DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c3-200937
title: Race as a factor: how minority public school superintendents consider their own race in addressing issues of race in their districts

description: The challenges of leading a school district substantially increase with the demands of accountability, the pressures of standardized tests, the realities of changing demographics and the shifting of political norms.  Superintendents are called upon to be “instructional leaders,” with the mandate to maximize all students’ learning outcomes while navigating the complicated waters of public budgets, human resources, facilities, safety, and politics.  Minority superintendents not only bear witness to the difficulty and complexity of the superintendency, but also add to the perspective of a superintendent as a minority person. ❧ This study sought to determine whether or not the racial identity of a minority superintendent played a role in his/her leadership, specifically as it related to issues of race within their district.  Because of the small sample size of minority superintendents in the State of California, the leadership of five minority superintendents was analyzed as a case study to determine how race is a factor in their leadership of their district.  This case study also utilizes Critical Race Theory as a lens to allow the minority superintendent’s narrative to play a major role in constructing genuine findings on race, leadership, and education beyond the already existing dominant narrative. ❧ This study found that race, however subtle, is a factor in the decision-making process of minority superintendents.    The way in which a minority superintendent defines himself or herself may play a role in how he/she empathizes with students who share a similar ethnic story.  However, the biggest effect on minority superintendents’ leadership decisions, as they related to race, derived from external definitions of the superintendent’s race.  Specifically, superintendents considered what associations or connotations others placed on them because of their race when dealing with specific groups and/or discussing issues that could be interpreted as race-based.  Minority superintendents are strategic when promoting issues dealing with equity to not place the focus on the implications of their own race, but to focus on the needs of the students.  The superintendents’ race assisted them in what they believe to be a positive influence for students who shared their perceived racial background.  Yet, many times, the minority superintendent’s minority racial status was a barrier to overcome when dealing with the community, faculty, and staff, especially about racial issues. ❧ In identifying racial issues, minority superintendents looked to calculate the equity of outcomes.  A “race” issue occurred when traditionally underserved populations experienced inequitable outcomes as compared to the dominant population.  The minority superintendents focused on the achievement gap in test scores, graduation rates, and program participation, among other areas, when analyzing the racial issues that existed in their district.  Further, the superintendents created an inextricable link between socioeconomic status and race, as well as language and race, when determining inequity. ❧ Finally, equity is the central goal of a school district as it relates to race.  Accordingly, the superintendents sought to promote the goal of equity by creating a sense of urgency around the equity equation through direct and clear communication with the public.  The most unexpected finding is the tension that most of the subjects felt between having to calculate their strategies differently as a minority so not to digress the conversation on race and the freedom that being a minority allowed them in having the difficult discussion about race.