Leading with a commitment to equity

Abstract

To fulfill educational promises such as “every student succeeds,” district leaders must embrace an agenda committed to equitable opportunities for students. Doing so requires breaking from managerial norms to identify new ways forward that prioritize historically low-performing schools. Coby Meyers, Lamar Goree, and Keith Burton distill research results from a case study of a team of urban district leaders who ignited change in a subset of their schools that have traditionally been low performing. They highlight how a system-wide shift to equitable opportunities led the district to create new structures, prioritize talent and skillsets, change cultures, and provide essential supports for those schools.