Our Mission

The prevalence of diversity in most U.S. schools provides good reason to train and prepare school leaders to be fully cognizant, appreciative and motivated to promote culturally responsive instructional practices (Growe et al., 2002). According to the National Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (NACTE) Leadership standard (7.4) it is the responsibility of school leaders to “…promote multicultural awareness, gender sensitivity and racial and ethnic appreciation” (cited in Growe et al., 2002). School leaders must actively involve faculty, staff and students and pursue this resolutely by creating environments whereby the values of different cultures are understood and appreciated.

Limited experience and training in multiculturalism cannot allow school leaders to have comfort and competence in dealing with issues concerning student diversity, and it may be a source of frustration for those who do not possess that sensitivity and training. Educational leadership programs can lessen this burden by ensuring that prospective school leaders have the capacity to lead in culturally responsive ways. Hansman et al. (1999) cited in Growe et al. (2002), suggested that the preparation of such school leadership include multicultural educational courses where active discussions on such issues are encouraged. An essential portion of such courses would be content integration, including the incorporation of content and examples from other cultures to illustrate key concepts. However, a mere understanding of cultural differences is not enough. School leaders must promote environments whereby the stakeholders appreciate, respect, tolerate, and explore differences within the diverse groups, provide a sense of belonging, acceptance, and a possibility of acquiring their full potentials. A mentality of “us” and “them”, as well as “superiority” and “inferiority” can only be overcome when strong leaders practice their beliefs in terms of school recruitment, hiring, and promotion practices, and create appropriate award systems.

School leaders must acquire the skills needed to differentiate leadership practices (Duke, 2010). Becoming aware of student achievement, past and present, considering the welfare of the entire school and having the courage to make organizational changes are critical for culturally responsive school leaders. Differentiating leadership begins with an examination of school-wide practices to determine if instruction is geared towards student learning needs and if there is an overreliance on retention as an intervention. In low performing and declining schools, leaders must direct faculty to focus on promoting literacy among students with limited English proficiency and those who are non-readers or emergent readers. Providing high quality instruction for students with the highest academic needs means that school leaders demonstrate their capacity to change dysfunctional attitudes, beliefs and instructional practices. At times, school leaders may have to confront teachers about their instructional competence. While this is not an easy task, it is essential to providing high quality instruction.

Providing teachers with appropriate professional development opportunities commensurate with their skills and needs is also essential. For example, if teachers are unaware of students’ backgrounds, professional development could focus on helping them develop that awareness and demonstrate how to relate the content to students’ cultural backgrounds. Research shows that working with students, expanding their experiences and knowledge base, rather than prescribing interventions is more likely to motivate them. Providing students with this type of instructional motivation is culturally responsive teaching (Grober et al., 2006; Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Nieto, 2002/2003 cited in Ambe, 2006).

Historically, research and training on school leadership and consultation has maintained the norms of the white middle-class. Even those principals who wanted to promote diversity have found little support to their efforts. Pena (1996) recommends that school leaders consider employing structural consultation strategies that reflect the interests, values and beliefs of educators, school personnel, students, and parents and schedule meetings to discuss school-wide issues with these stakeholders. Other researchers have recommended deconstructing schools and rebuild them differently after close examination (Blasé, 1991 cited in Pena, 1996). Ladson-Billings (cited in Ambe, 2006) recommends that successful school leaders and teachers of minority/diverse student populations focus on students’ strengths rather than weaknesses. Classroom teaching that is tailored to the diverse background of its students, that showcases a variety of instructional strategies including visual aids, assignments, multiple perspectives, speeches, various attitudes, and other practices, is designed to promote student success. Having knowledge of classroom instruction is one arena in which culturally responsive school leaders can have considerable impact.

Lucas & Villegas (2007) suggest that constructivist teaching is more likely than direct instruction, or teacher-centered approaches to bring about culturally responsive teaching. By working with school liaisons, culturally responsive school leaders can ensure that teachers invest time to learn more about students’ families and background and enhance their efforts to provide constructivist teaching. Teacher education programs can contribute to this mission by ensuring that prospective teachers have socio-cultural consciousness and affirming views towards diversity. Teachers, the majority of whom are from English speaking, white, middle-class backgrounds, need to see the inequities in society, examine their own positionality and privilege, and feel that they have an ethical obligation to help all students, while serving as their advocates.

Most researchers and educators agree that training and preparation affects practice. Therefore, educational leadership programs should provide learning experiences that allow students to understand their own assumptions, beliefs and values about people and cultures different from their own, and to learn about the assumptions, beliefs and values held by people from cultures different from their own. To acquire these skills, perhaps during their principal internship course, students should work in schools comprised by people from different cultures so that they can begin to develop culturally responsive leadership practices. The appreciation and support of diverse groups in educational institutions rests largely with the leadership and their attitudes towards multiculturalism. The recognition and pursuit of these characteristics is imperative in the fast-shrinking local, national and global boundaries and our increasingly culturally diverse communities (Ambe, 2006; Goddard, 2007).

References

Ambe, E. B. (2006). Fostering Multicultural Appreciation in Pre-service teachers through multicultural curricular transformation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22, 690.

Brodbeck, F., C., Frese, M., Akerblom, S., & Audia, G. (2000). Cultural Variation of Leadership Prototypes Across 22 European Countries. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 73, 1-29.

Casimir, G., & Waldman, D. A. (2007). A Cross Cultural Comparison of the Importance of Leadership Traits for Effective Low-level and High-level Leaders.International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 7(1), 47-60.

Duke, D. (2010). Differentiating School Leadership: Facing the Challenge. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Gay, G. (2000). Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Goddard, J. T. (2007). School Leadership and Equity: Results from an International Comparative Study. School Leadership and Management, 27(1), 1-5.

Growe, R., Schmersahl, K., Perry, R., & Henry, R. (2002). A Knowledge Base for Cultural Diversity in Administrator Training. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 29(3), 205-212.

Hansman, C. A., Spencer, L., Grant, D., & Jackson, M. (1999). Beyond Diversity: Dismantling Barriers in Education. Journal of instructional psychology. 26(1), 16.

Kirby, P. C., & Blasé, J. J. (1991). Teachers’ Perceptions of Principals Affect Collaborative Efforts. NASSP bulletin 75 (538), 111-115.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Lucas, T., & Villegas, A., M. (2007). The Culturally Responsive Teacher. Educational Leadership, 28-33.

Pena, R. A. (1996). Multiculturalism and Educational Leadership: Keys to Effective Consultation. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation 7(4), 315-325.