The problems with colorblind leadership revealed: a call for race-conscious leaders

This study addresses the complexity of colorblindness as a phenomenon and explains not only its tenacity, but also potential breaks in its hold on school leadership practice. The authors draw from an interview study of 22 school leaders in a county in the Northeastern USA to examine their perceptions and practices associating with leading schools that enroll students of color. The authors propose a multi-ring model that shows variation among three perspectives: (1) holding to colorblindness, (2) recognition with minimal capacity, and (3) cultivating race-conscious. Perspectives and variation within these three rings are explored, along with consequences for multiple resulting ‘lacks’ in capacity. Implications are offered for building upon race-conscious practice where it exists, removing barriers to implementation, and expanding capacity.