Blazing New Trails - Connexions

CRITICAL ISSUES IN EDUCATION LEADERSHIP PREPARATION
Preparing Future School Leaders to Foster Site Level Cultural Proficiency:
Investigating the Work of Successful Schools First-hand
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Kathryn Singh
Currently, our schools are faced with the challenge of assisting all students in attaining
higher levels of academic achievement regardless of their ethnic, language or socioeconomic
subgroup (Moyer & Clymer, 2009). It is imperative that school personnel who work with
students and their families on a daily basis are equipped to make and carry out decisions that
take into consideration the ever increasing diversity at their sites in a way that guarantees all
students will have the same opportunity to succeed (Cambron-McCabe & McCarthy, 2005).
When schools do not offer conditions that give all cultural groups a chance to excel, there may
be a lack of cultural proficiency on the part of those who work at the site. Cultural proficiency
means that educators clearly understand their own and others’ cultural backgrounds and are
aware of how these cultures influence the teaching-learning process. This knowledge allows
educators to take students’ needs into consideration in order to provide an environment that
promotes their well-being and success in and out of the classroom (Lindsey et al., 2005).
Leaders must ensure that all students and staffs are prepared to interact in a diverse
world (Banks, 2008). Hence, it is important for graduates of educational leadership programs
to attain the knowledge and skills of culturally proficient leadership so that they may assist
their school community in embracing diversity and capitalizing on it in order to make the
educational experience more powerful and successful (Lindsey et al., 2005). It is helpful for
education leadership students to read, discuss and listen to speakers on the topic of cultural
proficiency (Bustamante et al., 2009). However, it is even more powerful for them to confront
the issue of diversity directly in the schools as an observer and investigator. Hearing and seeing
first-hand what school members think and do will allow them to reflect on the urgency and
complexity of guaranteeing a quality education to all (Lindsey et al., 2005).
Gathering information related to cultural proficiency in the schools provides education
administration students with knowledge and skills that are essential to school leadership. As
students explore educational leaders’ perceptions and the way they focus their work on
diversity issues, they develop insights regarding strategies for bringing about positive change.
Students can specifically analyze how those in leadership roles, both formal and informal,
successfully develop cultural proficiency at successful sites (Bustamante et al., 2009).
Examining leadership attitudes and practices at diverse schools where students are
achieving academic success provides students and faculty with an understanding of
dispositions, knowledge and skills that could be developed in future leaders. Asking that no
child be left behind but sending graduates out into the schools without the mindset and tools
needed to ensure that all truly have a chance is unrealistic (Johnson, 2003). Students and staff
will achieve greater results, and families will support the process when they feel they are part
of the system and equipped with the tools to be successful (Howley, Woodrum, Burgess, &
Rhodes, 2009).
Kathryn Singh, San Diego State University