Leading with Race: An exploration of Leadership Academy’s alignment with racial equity leadership design

Abstract

Lawrence Leadership Academy (LLA) is housed in a PreK-12 public school district located in the Eastern edge of Kansas and has committed to racial equity goals related to policy, curriculum, learning, and leadership. Like several surrounding districts in the area, Lawrence Public Schools created a “grow your own” (Versland, 2013) development program for leaders from within their organization, with the hopes of seeing potential leaders move into higher levels of leadership within the district. The purpose of this study is to investigate the design of the Leadership Academy within Lawrence Public Schools, with an eye toward leadership for racial equity, in order to inform recommendations that can support future Leadership Academy design efforts. This study uses a mixed methods approach including a survey (quantitative) and individual interviews (qualitative). Findings revealed the LLA design elements focused on racial equity leadership are minimal as was similar with the administrative coursework academy graduates had completed.