Becoming an Antiracist School Leader

Eradicating systemic racism in our schools requires a systemic response. This book describes an adaptive framework that includes ten tenets for developing structural and curricular antiracist leadership. In three parts, school leaders are asked to: Know Themselves through self-reflection and racial autobiography; Distinguish Knowledge From Foolishness through critical race ethnography and an exploration of racial identity development; and Build for Eternity by using a model for student-centered antiracist leadership development. Providing a combination of scholarly and practical examples, readers will learn how to foster academic success, cultural proficiency, and critical consciousness in all learners. The text features a comprehensive, 3-year critical ethnographic study of a Midwestern high school and its ups and downs with antiracist leadership. This resource offers both a vision and everyday guidance to any educator committed to an antiracist democracy, educational love, student empowerment, leadership development, liberatory teaching and learning, and racial equity.

Book Features:

• Introduces a ten-point model for antiracist leadership development with practical applications for the leaders of systems, schools, and student groups.
• Describes an adaptive framework for approaching antiracist school leadership through reflective racial autobiography, critical ethnographic research, and student-centered leadership development.
• Examines a high school attempting to enact antiracist leadership, including analysis of the environment through a critical race theory lens and a breakdown of interviews with 30 leaders through the lens of their racial identity development.
• Contains ten personal narratives from a diverse group of antiracist leaders who detail a rich tapestry of a high-functioning school district in St. Louis Park, MN.

Patrick A. Duffy is the director of teaching, learning, and leadership in the St. Louis Park Public Schools and an adjunct professor in educational leadership at the University of Minnesota. Patrick is an Arab American.

“Addressing antiracism in schools at this volatile time is a lightning rod for school leaders. Patrick Duffy has eloquently illuminated the vital keystone practices for consciously, competently, and confidently eclipsing the fear generated by addressing antiracism, and replacing it with a cogently designed blueprint of practices that cultivate the power of teachers’ and students’ critical thinking for discerning why antiracism is vital to their freedom and the strong democracy that has always been the promise of America.”
—Yvette Jackson, adjunct assistant professor, Teachers College, Columbia University

“In Becoming an Anti-Racist School Leader: Dare to be Real, Patrick Duffy lays out a pathway of how to truly include community in the development of antiracism throughout the levels of leadership within schools. At a time when many school and district leaders are backtracking on antiracist practices, Dr. Duffy’s work is a strong encouragement and exemplary model of how to stay the course. This should be read and implemented widely!”
—Muhammad A. Khalifa, professor of educational administration, The Ohio State University

Contents

Series Foreword  vii

Acknowledgments  xiii

Introduction  1

Part I: Know Thyself

1.  My Racial Autobiography  19

2.  Historical and Antiracist School Leadership Perspectives  29
A Very Brief History of Antiracism in the United States  29
A Very Brief History of Antiracism in Public Education  32
Perspectives: Racial Identity  35
Identity Development and White People  36
Identity Development for People of Color  39
Identity Development for Multiracial People  41
Theoretical Base: Critical Race Theory  42

3.  Engaging in Antiracist Leadership  51
Safe and Sacred Space  51
Staff Collaboration  61
Student Integration  67

Part II: Distinguishing Knowledge from Foolishness

4.  Critical Race Theory at Midwest High School  75
Interest Convergence  76
Counter-Storytelling  82
Whiteness as Property  89
Critique of Liberalism  97
Permanence of Racism  101

5.  Racial-Identity Development at Midwest High School  108
White Racial Identity  108
Identity Development for People of Color  132
Conclusion  149

6.  Tenets for Sustaining Antiracist School Leadership  151
Systemic Implementation  151
Support From the Top  160
Common Language and Protocol  167
Identity Development  169

Part III: Building for Eternity

7.  The Story: A Gilded Age of Antiracism  177
Prologue: Philadelphia  177
Year 1  179
Year 2  190
Year 3  196
Epilogue: New Orleans  201

8.  Deepening Antiracist Leadership  203
Shared Experiences  204
Active Antiracist Leadership  210
Community/Family Engagement  214
Conclusion  218

References  221

Index  231

About the Author  237

Download Online Material for Becoming and Antiracist School Leader as a PDF