“Why do you want to bring that stuff up again?” Lessons learned from one school’s race-conscious education programming

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this qualitative case study is to share the story of a school district in the Deep South region of the U.S. that created race-conscious educational programming to bring about equity and social justice within its schools and community. The district received three years of funding and additional support for the programming through a significant philanthropic grant. Despite of this support and reports of positive impacts for students, the program has nearly collapsed. Data collection methods included interviews with six educators (three leaders and three teachers) from the district who had direct experience with or knowledge of the race-conscious educational programming as well as multiple visits to the district, observations, and document reviews. Even though the educators reported many positive aspects of the educational programming, there were two main challenges relating to the implementation and sustainability of this race-conscious educational programming: Legacy Issues and Competing Priorities. Working in unison, these challenges chipped away at and contributed to the near demise of the race-conscious educational programming across the district. We discuss implications for leadership alongside the role of philanthropic organizations in supporting race-conscious educational programming.