Once I coded all of the data and completed the matrix, I reviewed the resulting
codes and the transcript data to explore the connections between the level-2 codes within
the context of the study. I grouped these codes into five categories based on their
165
commonalities: personal biography, understandings of teachers, understandings of race
and racism, understandings of the job, and understandings of leadership. I reviewed the
coded text within each category and explored the possible relationships within each
category as well as across categories to identified three themes that were universal among
participants: shades of color-consciousness, principals as moral agents, and working in a
context of fear. These three themes identify how the participants collectively describe
their experiences and their leadership in HRD schools.