Why principals
need a Black
and Latino
male student
strategy
To combat the
disconnect between
theory and practice on
the job, school leaders
need a Black and
Latino male strategy
that is clear, regularly
discussed, and a part of
the school mission.
30
Leadership
California’s administrative creden-
tialing requirements are explicit in their
intent to foster more equitable outcomes
among students, according to the California
Commission on Teacher Credentialing. In
university prep programs, future admin-
istrators are required to examine personal
attitudes related to race, gender, power and
privilege; analyze the impacts of racial bias;
and understand their roles as champions of
equity. Moreover, programs are expected
to teach leadership candidates how to guide
staff in exploring these issues, a task that is
more complex than simply making candi-
dates personally aware.
Clearly, a theme of the administrative
credential standards is that future principals
must be willing and prepared to take on the
challenging issues of race, inequity and dis-
proportionality.
Despite the good intentions of the stan-
dards, this will be easier said than done.
Though race continues to be a difficult,
and often ignored topic of conversation in
schools (Emdin, 2016; McMahon, 2007),
it is the intersection of race and gender that
may require more urgent attention (Corprew
and Cunningham, 2012; Howard, 2008).
Data from the California Department of
Education (CDE) show that Black and La-
tino males are least likely to graduate from
high school having completed the A-G re-
quirements, and are most likely to drop out
altogether.
Though the CDE does not provide state
test results by both race and gender, the
data show that Black and Latino students
had the lowest rates of success among ra-
cial subgroups. If the data follow other
trends, then it is probable that Black and
Latino males had the least success of all
(See Figures 1 and 2).
Essentially, males of color and their edu-
cators have become two ships in the night,
heading in gravely different directions. His-
torically, the vast majority of U.S. teachers
have been women, and the administrators
have been white men. Though some studies
suggest that teachers and leaders of color are
better received by students of color, the real-
By Wil Greer and Tyrone Howard