Preparing Principals as Culturally Responsive Leaders

• In Event: Culturally Responsive School Leadership: Empirical Research and Theoretical Advances

Abstract

In this paper we argue that a framework of culturally responsive school leadership must be designed from the beginning as to specifically speak to the lucid inequities that align along race in American education (Gooden & Dantley, 2012). Moreover, there are transitioning demographics in schools in the United States and any model of leadership that ignores this fact and what it means in schools will inevitably fail to adequately address it. Conversely, preparing principals to operate in this current state of affairs calls forth a centralizing the issue of race within a broader context of social justice. To date, social justice leadership as a concept in schools has gained some traction (Cambron-McCabe & McCarthy, 2005; Capper, Theoharis, & Sebastian, 2006; Jean-Marie, Normore, & Brooks, 2009). Scholars have also looked specifically at how race is still relevant to educational leadership (F. Brown, 2005; Dantley, 2005; Gooden, 2012; Evans, 2007; Tillman, 2005). Culturally responsive leadership as it encompasses race is a developing concept that has also been informed by a range of scholars. Consistent with that thinking, this paper outlines five ingredients of such a culturally responsive framework of leadership, including self-reflection, a grounding in a critical theoretical construction, a prophetic and pragmatic edge, praxis, and the inclusion of race language. The impact of racism and the efficacy of the blending of self-reflection, introspection, as well as intellectual work are discussed as viable vehicles to integrate and properly centralize matters of race in preparing prospective school leaders. The paper concludes with the presentation of a proposed curriculum module that can assist principal preparation programs in addressing the concerns outlined within.

Authors

• Mark A. Gooden, The University of Texas - Austin

• Michael E. Dantley, Miami University