An Examination of the Relationship Between a Redesigned School Leadership Preparation Program and Graduates' Cultural Competence

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Social Justice Leadership: Troubling Frameworks, Reform, and Restoration

Abstract

Educational-leadership preparation-programs bear the responsibility of preparing culturally competent school-leaders able to carry complex responsibilities. Few programs assess students’ cultural-competence and its development. This study examines change in cultural-beliefs and motivation, cultural-knowledge, cultural-skills and the overall cultural-competence of students after going through a redesigned Master’s and certification program. In this mixed-methods study, quantitative data were collected from the first graduating cohort of the redesigned program (N= 48) using the CCEL instrument and employing a pre and post-test design. Qualitative data were gathered through focus-group-interviews, an open-ended survey question, and document-analysis. There was a significant change in graduates’ cultural-knowledge, and cultural-beliefs and motivations. Changes were perceived to be influenced by programmatic experiences (e.g. internship activities and a required Social-Justice Leadership course).

Authors

• Maysaa Y. Barakat, Florida Atlantic University

• Melanie Ann Stefanovic, Florida Atlantic University

• Leila Hilal Shatara, Florida Atlantic University

• Daniel Reyes-Guerra, Florida Atlantic University