When students see educators who look like them, they do better in school – their attendance improves, disciplinary incidents drop, and they learn more and are more likely to graduate in four years.
But too few young people of color get to have a principal of color leading their school. While 54% of public-school students are young people of color, only 20% of principals are leaders of color. There’s a particularly large gap between the growing Hispanic student community and Hispanic leaders of color: Hispanic students make up 27% of public-school students, while only 9% of principals are Hispanic.
In addition to being a small community, principals of color are facing some of the greatest challenges of their career. Leading through a pandemic, a racial reckoning, and the pushback and trauma associated with these last two years has left many principals of color tired, frustrated, stressed, and isolated.
Does this describe your lived experience? Are equity and racial justice priorities for you and your school culture?
If so, we hope you will join The Leadership Academy’s virtual Principals of Color Collective to become part of a supportive community of school leaders from across the country. There is no cost to join this collective. All sessions will be virtual, with 90-minute monthly meetings beginning in July 2022.
Group members will work together to generate discussion themes based on context and need, which could include racial healing, leading through a pandemic, and building and sustaining equitable schools. In addition to the monthly meetings, participants will join an online community to support connection and resource-sharing with peers throughout the duration of the program.
The 2022 cohort of the Principals of Color Collective is now closed for registration. Our next cohort begins in July 2023. If you would like to receive information about how to participate in the Principals of Color Collective in 2023, please share your details below and someone will reach out in the coming months with more information.