Find us on
Association of Washington School Principals
Washington Principal | Volume 3 – 2021-22
8424058_many-pencils-as-diversity-concept.jpg
If You are Not Leading for Equity, You are Simply Not Leading. Period.
AWSP’s Equity Centered Leadership Network (ECLN) Brings School Leaders Together for Equity
Jack Arend
Associate Director, AWSP
Evaluation Criteria: Creating a Culture, Planning with Data, Improving Instruction, Engaging Families & Communities, Closing the Gap
If you have attended an AWSP event or professional learning workshop in the past four years, you have heard this comment over and over again from the AWSP staff: “AWSP is committed to ensuring all school leaders have the support needed to create environments where each and every student is seen, where each and every student can thrive and, most importantly, where each and every student feels a deep sense of belonging.”
We’ve all admired leaders who are willing to ask the tough questions, challenge the status quo when it isn’t working, and call out long-standing biases, even when it’s uncomfortable. Leaders that are able to do this have equity at the core of all their work. School leaders who are serious about equity are continuously learning and pushing themselves to grow into better, more effective agents of change.
In November of 2021, through a generous grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, AWSP gathered a select group of elementary principals and assistant principals who are making strides in their knowledge and implementation of racially literate, equity-centered leadership. This newly formed AWSP Equity-Centered Leadership Network has been coming together monthly since January, 2022. These school leaders are serious about equity and are continuously learning and pushing themselves to grow into better, more impactful agents of change. The AWSP Equity-Centered Leadership Network is providing the opportunity for these leaders to share best practices and learn from peers outside of their districts.
This is a unique opportunity to redefine and reshape the learning experiences for each and every member in our elementary school communities. We must identify and dismantle systems that have and continue to perpetuate the growing opportunity gaps that exist.
The group was created around the following goals:
  • Create a dynamic professional learning network of elementary principals and assistant principals committed to increasing their knowledge and implementation of racially literate, equity-centered leadership.
  • Identify and infuse equity-centered school leadership and share current best practices from each of the schools and districts involved in the Equity Centered Leadership Network.
  • Recognize systems that perpetuate gaps and rebuild with an anti-racist, equity-centered focused vision.
  • Use the collective knowledge, to discover and evaluate current AWSP resources (Leadership Framework, School Leader Paradigm)
We have entered into this network with excitement knowing the work of this group is more important now than ever. This is a unique opportunity to redefine and reshape the learning experiences for each and every member in our elementary school communities. We must identify and dismantle systems that have and continue to perpetuate the growing opportunity gaps that exist. This work must be done with an anti-racist, equity-centered lens, to ensure our historically marginalized groups have the same opportunity as their counterparts.
The ECLN has dug deep into their commitment to this work and have already identified the following:
  • The importance of student voice and how to access this resource at an elementary level
  • How to avoid “equity detours” in their building and district.
  • How to assess and analyze the culture of their building, including how to address resistance, move through and forward with equity-centered strategies and resources.
  • How to identify the skills and tools these leaders had hoped for in their early years of leading a building towards equity.
  • How to accurately reflect, in written and verbal communication, the leader’s equity journey and how it is positively impacting the entire school community they serve.
The AWSP Equity-Centered Leadership Network will meet through November of 2022. Meet the members of this inaugural network:
If you would like to learn more about this network, please reach out to any of the network members or the AWSP Equity-Centered Leadership Team.
“What have you gained by participating in the AWSP Equity-Centered Leadership Network?”
“Love the ability to network with other schools and with my fellow district colleagues.”
“To continue to refine my ‘Why’ and make it more than just a statement.”
“Connectedness and relationships with those throughout the state centered on a similar cause.”
“Calibration with colleagues to validate what I'm doing well in my equity leadership and opportunities to learn new ideas from others and/or solidify my own views to get better. Each tool or new learning presented has been something that is applicable to current work or plans for the near future.”
“Time together to reflect, plan, and take action.”
“A budding network of equity-aligned leaders. Unpacking problems of practice. Ideas for potential solutions. A time to reflect on my own progress”◼