Black History Month: Elevating Leader Voices from the Field

We are kicking off February with a celebration of Black voices and insights from Black school leaders. From teaching the civil rights movement in color to redefining education as a civil right. From the need to offer staff time and grace amid the relentless demands of the pandemic to the power of advancing a shared vision and the delicate balance Black leaders negotiate between their racial identity and the role of leadership.

“I was sometimes accused of being ‘too much on the student’s side’ in [teacher and student] conversations,” writes John Jenkins, a former principal and Chief Implementation Officer at New Leaders. “To which I would often respond, ‘I thought we were all on the student’s side?’”

At New Leaders, we cultivate and shape exceptional school leaders to interrupt structural racism and create learning environments free from bias and limitation. Each of our five blogs offers a window into how to do just that.

Black History Should be Taught in Color

Teaching the Civil Rights Movement — the most important domestic struggle of the 20th Century—only in black and white makes it seem so far away. It happened in maximum living color.

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Time and Grace: What School Leaders Need Most Right Now

A district superintendent and New Leaders alum reflects on adapting to the demands of the ongoing pandemic and the need for more time to care for teachers, students, and principals.

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Leading While Black: Negotiating race and role in school leadership

A career educator reflects upon the impact of negotiating his racial identity with his role as a leader—a critical balance that leaders of color need to be successful.

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Black Principals Matter: We need greater representation in schools

With Dr. Cardona as the new education secretary, Latinx students will see someone who looks like them as our nation’s education leader. The same is true for Black principals.

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Education is a Civil Right

“New Leaders told me I couldn’t quit,” an alum reflects on her first day as a principal. Learn how she and her team transformed their school so all students excelled.