CASE STUDY
Hope Charter Schools (HCS)
Hope Charter Schools (HCS) cultivates future civic leaders through rigorous project-based learning and hands-on commitment to social justice, teaching students skills that will enable them to thrive and ensure advanced academic success.
Challenge
What is the critical self-reflection required to transform a demographic divide between white leadership and a diverse educational community?
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
We provided training and implementation support for monthly reflective practice groups for administration and teaching staff during HCS’s primary school launch, where a largely white staff served predominantly Latinx students on the campus of a traditionally Black elementary school campus. Subsequently, we facilitated WAKE UP! with HCS’s white leadership, an eight-session workshop to address racial issues and improve outcomes for students of color on both campuses.
ACTION
ACTION
HCS leadership engaged in critical self-reflection, examined organizational assumptions through the lens of racism, and spotlighted their whiteness. They identified biases, rewrote the leadership narrative at their organization, and took steps to embody anti-racism in their community.
IMPACT
IMPACT
“The lessons learned…are significant, suggesting that, for white school leaders, a commitment to social justice is not enough—without a professional and personal commitment to anti-racism, it is impossible to be a culturally responsive school leader.” — Brooke Rios, Executive Director and dissertation author, “Waking Up to Racism: Participating in an Anti-Racist Reflective Leadership Group for White Urban School Leaders” (2019)
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