Diversify ed leadership pipelines to transform student learning

Diversity makes us smarter.  

We have seen that in integrated schools, where opportunity and achievement gaps are shrinking and student learning and graduation rates are rising.  

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. Learning from educators who bring different life experiences and perspectives to their instruction challenges students’ thinking and helps improve their cognitive skills like critical thinking and problem solving. Students of color who are taught by teachers who share their racial or ethnic background, especially in high-poverty communities, tend to have fewer discipline referrals and improved academic outcomes and are significantly less likely to drop out of school and more likely to go to college. Principals of color have also been found to lead to lower drop-out rates and special education placements and higher graduation rates and placement in gifted programs for students of color.  

Diverse teams of teachers and administrators can also create more transformative learning environments for the adults in the system. Interacting with colleagues who are different from ourselves inspires thought-provoking debate and discussion and can strengthen and transform our practice. When I led schools in my home community of East San Jose, CA, I was able to help teachers who were not from our community and/or didn’t reflect our community make connections to families and students because I knew the community and could literally speak their language.  

We have a lot of work to do to turnaround the shortage of leaders of color, however.  While more than half of public-school students in the U.S. are students of color, only 18% of our teachers, 20% of principals, and 6% of superintendents are leaders of color. 

The NYC Leadership Academy was founded in 2003 to diversify the leadership pipeline in New York City, and we value not only building effective and sustainable leadership pipelines within school systems but in making sure they are diverse pipelines. We are proud to be part of a new innovative initiative to tackle the shortage of superintendents of color in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. This month we launched an effort to support and develop a racially and ethnically diverse cohort of aspiring district leaders to create more culturally responsive districts and realize better outcomes for students, particularly those who have been historically marginalized.  

Pulling from the work we have done in other systems across the country, our team will work with Massachusetts education leaders to develop an equity-infused leadership curriculum focused on building the skills needed to effectively lead school systems, with a focus on identifying and addressing inequities such as those based on race, class, and among English language learners. 

Our hope is that this initiative sets an example for the rest of the nation by proactively addressing the need to diversify our pipeline of education leaders who can inspire and lead the creation of school cultures that make every student, every teacher, every staff member feels welcomed, valued, and supported to learn and grow, and where biases are not tolerated and are systematically dismantled.  

Intentionally diversifying our leadership pipelines and arming aspiring leaders across the country with the right skills to lead for equity will only strengthen our bench of exceptional leaders.