Chapter 8: Teaching And (Re)Thinking Student Achievement: Policy Implications on Leadership Preparation and Praxis

In this chapter, long-standing racialized educational policies and practice implications on the racial achievement gap are informed by critical race theory (CRT). In particular, the role of educational policy is considered in the active structuring of racial inequity and social justice within our U.S. educational system. Perspectives here are situated within a critical race theoretical context in examining policy implications that go beyond the traditionally narrow focus on established notions of student achievement disparities and challenges. CRT is relied upon in order to expose inequity and social justice often times covered up in our U.S. schools. Traditional policy interventions fail to attack the root cause of the achievement gap between White and Black students. Therefore, the use of CRT is an attempt to challenge traditional conceptions of student achievement that factors into the role of racism in education and its underlying effects specific to stagnate results regarding Black student achievement.