School leaders and their sensemaking about race and demographic change

Background: School leaders must make sense of the messages they receive from multiple, overlapping contexts of their school environments. Equally important, they must shape meaning of school issues and events with and for other school members. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which school leaders defined and made sense of issues of race and demographic change in their schools. Data Collection: Interviews, documents, and archival data from a larger study provided information on the programs, policies, and practices that schools modified in response to their growing African American population. For the current study, the author specifically examined the words and actions of school leaders to determine how they defined and made sense of the demographic changes taking place. The author also used other information to establish the contexts around these leaders that might help explain their sensemaking. Findings: Generally, school leaders' sensemaking seemed related to the local context and organizational ideology, as well as their racial and role identities. To varying degrees, sensemaking about race influenced school leaders' willingness to challenge or change status quo social structures within their schools. Recommendation: School leaders must come to understand their own sociopolitical identities and professional contexts, how these shape their view on issues of race, and the implications of their leadership and sensemaking for all students, particularly students of color.