Chapter 1: Partnering for a Diverse K-12 Principal Preparation Pipeline

This is a story about how a district and a partnering research university with a program in educational administration got serious about seeking diversity in the principal preparation pipeline, and what they learned about the social, political, and cultural challenges faced by participants. On a deeper level, the chapter is about what the university could not see, and how the expertise of a partnering district, which had taken the lead on diversification, informed the university and led to program improvements. Ultimately, this is a chapter about the need for racial understanding in a country where children of color are now the majority in our nation’s public schools (National Center for Education Statistics, 2014). Racism can be a matter of short-sightedness; we don’t know what we don’t know.