Power and Persistence: Black Women Technology Leaders Navigating Race, Gender, and Space in P-12 Education

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic heightened the demand for technology leadership in public schools across the United States. While school systems quickly adopted digital tools to support remote instruction, technology leadership roles remained disproportionately held by White men. Black women continue to be underrepresented in these positions, both in practice and in academic discourse. This study centers the voices of eight Black women who serve as technology leaders in P-12 public school districts, examining how their intersectional identities shape their social and professional experiences. Grounded in Critical Race Theory and guided by Critical Race Methodology, this research highlights the ways Black women persist in roles shaped by systemic racism, sexism, and classism. Findings reveal how participants challenge bias in real time, draw strength from community, and lead with intention in challenging or exclusionary spaces. Their stories provide insight into the everyday strategies of resistance used to confront structural barriers and predicate the need to amplify their lived experiences in school leadership.