Resources

Aligned to each of the LEAD Tool’s equitable practices, these resources provide background reading—or “homework”—that can provide team members the contextual knowledge needed to get the most out of LEAD Tool discussions.

Engaging in self-reflection and growth for equity


A Hidden History

This article by Walida Imarisha begins by questioning why there aren’t more black people in Oregon, then explores the discomforting history of white supremacy in the state. You can also view a video presentation of this topic.

I, Racist

Following the Charleston church shootings in June 2015, John Metta writes in the Huffington Post about why he can no longer talk to white people about race and the state of racism in the 21st century.

Detour Spotting for White Anti-Racists

This essay by jona olsson examines behaviors taken by well-intended white people and offers a tool to look at unintentional racism. The author argues that unless we can identify our racist patterns of thought and behavior, we can never interrupt them.


Constructing and enacting an equity vision


Constructing a Racial Equity Theory of Change: A Practical Guide for Designing Strategies to Close Chronic Racial Outcome Gaps

This resources from the the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change provides an analysis of social structures that support racism and outlines five steps that groups can take to promote racial equity.

Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Montgomery County Public Schools

This book tells the compelling story of Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools (MCPS) and the district’s transformation—in less than a decade—into a system committed to breaking the links between race and class and academic achievement.


Developing organizational leadership for equity


How a Great Leader Motivates

In this YouTube video, Pedro Noguera speaks on the topic of what motivational leadership looks like when it’s done well with a story story of a school principal with exemplary motivational skills.

Disrupting Injustice: Principals Narrate the Strategies They Use To Improve Their Schools and Advance Social Justice

This article by George Theoharis focuses on six principals who saw injustice being perpetuated for diverse students and worked to change that reality. The principals describe the strategies they used to improve their schools and advance social justice.


Modeling ethical and equitable behavior


Educational Equity is a Human Right

This article, with examples drawn from LGBT issues, focuses on how teachers can make a difference in reducing bigotry by modeling ethical behavior and including inclusive elements in their curriculum.


Allocating Resources


How is Equity In Resource Allocation Related to Student Performance

This article describes how high-performing countries and economies tend to allocate resources more equitably across socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged schools.

Allocating Resources for Equity

This resource documents successful school leadership practices that help struggling students, featuring case studies of principals who have raised academic achievement in their schools.


Fostering an equitable school culture


A School Culture of Equity

In this book chapter, Curtis Linton describes what a culture of equity looks like in a school then offers four examples of schools that are making equity a reality.

Discipline Disparities: Implications for School Practice and Policy

In this Principal’s Research Review article written by Education Northwest’s Vicki Nishioka and Rhonda Barton, the authors survey research around discipline disparities and offer principals a set of actionable recommendations.

Supervising for improvement of equitable instruction


Culturally Responsive Teaching Matters!

This resource from the Equity Alliance provides an overview of what culturally responsive teaching means and a set of strategies to help shape practice.

Making the Most of Instructional Rounds

A background piece, this text shows how a culture of collaboration can improve teacher practice and promote equity.


Peer Reviewed Research and Articles on the LEAD Tool


Radical recentering: Equity in educational leadership standards

The widely adopted Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium standards are designed to guide the preparation and professional development of educational leaders. However, the standards’ limited mention of race, class, ethnicity, ability, gender, sexuality, or other marginalized identities suggests that addressing persistent inequities need not be a central concern of preparation programs and leaders in pre-K–12 schools. In this article, the authors put forth a new set of standards with equity at the core. The authors discuss why equity-centered standards are needed and what implications these standards have for practice. The authors offer 10 high-leverage equitable leadership practices, identified through research and the extant literature as those most likely to mitigate disparities for students who have not been well served due to their race, class, ethnicity, home language, and/or ability. The authors also discuss how a set of equity-focused leadership standards would facilitate radical changes in leadership preparation programs, professional development, and evaluation.

Galloway, M. K., & Ishimaru, A. M. (2015). Radical recentering: Equity in educational leadership standards. Educational Administration Quarterly, 51(3), 372–408.

Lessons on leading for equity

This article provides an overview of equity-centered leadership strategies. Equitable education begins with district and school leaders educating themselves about racial and cultural biases. The authors discuss the difference between equality and equity and how to use disaggregated data to support decision making.

Larson, R., & Barton, R. (2013). Lessons on leading for equity. Principal Leadership, 13, 18–24.

At the crossroads of standards and equity: Merging practice and theory to create the Leadership for Equity Assessment & Development (LEAD) Tool

This paper describes one state’s efforts to design and validate a professional growth and assessment tool (the Leadership for Equity Assessment) to measure leadership for equity. Merging theory with practitioner language, the tool describes equitable leadership behaviors in each of the Oregon administrative licensure standards along a continuum from unsatisfactory to exemplary. The authors developed and refined the tool through three iterative phases: 1 development and initial refinement, small-scale piloting and focus groups, and an Oregon Leadership Network Institute sorting and alignment study. Revisions after each phase resulted in an online guided self-assessment tool that represents a promising instrument for measuring and supporting the development of educational leaders’ equitable practice.

Ishimaru, A., Galloway, M., Larson, R., & Carr, C. (2012, April). At the crossroads of standards and equity: Merging practice and theory to create the Leadership for Equity Assessment & Development (LEAD) Tool. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, BC.

Got equity? Educational leaders’ descriptions of enacting equitable practices

In this study, the researchers used the Leadership for Equity & Assessment (LEAD) Tool to examine how educational leaders rate themselves on two rubrics designed to measure leadership behaviors for equity and to understand how educational leaders describe the kinds of equitable (or inequitable) practices they use in their day-to-day work. Through a survey of 114 administrators, the study found a misalignment overall between the evidence provided by educational leaders and the ratings they selected to describe their practices for equity using the LEAD tool.

Galloway, M., Ishimaru, A., Larson, R., & Carr, C. (2011, August). Got equity? Educational leaders’ descriptions of enacting equitable practices. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration, Portland, OR.