Читать книгу Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership - Sharon I. Radd - Страница 5

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In early 2013, I called George (a mentor and friend since 2007), then Mark (whom I'd met and whose work I had followed), and then Gretchen (whom I knew of but had never met) and asked them to join me in thinking about the unique practice of school leadership that aims to make meaningful structural and systemic shifts toward educational equity. I will remain forever grateful to each of them for saying yes to the possibility of the four of us working together and, ultimately, for the ways they opened themselves and shared their experiences, energy, wisdom, investment, and hearts to envision how we might offer something of value. That they selected me as lead author of this book reflects only that I made the initial contacts; it does not reflect the true investment of time, knowledge, ideas, and words on the page that we collectively imparted. I am both honored and humbled to be in partnership with Gretchen, Mark, and George and forever changed by the process of, and learning from, our work and relationships together.

We began our four-person team first by talking about ideas and approaches to this type of leadership, and then began to discuss what form our collective work might take, eventually deciding to write a book—this book—together. Our sole purpose was to address an overwhelming need in the field for practical and effective resources and guidance to make systemic change that advances social justice in schools and school districts while building cohesive communities. We wanted to develop a book that would provide leaders with processes and tools to engage in the deeply disruptive nature of equity change with thoughtful attention to fundamental human needs for connection, growth, and homeostasis.

Through our multiyear process of developing content and writing together, we witnessed national events that were changing our world: Ferguson; Philando Castile; the growing power of Black Lives Matter; the unprecedented election of President Donald Trump; the ushering in of the post-truth era; Brett Kavanaugh and the #MeToo movement; escalating climate change; sweeping and inhumane anti-immigrant actions; increasing awareness and acceptance of gender diversity; and the increasing levels of both activism and polarization aided and fueled by the evermore omnipresent role of the internet and social media in our lives. As of this writing, we are months past the initial stay-home orders in most states related to the Coronavirus, and the U.S. count has surpassed 18 million cases of infection, with more than 1.5 million deaths worldwide. These numbers, as well as any report on the economic impact of this crisis, will undoubtedly seem incredibly stunted by the time you read this. We cannot predict the lasting and unimaginable ways this global pandemic—or the political and social polarization that accompanies it in the United States—will change our world on every scale, including in schools and in our daily lives. By the time you read this, although you will have a better idea, the true impact will not be known for years.

Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, we are witness to social unrest and uprising on the largest scale in decades, ignited by the slow and painful murder of George Floyd, held under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer for over nine minutes, and captured on videotape for the world to see, just a few miles from my home in Minneapolis.

We believe that whatever happens in the months and years ahead, and however our lives change, the processes and tools in this book will be useful for you. We wrote this book such that it could be practical and useful across contexts, and not rely on any particular set of assumptions about the way your school, district, or other educational setting might work, with the exception that yours is a human system, it is focused on learning, and it exists in a centuries-old context of racism, sexism, classism, and other forms of exclusion.

To that end, we know that the management literature and paradigms about how business leaders grow and create more profit through their companies and practices simply cannot be directly applied to schools that seek to serve all students, particularly as they exist in broader systems that structurally guarantee and necessitate inequality and inequity. Educational equity requires the examination and revision of tightly held beliefs about how schools are structured and operationalized, for what purpose, and to what end. The strength of this book originates from the combined array of life, educational, and professional histories we each brought to our work together, as well as our experiences as practitioners, consultants, and professors. We hope it serves as an encouraging guide for you to address the challenge of bringing together individuals with diverse perspectives and life experiences to create an organization that truly fosters meaningful learning in every aspect of its environment.

We hope this book will help you and your team build the types of relationships that we have in our work together. Through our work, we increasingly engaged in open and honest conversations about race, gender, dis/ability, and other aspects of identity and, as a result, our collaboration has required courage, commitment, persistence, humility, compassion, and honesty. We have experienced countless moments as individuals of different races (Mark and Gretchen identify as Black; George and I identify as White) faced with the decision to withhold an opinion or perspective or to step into more honesty, openness, and curiosity. These challenges were complicated and exacerbated by the realities of power and privilege and lived experience that would caution against such honesty and risk. Through our persistent leaning in, we were astounded, not by the ongoing need to address race and racism in our work for social justice, but by our own need to continue learning and talking about race and racism across racialized identities. Gretchen and Mark were skillful and compassionate teachers, and George and I were grateful for new insights and learning but discouraged at times by the magnitude of our own knowledge gaps, despite now decades of targeted learning in attempts to know and understand. Gretchen shared with me on more than one occasion that it was critical that she witnessed George and I struggle and was witness to our subsequent actions as a result of our new learning. As she shared, "The everyday experience of working for justice, to create more equitable educational spaces, is often frustrating and isolating. It was important for me to know that despite knowledge gaps, not only are there White educators committed to and actually doing equity work, but some of us are dedicated to teaching other White educators how it can be done. It was important for me to see that you and George were not just allies in theory, but also in practice." Throughout our teamwork, we developed an unspoken but very-much-alive commitment to hold one another with grace and compassion, while simultaneously (1) facing the stark and inhumane realities of racism, sexism, ableism, classism, and all other forms of exclusion, discrimination, dehumanization, and violence; and (2) struggling through the complexities of systems of oppression and the challenges of intersectionality.

Equity leadership requires that kind of commitment, courage, and self-reflection from all of us. It requires us to imagine equitable spaces and ideas that we have not seen in practice. To do this, leaders require a bold vision, significant knowledge and skills, and collaboration with many people. This book takes leaders and teams through an engaged process that involves deep learning. It creates space for teams to step back from their day-to-day struggles to focus on the big picture, and then it moves them toward action for creating the schools our nation wants and needs. This book invites educational leaders to transform how they think and, ultimately, what they do as a result.

A key feature of this work and thus of this book is a scaffolded use of stories: our stories, the stories of our schools, the stories of communities, the stories we tell, and so on. This book employs our collective understanding that embedded within stories is the unique opportunity to reclaim and reimagine how things might be if we can use stories as impetus for self-reflection and growth, as well as to develop others (Bruner, 1990). As a result, this book provides many opportunities for you to name, reclaim, revise, and expand your equity stories and to place them alongside other stories. Throughout the book we offer a variety of activities designed to encourage you and your team to unearth and improve your equity lenses and leadership by naming, reflecting, and examining the narratives (stories, experiences, and perspectives) that shape your thinking. In the process, we believe that you will learn, as we did, that you are not alone. By engaging in this process together, you will strengthen yourselves as individual leaders and as a team that will be better able to design and lead change.

We are so excited that this book is here now and that you have chosen to pick it up and see what it holds! We believe you will find it useful, instructive, challenging, and affirming. Most importantly, we thank you for your commitment to, and work in, transforming systems to include and truly serve all students, their families, and their communities.

With hope and in leadership,

Sharon I. Radd With my beloved friends and colleagues Gretchen Givens Generett, Mark Anthony Gooden, and George Theoharis