of their Black students. Creating inclusive environments where Black students thrive because of encouragement, a sense of belonging, empowerment to impact change, and access to abundant resources will advance racial equity. Principal practices of articulating a vision, modeling ethical and equitable behavior, increasing visibility, assigning culturally responsive teachers, supervising for improvement of equitable instruction, coaching, supporting families, developing community partnerships, adopting high expectations, teaching social-emotional learning, instituting cooperative learning, small group instruction, centering student voice, leading courageous conversations about race and cultivating leadership can increase Black student success rates. As empowered instructional servants and culturally responsive leaders, principals can shift mindsets and build the capacity of their staff to advance racial equity for marginalized Black students.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Lowe, April L

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lee, Sharon
• Hood, Denice
• Kang, Hyun-Sook
• Roegman, Rachel

• Racial Equity
• Pandemic
• Principals

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 April Lowe

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115924

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F115924