Making Sense of Racial-Equity: A Grounded Theory of Leadership Preparation and Learning Among Leaders of Color

This constructivist grounded theory study examines how leaders of color make sense of racial-equity learning within educational leadership preparation-programs. Drawing on interviews with 39 school and district leaders of color, the study explores how participants interpreted race-explicit learning opportunities and prepared for equity-focused leadership. Findings indicate that racial-equity learning was shaped by program structures, equity discourse, identity, lived experience, leadership practice, and identity-based labor. The core process emerging from the data was identity-mediated sensemaking, through which participants interpreted, supplemented, and reconstructed learning beyond formal coursework. The resulting theoretical model positions racial-equity learning as an ongoing process extending across preparation, professional practice, and community experience. Findings suggest leadership preparation-programs should provide sustained opportunities for explicit engagement with race alongside practice-based experiences to better prepare leaders to serve diverse school communities.