Learn how educational leaders are addressing inequity in schools and districts and through policy. Insights delivered right to your inbox.

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Leading for the Future, Learning from the Past

Like a new school year, a new calendar year elicits the excitement of new beginnings and a renewed energy for all the possibilities ahead. That ...

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The Complexity of Heritage Months

As our country has commemorated National Hispanic American (Latinx) Heritage Month over the past few weeks, we’ve seen countless expressions of gratitude for the contributions ...

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New in 2023: 15 Equity-Centered Professional Learning Leadership Books for Back to School

Through research and 20 years of experience working with nearly 14,000 education leaders across the country, we know that effective professional learning is critically important ...

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From Superhero to Super System: Leveling Up Leadership for Culturally Responsive Schools

Imagine walking into a classroom where students' identities are affirmed and reflected in the curriculum, where students are held to high expectations and given the ...

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Yonkers Public Schools Superintendent discusses culturally responsive leadership in new video

“Being culturally responsive is about looking at a curriculum, and saying, ‘What are the changes that we need to make to be able to present ...

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Back to school supplies: Resources for creating culturally responsive schools

As you welcome students, families, and staff back to school, what kind of culture and climate are you creating in your own building or in ...

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Lead for a safe and healthy learning environment

When the news about Uvalde broke last week, I was in a meeting with a dozen school leaders of color. We had come together as ...

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We must fight hate with education

Our hearts are heavy. Over the weekend, violent hate crimes ravaged communities in Buffalo, NY and Dallas, TX. In Buffalo, a white man opened fire ...

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Leading by listening: How one district is using community feedback to drive change

When Aaron Jennings became Chelsea School District’s first ever Equity, Diversity, and Excellence Officer in the fall of 2020, he embarked on a listening and ...

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Black history is not a month. Let’s design schools to serve every student every single day.

"It's not possible to learn the long, painful, complicated, beautiful, resilient, and magical history of being Black in the United States in 28 days - ...

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A holiday message from President and CEO Nancy Gutierrez

Wishing you a joyful holiday season from our team at The Leadership Academy. Please take a minute to watch a holiday message from our President &  CEO ...

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Two dozen aspiring superintendents of color graduate from the Influence 100 program in MA

For Leahy School Principal Ethel Cruz of Lawrence, MA, the superintendency once seemed like an unattainable goal. Cruz’s perspective shifted, however, thanks to Influence 100, ...

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Students want to know: Will l feel safe, respected and valued?

The only time my 15-year-old daughter stepped into her high school in the 2020-21 school year was for her state exams. Every other day of ...

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Lead for a young person you love and watch your students flourish

Dearest educational equity champions & leaders, I wanted to take a moment to congratulate you. You have led your school or school system to the ...

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Getting questions about critical race theory? Advocate for culturally responsive learning

“Are you teaching our children critical race theory?” “Are you indoctrinating our children?” School and school system leaders are increasingly getting these questions from parents and politicians as schools take on ...

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Culturally responsive budgeting means being strategic and investing in leaders

As state and school system leaders consider how to spend the billions of dollars devoted to K-12 education through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) provisions of the American ...

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Leading for Adam

As we move beyond the details of Adam Toledo’s death and learn more about his life, it's critical to examine how systemic racism and oppression, in particular the ...

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#GivingTuesday: Give students the education leaders they need

While 2020 has been full of challenges, The Leadership Academy has so much to be thankful for.

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Let’s make smart federal policies to support culturally responsive leadership

The election is over. In about 10 weeks, we will have a new President and Vice President – the first woman and woman of color in that ...

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We must tell the whole truth about our nation’s racist past

“The obligation of anyone who thinks of himself as responsible is to examine society and try to change it and to fight it—at no matter ...

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I’m Not Okay

COVID-19 has increased racism and xenophobia towards the Asian-American community.   COVID-19 has ravaged Native American reservations.   COVID-19 has increased unemployment in the Latinx community.   COVID-19 ...

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In Latinos for Ed blog, CEO calls for combating AAPI hate

As with any pandemic, any crisis, fear is bringing out the worst in people.

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An inside look at a comprehensive district-wide approach to leading for equity

Over the last two weeks, members of my team and I have taken a deep dive in two school systems we have been partnering with for some time – Des Moines, IA, and Lexington One, SC. It was a humbling and inspiring experience that I will not soon forget.

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#EquityReads 2019

At the NYC Leadership Academy, we are always looking to learn from other experts in education leadership and equity to inform and sharpen our work. That means we are ...

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Educational Inequities Quiz

What does the data tell us about what’s happening in schools today and has been happening across systems for decades? To help facilitate these conversations, we’ve developed this quiz on the race-based disproportionalities hampering schools and students across the U.S.

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Diversify ed leadership pipelines to transform student learning

Just as it is critical to bring together a diverse set of students to enhance learning, it is also imperative to recruit, retain, and properly develop and support a diverse pipeline of effective school and school system leaders.

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Indigenous School Leaders are Crucial for Undoing Centuries of Inequities

As someone who has spent years working with schools on South Dakota’s reservations, I believe that this kind of intentional, culturally responsive educational leadership is what we need to disrupt the inequities baked into the Indian education system.

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Seeing Others’ Humanity Builds Our Capacity as Leaders

Welcome back and congratulations on a new school year! I hope your summer had the right mix of professional learning, planning, and relaxation. While the ...

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Strategic equity-focused planning makes a difference for our students

Two years ago, the Chesterfield County School Board took on the work of developing a new strategic plan, Imagine Tomorrow, which revolved around our district’s core values of equity, ingenuity, integrity, and teamwork.

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NYC Leadership Academy calls on system leaders to protect and support immigrant students

As educational leaders, we cannot allow our students and their teachers to return to school frightened, or to be too afraid to return at all. Schools, under strong leadership, have a critical role to play in ensuring immigrant children have a safe haven in their schools.

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Every second of learning counts for our most vulnerable students

Young people in the juvenile justice system are the most underserved students in the country. When justice jurisdictions design systems, education is rarely top of mind.

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Expect pushback when leading for equity 

As more school districts engage in equity-focused professional learning, we are unsurprisingly seeing some tension and pushback as their teams grapple with this work.

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Returning home to lead a school

We need to love these kids unconditionally and hold them to high expectations because I know they can do it. We just need to give them the tools.

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#HowILeadForEquity: Share your stories

We must continue to push this work forward. Our young people are counting on us. Together, our leadership has the potential to exponentially decrease the number of inequities facing our students.

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Uncomfortable by design: Learning and leading with the support of a coach

We take leaders to the point of discomfort so they can ultimately come out more confident, capable, and conscious of their capacity to make change effectively. Discomfort, in service of equity for all students, can be a catalyst for learning and transformation.

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EquityReads 2018

Talking with a teacher about whom she is -- and is not -- calling on in class. Discussing the fact that some groups of students ...

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Teach young people to celebrate differences, not fear them

Fear is born from ignorance. The string of hateful acts across the country over the last several weeks and months has been overwhelming: Eleven people ...

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El Ascensor: A tribute to CEO Irma Zardoya

Leaders like Irma show other women of color that it is possible, that we can be true to our identities while developing and expanding mission-driven organizations that support our communities.

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Learning how to develop lead learners: Lessons from our first 15 years

Fifteen years ago, many of New York City’s schools were struggling with rapid principal turnover. On top of that, the city was expecting to lose half of its principals to retirement in the next few years, creating a system of potentially “leaderless” schools. The Leadership Academy launched in 2003 to fill this gap…

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