Abstract
This critical race theory (CRT)-framed qualitative study (n = 9) examined racism within a context of urban teacher leadership development. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with three White principals, who each identified one White and one African American teacher as “most promising” leadership potential. These teachers were interviewed, leading to analysis of principal support and teacher perceptions of being supported. The findings clarify principals who adopted a language of equity, while simultaneously arguing that their White teachers were more effective (based erroneously on the belief that the White teachers’ students had higher test scores). The African American teachers, on the other hand, were framed as experts in culturally responsive approaches, given increased teaching responsibilities, and not provided similar leadership opportunities. This difference in opportunities and expectations had lasting impacts on the African American teachers, who internalized the lack of resources and negative messages they received from their principals. The paper concludes with CRT implications for inclusive leadership development processes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, J. D. (1988). The education of Blacks in the South, 1860–1935. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Annamma, S. A., Connor, D., & Ferri, B. (2013). Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit): Theorizing at the intersections of race and dis/ability. Race Ethnicity and Education, 16(1), 1–31.
Apple, M. (1995). Education and power (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Applied Research Center. (1999). Creating crisis: How California teaching policies aggravate racial inequality in public schools. Oakland, CA: Applied Research Center.
Au, W. (2009). Unequal by design: High-stakes testing and the standardization of inequality. New York: Routledge.
Aud, S., Fox, M. A., & KewalRamani, A. (2010). Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic groups. Washington, DC: National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES 2010015).
Banks, J. A. (1993). The cannon debate: Knowledge construction and multicultural education. Educational Researcher, 22(5), 4–14.
Banks, J. A. (2006). Cultural diversity and education: Foundations, curriculum, and teaching (5th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Baxter, P., & Jack, S. (2008). Qualitative case study methodology: Study design and implementation for novice researchers. The Qualitative Report, 13(4), 544–559.
Bell, D. (1994). Confronting authority: Reflections of an ardent protestor. New York: Beacon Press.
Bell, D. (2004). Silent covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the unfulfilled hopes for racial reform. New York: Oxford University Press.
Berlak, H. (1999). Adverse impact: How CBEST fails the people of California. Oakland, CA: Applied Research Center.
Bloom, C. M., & Erlandson, D. A. (2003). African American women principals in urban schools: Realities, (re)constructions, and resolutions. Educational Administration Quarterly, 39(3), 339–369.
Branch, A. (2001). Increasing the numbers of teachers of color in K-12 public schools. Educational Forum, 65(3), 254–261.
Brown, F. (2005). African Americans and school leadership: An introduction. Educational Administration Quarterly, 41, 585–590.
Dancy, T. E, I. I. (2013). Sociohistorical contexts of African American male education: An analysis of race, class, and gender. In M. C. Brown II, T. E. Dancy II, & J. E. Davis (Eds.), Educating African American males: Contexts for consideration, possibilities for practice (pp. 1–21). New York: Peter Lang.
Darling-Hammond, L. (2004). Inequality and the right to learn: Access to qualified teachers in California’s public schools. Teachers College Record, 106(10), 1936–1966.
Delgado, R. (Ed.). (1995). Critical race theory: The cutting edge. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Delpit, L. (2006). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: New Press.
Delpit, L. (2012). “Multiplication is for White people”: Raising expectations for other people’s children. New York: The New Press.
Dixson, A. D., & Rousseau, C. K. (2005). And we are still not saved: Critical race theory in education ten years later. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 7–27.
Duncan, A. (2010). Changing the HBCU narrative: From corrective action to creative investment. Remarks by Secretary Arne Duncan at the HBCU Symposium at the North Carolina Central University Centennial, Durham, NC, June 3.
Epstein, K. K. (2012). A different view of urban schools: Civil rights, critical race theory, and unexplored realities (2nd ed.). New York: Peter Lang.
Evans-Winters, V., & Esposito, J. (2010). Other people’s daughters: Critical race feminism and Black girls’ education. Educational Foundations, 24(1), 11–14.
Foster, M. (1997). Black teachers on teaching. New York: The New Press.
Gardiner, M. E., Enomoto, E., & Grogan, M. (2000). Coloring outside the lines: Mentoring women into school leadership. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Gates, S. M., Ringel, J. S., Santibañez, L., Ross, K. E., & Chung, C. H. (2003). Who is leading our schools? An overview of school administrators and their careers. MR-1697-EDU. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. New York: Teachers College Press.
Gay, G. (2003). Becoming multicultural educators: Personal journey toward professional agency. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Gay, G., & Howard, T. (2000). Multicultural teacher education for the 21st century. The Teacher Educator, 36(1), 1–16.
Glaser, Barney G. (1992). Basics of grounded theory analysis. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.
Gordon, J. (2000). The color of teaching. New York: Routledge-Farmer.
Hassouneh, D. (2006). Anti-racist pedagogy: Challenges faced by faculty of color in predominantly White schools of nursing. Journal of Nursing Education, 45(7), 255–262.
Higher Education Research Institute. (2010). Degrees of success: Bachelor’s degree completion rates among initial STEM majors. Retrieved July 24, 2011, from, http://www.heri.ucla.edu/nih/HERI_ResearchBrief_OL_2010_STEM.pdf.
Hill, D. A., & Gillette, M. (2005). Teachers for tomorrow in urban schools: Recruiting and supporting the pipeline. Multicultural Perspectives, 7(3), 42–50.
Howard, T. C. (2007). The forgotten link: The salience of Pre-K-12 education and culturally responsive pedagogy in creating access to higher education for African American students. In J. F. L. Jackson (Ed.), Strengthening the African American educational pipeline: Informing research, policy, and practice (pp. 17–36). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Howard, T. C. (2008). Who really cares? The disenfranchisement of African American males in Pre K-12 schools: A critical race theory perspective. Teachers College Record, 110(5), 954.
Husband, T, Jr. (2012). “I don’t see color:” Challenging assumptions about discussing race with young children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 39(6), 365–371.
Jacullo-Noto, J. (1991). Minority recruitment in teacher education. Urban Education, 26(2), 214–231.
Jahi, A. (2008). Students disengaged as schools align curriculum with NCLB goals. The notebook: Focus on changing the odds, 16(2). Retrieved July 24, 2011, from, http://www.thenotebook.org/winter-2008/08311/students-disengaged-schools-align-curriculum-nclb-goals.
Jean-Marie, G., Williams, V. A., & Sherman, S. L. (2009). Black women’s leadership experiences: Examining the intersectionality of race and gender. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 11(5), 562–581.
Jones, C. (2002). Teachers’ perceptions of African American principal’s leadership in schools. Peabody Journal of Education, 77(1), 7–34.
Kalogrides, D., & Loeb, S. (2013). Different teachers, different peers: The magnitude of student sorting within schools. Educational Researcher, 42(6), 304–316.
Khalifa, M. A. (2011). Teacher expectations and principal behavior: Responding to teacher acquiescence. The Urban Review, 43(5), 702–727.
Knaus, C. B. (2007). Still segregated, still unequal: Analyzing the impact of no child left behind on African American students. In S. J. Jones (Ed.), The state of Black America: Portrait of the Black male (pp. 105–121). Washington, DC: National Urban League.
Kozol, J. (1969). Death at an early age. New York: Plume.
Kozol, J. (1991). Savage inequalities: Children in America’s schools. New York: Harper Perennial.
Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2009). Interviews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1999). Just what is critical race theory, and what’s it doing in a nice field like education? In L. Parker, D. Deyhele, & S. Villenas (Eds.), Race is… race isn’t: Critical race theory and qualitative studies in education (pp. 7–30). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Lewis, C. (2006). African American male teachers in public schools: An examination of three urban school districts. Teachers College Record, 108(2), 224–245.
Loder, T. L. (2005). On deferred dreams, callings, and revolving doors of opportunity: African-African women’s reflections on becoming principals. The Urban Review, 37(3), 243–265.
Loewen, J. W. (1995). Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong. New York: The New Press.
Macedo, D., & Bartolome, L. I. (1999). Dancing with bigotry: Beyond the politics of tolerance. New York: Palgrave.
Madda, C. L., & Schultz, B. D. (2009). (Re) Constructing ideals of multicultural education through grow your own teachers. Multicultural Perspectives, 11(4), 204–207.
Marshall, K. (2005). It’s time to rethink teacher supervision and evaluation. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(10), 727–735.
Mauer, M., & King, R. S. (2007). Uneven justice: State rates of incarceration by race and ethnicity. Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project.
Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Meyers, H. W., & Smith, S. (1999). Coming home–mentoring new teachers: A school–university partnership to support the development of teachers from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Peabody Journal of Education, 74(2), 75–89.
National Association of Elementary School Principals. (2003). Making the case for principal mentoring. Providence, RI: Brown University.
National Urban League. (2010). State of black America 2010 jobs: Responding to the crisis. New York, NY: National Urban League.
Oakes, J., Rogers, J., Silver, D., Horng, E., & Goode, J. (2004). Separate and unequal 50 years after Brown: California’s racial “opportunity gap”. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA IDEA.
Parker, L., & Lynn, M. (2002). What’s race got to do with it? Critical Race Theory’s conflicts with and connections to qualitative research methodology and epistemology. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 7–22.
Pettit, B., & Western, B. (2004). Mass imprisonment and the life course: Race and class inequality in US incarceration. American Sociological Review, 69(2), 151–169.
Podgursky, M. J., & Springer, M. G. (2007). Teacher performance pay: A review. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26(4), 909–949.
Pratt-Clarke, M. A. E. (2010). Critical race, feminism, and education: A social justice model. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Roy, A. (2004). An ordinary person’s guide to empire. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.
Sampson, D., & Garrison-Wade, D. F. (2011). Cultural vibrancy: Exploring the preferences of African American children towards culturally relevant and non-culturally relevant lessons. The Urban Review, 43(2), 279–309.
Samuel, E., & Wane, N. (2005). “Unsettling relations”: Racism and sexism experienced by faculty of color in a predominantly White Canadian university. Journal of Negro Education, 74(1), 76–87.
Sleeter, C. E. (1996). Multicultural education as social activism. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Sleeter, C. E., & Delgado-Bernal, D. (2004). Critical pedagogy, critical race theory, and anti-racist education: Implications for multicultural education. In J. A. Banks & C. A. M. Banks (Eds.), Handbook on research on multicultural education (pp. 240–258). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. New York, NY: Zed Books.
Solórzano, D., & Yosso, T. (2002). Critical race methodology: Counter-storytelling as an analytic framework for educational research. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 23–44.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1994). Grounded theory methodology: An overview. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 273–285). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Tillman, L. C. (2005). Mentoring new teachers: Implications for leadership practice in an urban school. Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(4), 609–629.
Tillman, L. C. (2007). Bringing the gifts that our ancestors gave: Continuing the legacy of excellence in African American school leadership. In J. L. Jackson (Ed.), Strengthening the African American educational pipeline: Informing research, policy, and practice (pp. 53–69). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Trucios-Haynes, E. (2001). Why “race matters”: LatCrit theory and Latina/o racial identity. La Raza Law Journal, 12(1), 1–48.
Tuitt, F., Hanna, M., Martinez, L. M., Salazar, M. C., & Griffin, R. (2009). Teaching in the line of fire: Faculty of color in the academy. Thought and Action, 25(Fall), 65–74.
Turner, D. (2010). States push to pay teachers based on performance. USA Today, 4/8/2010. Retrieved July 24, 2011, from, http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-04-08-teachers-pay_N.htm.
US Department of Education. (2008a). The condition of education, 2008. Institute of Education Sciences: National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: US Department of Education.
US Department of Education. (2008b). National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), “Public school teacher data files”, 2007–08. Washington, DC: US Department of Education.
Washington Times. (2009). Teacher performance-pay plans expand across US Washington Times. Retrieved July 24, 2011, from, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/10/performance-pay-plans-expanding-across-us/?page=all.
Watkins, W. H. (2001). The White architects of Black education: Ideology and power in America, 1865–1954. New York: Teachers College Press.
Woodson, C. G. (1990). The mis-education of the Negro. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Zinn, H. (1995). A people’s history of the United States, 1492-present. New York: Haper Perennial.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Knaus, C.B. Seeing What They Want to See: Racism and Leadership Development in Urban Schools. Urban Rev 46, 420–444 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-014-0299-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-014-0299-0