Education Leadership, and coeditor of Dignity-Affirming Education. Ann M. Ishimaru is the Killinger Endowed Chair and professor of educational foundations, leadership and policy at the University of Washington College of Education, and author of Just Schools: Building Equitable Collaborations with Families and Communities.
They applied the “Page 99 Test” to their new book, Doing the Work of Equity Leadership for Justice and Systems Change, and reported the following:
Page 99 of our book is the first page of Chapter 6, “Designing Work Routines and Process(ing) Tools: An Infrastructure of Strategic Equity Leadership” by Maurice Swinney and Decoteau Irby. It opens with a quote by Maurice Swinney on his time as the first equity officer in a large urban district:Visit Decoteau J. Irby's website and Ann M. Ishimaru's website.People often ask me “How did you accomplish these things?” “How did you build the Equity Office to sustain itself?” I strategically designed the office with a focus on creating internal and external organizational routines, which are processes for engaging teams, in prioritizing work, creating tools to support it, structuring time and effort, and providing support and feedback.We believe our book passes the Page 99 Test, as the page highlights three defining features. First, the book amplifies the voices of actual practitioners, who have done the work of equity leadership on the ground. We feature the experiences and strategies of equity leaders, especially Black women and other women of color, navigating challenges and making change.
Second, the book weaves together our own research with practitioner insights, in this case, illustrated by the chapter collaboration with researcher and editor Decoteau Irby. The book is co-authored by a mix of practitioners and academics, giving readers a balanced view of both day-to-day leadership practices, framed by almost a decade of research on the topic of leadership for equity by some of the field’s leading researchers.
Third, it positions leadership practices, such as the creation of organizational routines, as the drivers of systems change. Rather than focusing solely on individual leaders with formal titles, we illuminate how leaders “colored outside the lines” with others to improve learning and well-being for children, especially those least well served by the status quo. We hope this helps readers to develop a strategy orientation to their own leadership.
One thing page 99 does not address is the way the book recognizes geographical differences and socio-political events that shape leadership practice. For example, the first section of the book “Mornings” recounts what equity leadership entailed at the end of the second Obama administration and into the first election of Donald Trump. The second and third sections, “Middays” and “Evenings,” offer insights into equity leadership from the Covid-19 pandemic, the movement for Black lives, and the pushback on diversity, equity, and inclusion work throughout the Biden administration, and up to the final term of Donald Trump.
After reading our book, we want readers to understand three things. One, there are clear differences in what equity leadership practices look like across space and time. Two, leadership turnover should be expected because the work draws resistance, challenges, and vitriolic pushback. Third, despite the pushback, leaders, especially Black women, have demonstrated a level of creativity and commitment that continues to influence, institutionalize, and sustain changes that benefit students who depend most on public education.
--Marshal Zeringue