School leaders of color face high levels of burnout. Here’s what they need to thrive.

As a novice teacher in 1999, I was grateful to have a colleague across the hall who was also new to the profession. We swapped stories, shared strategies, and commiserated about our shared challenges around lesson planning and staying in touch with students’ families.

At some point, though, our experiences at the same Florida elementary school diverged. While my colleague was asked to lead a grade-level team, I was tapped to head up the school’s Black History Month programming. After school, she oversaw academic enrichment while I supervised detention. On the weekend, she led a scholars program while I coached the basketball team.

My colleague was a white woman. I am a Black man.

My early leadership opportunities reflected important school staffing needs and aligned with my skill set. And while these assignments were mostly enjoyable, they didn’t prepare me for the next steps on my leadership journey. Through dogged persistence, informal guidance from fellow leaders of color, and my fair share of luck, I became a principal and, later, a district superintendent. The system, however, was not set up to support my success.

That’s because male educators of color are often “tracked” into disciplinary roles , and men and women of color report being tapped to lead equity initiatives and perform other functions that do not necessarily capitalize on their instructional expertise. Principal and superintendent roles are increasingly focused on instructional leadership. That means many educators of color who step up to lead early in their careers find themselves lacking the types of experience hiring managers look for when recruiting for school and district leadership positions.

Many of the non-instructional efforts that educators of color find themselves tapped to lead involve extra time, added stress , and little or no compensation. It’s a perfect recipe for burnout. Is it any wonder why the turnover rate for educators of color is higher than the national average? If we don’t figure this out, the continued loss of talented educators of color from our schools will persist, further hindering recruiting efforts.

Today, just one in five teachers and principals and only about 10 percent of superintendents are people of color. Given what we know about how teachers and leaders of color benefit students , and the role that principals of color play in recruiting and retaining more diverse teachers , closing leadership representation gaps is among the most urgent challenges facing our education system.

While my colleague was asked to lead a grade-level team, I was tapped to head up the school’s Black History Month programming.

When I left the superintendency in 2021, I knew my work was not done. I co-founded the nonprofit Men of Color in Educational Leadership to tackle the many ways that race, gender, and implicit bias shape — and too often impede — educational leadership opportunities. While our mission is focused on men, much of our work addresses the overlapping needs and experiences of women of color in educational leadership, too.

In 2022, we held a series of focus groups with more than 300 principals, assistant principals, and superintendents of color. These men and women served cities, suburbs, and rural communities. We sought their insight into surviving and thriving in their careers. Participants also identified policies and practices hindering educators of color from advancing into leadership roles.

We turned what we learned into a framework and free, online toolkit we call Resilient, Representative Leadership . Educators of color can draw on these resources when planning their leadership trajectory or navigating around a career roadblock or unexpected development.

We also know that emboldening resilient leaders of color without creating systems that support their advancement is just another recipe for burnout. Over the past few months, we’ve had a chance to share our findings with school officials across the country, including at conferences for district administrators and state education leaders.

In these polarized times, I’m heartened that our framework is resonating with education officials across the political spectrum. Dozens of state and local leaders have reached out to me to share how they are embracing strategies we’ve identified, including :

Identity-conscious professional development

Our professional learning communities unite same-race, same-gender educators with support from an expert facilitator who shares their background. These groups foster safe, trusting spaces for leaders of color to be vulnerable and engage in self-reflection, learning, and planning around their leadership needs, strengths, and experiences. District officials have shared that combining traditional affinity spaces with professional learning has helped them develop and retain leaders of color.

Pairing leaders of color 1:1 with same-race, same-gender mentors

Each of us, no matter our racial/ethnic or gender identity, can take steps to support educators of color in their leadership journeys. We can be non-judgmental listeners, for example, and we make connections to help our colleagues expand their professional networks. Still, the superintendents we’ve connected with recognize the value of teaming up leaders of color with role models who’ve walked a similar path. One school leader of color told us that being paired with an educator who shared her background was the first time she had a mentor who really understood the unique challenges she faced on the job.

Identifying pain points, setting goals, and tracking progress

We can’t fix what we don’t know, so after collecting data on the experiences educators of color face, our organization works with district leaders to address issues and track progress against clear, measurable goals (e.g., hiring, retention, and promotion of educators of color). As one official shared with us, this work reaps benefits for teachers and leaders of color while improving working conditions and opportunities for all educators in her district.

As a former superintendent, I encourage school officials to take bold, unapologetic action when educators of color are faced with injustice. This type of leadership could have made a huge difference for me from my early days as a Florida elementary school teacher onward. Even in regions where typical DEI efforts are non-starters, we’re seeing leaders embrace evidence-backed strategies to strengthen and diversify leadership because they deliver real results where it matters most — in schools, for all students.

Harrison Peters is the CEO and co-founder of Men of Color in Educational Leadership . He is a former state turnaround superintendent, chief of schools, deputy superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, dean of students, and elementary school teacher. Peters is a U.S. Navy veteran.