Equitable, Race-Conscious Schoolwide Practices Supporting the Academic Success and Growth of Black Students

This descriptive single-case study of an exemplar, middle school in a large, urban district with the highest Black student achievement in the district was designed to explore how schools can intentionally support the academic growth of Black students. Through interviews with teachers, teacher leaders, building leaders, and district leaders, we explored how existing structures and routines can create equitable opportunities for academic success. Utilizing Khalifa’s (2016, 2018) culturally responsive school leadership framework, this study explores how school-wide responses to bias and race-evasiveness, and school-wide caring and belonging influence student achievement. Four key practices were identified to promote Black student success which are: (a) cultivating a collectivist culture based on a genuine belief in and commitment to students, (b) messaging and training for high expectations school-wide as an anti-racist practice, (c) ensuring explicit attention to the construct of race and racial identity, including purposeful attention to honoring the identity of a diverse student body, and (d) developing structures of co-planning and co-learning to support professional learning by facilitating an honest, transparent data culture informed by multiple types of data. These practices must be implemented in tandem to purposefully promote academic success for students furthest from justice.