Town Hall Meetings
Improving leadership diversity in our schools
A NYSED-funded Diversity Leadership Initiative Program
With New York State’s increasingly diverse schools, it is critical that their leaders reflect their schools and communities. Yet, there are too few leaders of color who reflect New York State’s diverse communities and student populations.
This problem varies widely across New York State where districts experience differing opportunities and challenges to diversifying the leadership pipeline. This challenge calls for a collaborative effort, built upon what we know and have learned already.
The New York State Education Department funded a series of regionally-focused Town Hall meetings bringing together key educational stakeholders to address this pressing leadership challenge. Participants included school and district leaders, board of education members, faculty from public and private leadership preparation programs and other interested stakeholders
The two-hour, online sessions addressed:
- The challenges districts have in recruiting and retaining diverse leaders.
- The challenges leadership programs have recruiting and retaining diverse candidates.
- Strategies that work within your district or region to prepare, recruit and retain diverse leaders.
About The Diversity Leadership Initiative
The Diversity Leadership Initiative was made possible through the work of the Metropolitan Council of Education Administration Programs (MCEAP) executive committee and has received funding from a New York State Education Department (NYSED) grant. The grant's objectives are to help create a pipeline for emerging school leaders, to conduct and disseminate research on the effective strategies being used in the field, and to foster new and better leadership skills to integrate diversity and inclusion efforts deeply into school priorities, culture and operations.
REVIEW FINDINGS
Drawing from seven regional Town Hall-style discussions with educational stakeholders, this report addresses the dearth of racial diversity among K-12 school and district leaders in New York State. Participants identified common challenges in recruiting and retaining leaders of color and shared locally developed innovative solutions. The report presents collaborative strategies to draw more leaders of color into education, reduce implicit bias in interview processes, and support new leaders on the job.
