The California Equity Coalition: Advocating for Racial Equity in California's Public School Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this narrative paper is to provide a reflective description of the formation, structure, and work of a diverse coalition dedicated to collaboratively informing educational policy advocacy in California. Specifically, this article offers an example of how community members from across settings mobilized into collective action to improve the racial diversity pipeline of school leaders in California’s public schools. The California Equity Coalition (CEC) is a powerful network of organizations that see school administrators’ racial diversity and cultural competence as critical levers in creating successful school environments that yield positive student outcomes. Using auto-narrative and testimonio methodology, the work of the CEC is documented in this paper, and rooted in the literature examining the role of Proposition 209 and other barriers that led to the decline of Black and Latinx educators in California. The article also provides a current review of educator pipeline data and research that served as a catalyst for the formation of the CEC. Finally, the article highlights the history, aims, actions, and strategy in building and sustaining this diverse coalition anchored in racial equity.