What’s Old is New Again: The Challenges and Possibilities of Culturally Responsive Instructional Leadership

This narrative inquiry examines how two instructional leaders define and enact Culturally Responsive Instructional Leadership (CRIL) within a large urban school district. Using a Culturally Relevant and Responsive Leadership (CRRL) framework, the study explores how identity, context, and experience shape leadership practices that promote equity and inclusion. Findings reveal that participants’ conceptualizations of CRIL challenge normative, managerial constructions of instructional leadership by centering relationships, community knowledge, and moral purpose. Both leaders described tensions between district accountability expectations and their commitments to culturally responsive practice. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on culturally responsive instructional leadership by illuminating how leaders negotiate the challenges and possibilities of engaging in race-conscious, equity-oriented leadership.