Do We Either Have It or We Don't? Variables Correlated to Educational Leaders' Cultural Competence

• In Event: Developing Leaders' Capacity and Consciousness for Social Justice

Abstract

The demographic profile of the US has been rapidly changing; by 2030, minority students will constitute the majority of the school student population nationwide. This makes cultural-competence a necessity for today’s school-leaders. Educational-leadership preparation-programs are responsible for preparing culturally competent leaders; however, few programs assess their students’ cultural-competence. The purpose of this quantitative, study was to examine whether certain personal attributes and experiences of students of educational-leadership co-related with their cultural-competence. The findings suggest cultural-competence of participants is affected by personal attributes such as gender and perception of belonging to marginalized groups, and by experiences such as travel abroad. These findings have important implications for principal-preparation programs.

Authors

• Maysaa Y. Barakat, Florida Atlantic University

• Ellen H. Reames, Auburn University

• Frances K. Kochan, Auburn University