Rigby, Jessica GKaiser, Lindsey J.2024-09-092024-09-092024Kaiser_washington_0250E_27172.pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/1773/51906Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024School leaders undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping educational experiences and creating student opportunities (Grissom et al., 2021; Leithwood et al., 2004). Similarly, racialized identities also play an equally crucial role in shaping educational experiences as racialized identities shape worldviews, experiences, and practices (Nasir, 2012). Yet, White principals have insufficient racial knowledge to enact racial equity change (Irby, 2021). Many White school leaders adopt color-evasive beliefs and struggle to accept the myth of meritocracy (Theoharis & Haddix, 2013). For White principals, anti-racist educational leadership entails continuously interrogating one’s own internalized beliefs of racial superiority and how ideologies inform their leadership practice, everyday decisions, and interactions (Rivera-McCutchen, 2012). Theoharis and Haddix emphasize that if White school leaders do not explicitly address racism and unveil White privilege, the racial status quo remains unchanged. However, there is limited understanding of (a) how White principals implement an active anti-racist stance, (b) navigate resistance in productive ways, and (c) how White racial affinity equity leadership coaching can support White principals in unveiling and confronting Whiteness without placing the onus on folks of Color. Through collaborative education research, I engaged in participatory action research with a community-based organization to co-design and co-facilitate a White racial affinity anti-racist leadership learning intervention called Ally Engagement. This study consists of three related analyses that examine White racialized identities and support White principals in learning and implementing racially just concepts and tools from the learning intervention and from families, youth, and teachers. In my first analysis, I examine how three principals implement their developing understanding of anti-racist leadership. I argue that White principals can use school-based racial equity collaborations to implement an active anti-racist stance. Furthermore, I argue that diverse school-based racial equity collaborations can support White principals in building their racial knowledge and capacity to lead for racial justice. In my second analysis, I explore the types of external resistance White principals faced and their own internal conflict and fear they must navigate. I argue that the process of navigating external resistance productively entails the use of race-specific language. Moreover, I contend that by using race-specific language to navigate external resistance, school leaders can promote critical reflection and create conditions for metaphorical composting, a process that involves the gradual breaking down of racialized structures. In my third analysis, I examine the paradoxes of racial affinity equity leadership coaching in supporting White principals working toward racial justice. I contend that while White racial affinity equity leadership coaching reified dominant power structures, I displaced the onus of anti-racist efforts and served as a racial equity resource by curating White discomfort. I argue that White racial affinity coaching can support principals in navigating internal resistance and fear and transform their ways of seeing and understanding of anti-racist leadership. Combined, these analyses contribute to a greater understanding of how White principals can engage in racially just leadership, as they offer valuable insight into the strategies used to implement an active anti-racist stance and how to navigate internal and external resistance.application/pdfen-USCC BY-NC-NDActive Anti-Racist StanceAnti-RacismEducational LeadershipNavigating External ResistanceRacial Affinity Equity Leadership CoachingWhite PrincipalsEducational leadershipEducational sociologyEducation - SeattleThesis