Anti-Racist Educational Leadership and Policy helps educational leaders better comprehend the racial implications and challenges of the current educational policy landscape. Each chapter unpacks a policy issue such as school choice, school closures, standardized testing, discipline, and school funding, and analyzes it through the racialized and market-driven lenses of the current leadership context. Full of real examples, this book equips aspiring school leaders with the skills to question how a policy addresses or fails to address racism, action-oriented strategies to develop anti-racist solutions, and the tools to encourage their school community to promote racial equity. This important book demystifies a complex policy context and prepares current and future teacher leaders, principals, and superintendents to lead their schools towards more equitable practice.

2021 Winner of the AESA Critics' Choice Book Award.

About the Author

Sarah Diem is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri, USA.

Anjale D. Welton is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

Reviews

"In Diem and Welton's Anti-Racist Educational Leadership and Policy, they challenge readers by carefully explaining why the paradox of avoiding racial conversations still exists, even as American schools become more racially and culturally diverse. Diem and Welton importantly provide multiple instances to help readers 'see' the racism in inimical educational policies that wreak havoc in the lives and communities of people of color while frequently being touted as race-neutral. They meticulously walk educational leaders and the rest of us through a useful protocol for engaging in anti-racist leadership to become champions fighting for equity."
- Mark Anthony Gooden, Christian Johnson Endeavor Professor of Education Leadership, Teachers College, Columbia University

"Diem and Welton have always demonstrated a deep commitment to social justice and a willingness to push the field of educational leadership to confront racism in all its insidious forms. In Anti-Racist Educational Leadership and Policy, they continue this tradition of critical scholarship--focusing on the day-to-day realities of school leaders and the urgency of tackling racism on the proverbial 'front-lines.' Rest assured, this text provides much more than a theoretical overview of racial oppression. It is a roadmap and guide for school leaders, policy-makers, and researchers alike on how to take bold steps towards racial equality in schools and society."
- Gerardo R. Lopez, Professor, Michigan State University and Editor-in-Chief of Educational Administration Quarterly

"For those concerned about why efforts to achieve educational equity have made so little progress, Diem and Welton's Anti-Racist Educational Leadership and Policy is an instructive and insightful vade mecum. Harnessing the lens and tools of anti-racism, they offer school leaders knowledge, tools and processes to dismantle the policies and practices that have created and maintained racial inequities in schools and society. Educational leadership practitioners and scholars will find this an essential resource for understanding and action."
- Michelle D. Young, Dean and Professor, Loyola Marymount University

"This is a must-read book for anyone interested in both antiracism and educational policy.[...]In each chapter, they emphasize the importance of contextualizing policy and understanding its impact on individuals and groups at the local level."
-Carolyn M. Shields, Teachers College Record

"The authors contend that what little research there is on antiracist educational leadership lacks practical guidance for engaging in problem identification, leadership preparation, and professional development. In writing this book, they wanted leaders to understand how market-oriented education policies influence their leadership practices. [...] This book, in both its policy analysis and the protocol for policy inquiry it introduces, allows leaders to bring an important tool to that fight: receipts."
-Davis Clement, Michigan State University, UCEA Review

Book Information
ISBN 9781138596993
Author Sarah Diem
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 260g