In this era of growing diversity in schools, some see the lack of principals from diverse ethnic backgrounds as evidence of missed opportunities to tap valuable leadership resources and role models for staff and students alike.
More research is needed to explore how cultural background influences a principal's leadership style and approach to tackling issues in diverse school settings, experts say. Yet principals from diverse backgrounds readily identify one advantage they bring to their schools: They are innately attuned to the cultural nuances that administrators from other backgrounds might misinterpret or miss altogether, they say. This awareness can help build stronger ties to minority students, staff, and the wider community.
Diversity Disparities
In 2001–02, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), minority students accounted for 39 percent of the total enrollment in U.S. public schools, including those under the Department of Defense and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). In the 100 largest school districts, which include major cities, minority students accounted for 67 percent of the enrollment in the 1998–99 school year.
Even with such diverse student populations, administrators of color are noticeably absent. In the 1990s, the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) reported in a 35-state survey that black principals accounted for 10 percent, Hispanic principals accounted for 5 percent, Asian and Pacific Islanders accounted for 0.8 percent, and American Indians for just 0.4 percent of public school principals. With such a small pool of school-level administrators to draw from, it's not surprising that minorities who became superintendents accounted for only 6 percent of the total in 2000, according to AASA figures.
The number of minority principals is higher in central cities with high minority populations, according to NCES data. But general population patterns are changing in smaller communities too, and the demand for administrators who can understand the needs of diverse groups may grow accordingly. Since 2000, for example, Georgia has recorded a 19 percent increase in Hispanics, and Idaho has shown a 24 percent increase in blacks, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Cultural Competency
Against this backdrop of increasingly diverse populations, administrators from racial, ethnic, and language backgrounds that mirror the school and community population have a ready-made advantage in understanding the behavior of one or more minority groups, usually because of their own experiences. Like any good principal, a minority administrator should always work to understand a variety of groups, say experts.
Such a capacity to understand different cultures—which include the actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of particular racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups—and how they interact is sometimes referred to as cultural competence. Administrators who are culturally competent know how to modify their actions, words, or body language to take into account another person's cultural expectations.
Cultural Strengths
For Principal Maria Castro, who heads Roosevelt Elementary Magnet School in St. Paul, Minn., "a point of pride" is that she now serves the community she was raised in. Castro benefited from social services provided at the nearby community center that has helped neighborhood immigrants adjust to American life for 100 years. Roosevelt's school population is 47 percent Hispanic, 23 percent African American, 20 percent Hmong, 7 percent white, and 1.7 percent American Indian.
"It's so important that children see persons of color in leadership roles—whether African American, Latino, or Asian—because it opens up opportunities. We serve as role models to our children of what they can achieve," says Castro.
Being bilingual and also being committed to hiring teachers who reflect the diversity of the school are obvious ways Castro connects to families and the larger community. But growing up in a Latino family, Castro notes, has contributed to how she operates as an educational leader.
For example, regular interactions with her extended family—parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles—taught Castro to "include many voices in the dialog of where we are going and how we're going to get there," she says. The dialog about raising student achievement in an area of high poverty includes not only staff "working off each other's strengths," Castro notes, but also community organizations that can make a difference in a child's life.
Cultural Insight
Another predominantly Hispanic school in St. Paul is led by Principal Elizabeth Heffernan, who grew up in a Latino family in El Paso, Tex. From her experience in that community, she observes that Hispanic families generally "have a reluctance to let go of children and push them to be independent."
Nurturing is a good thing, Heffernan acknowledges, but the negative outcome could be that children "tend to excuse themselves more" or say "the teacher is mean and not giving them a chance." She recalls one boy whose parents would not believe that he acted disrespectfully and disruptively at school until they came to a school conference with their child. Once the mother realized her son was playing teachers against parents, she became very supportive, says Heffernan. After the child was tested for special needs and English language support, he was referred to special education, which helped to solve his behavior problems, she adds.
Added Pressure
At times, principals say, being from a minority group can add another layer of pressure on leaders to perform well.
Janice Lloyd, the principal of Falls Church High School in Fairfax County, Va., is African American. She's committed to maintaining a diverse staff to serve a school that is 35 percent white, 30 percent Hispanic, 25 percent Asian and Pacific Islander, and 9 percent African American. When parents and students see teachers of the same ethnicity, they have an immediate comfort level when they come into the school, she points out.
But sometimes teachers who speak English as a second language aren't as articulate in English as parents and students would like. This can subtly work against promoting the benefits of diversity, Lloyd notes. Nonetheless, she sees this as a challenge of instructional leadership that she plans to address with further staff development.
"I have to be an exceptional professional and show the community that we can make adequate yearly progress andmaintain quality teachers from diverse backgrounds," Lloyd says.
Healing the Past
Among minorities, Native Americans have a long history of cultural suppression, relocation to reservations, and injustice at the hands of state and society—poor treatment that has had lasting influences. Native communities still walk a fine line between assimilation and maintaining cultural integrity and identity, say native educators. About 90 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native K–12 students attend public schools, while 8 percent are enrolled in tribal schools supported by the BIA.
Native scholars have highlighted the advantages of preparing native people for school leadership positions because of the positive effects of role modeling and the influence such administrators can bring to the school curriculum.
"Native administrators bring an innate awareness of social norms and customs of the community, which includes knowledge of languages, family kinship structures, awareness of political sensitivities, and an appreciation of certain ceremonies, rituals, and community occasions," says Michael Pavel, a professor at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash.
Pavel, a member of the Skokomish tribe, reports that even in public schools with American Indian enrollment of more than 57 percent, Native American principals are found in just 13 percent. Pavel says those low numbers signify lost opportunities to help native students reconnect with a community identity and culture.
While acting as role models and channels for cultures that have prized such notions as cooperation over competition, native administrators also serve the wider purpose of showing "that native people are highly valued, contributing members of society," who have ideas and strengths to offer all students, he adds.
Rocky Waters
Even for a minority leader, the interplay of diverse cultural perspectives can still be complex and frustrating. Viewpoints among racial and ethnic groups may differ widely depending on country of origin, family background, and personal experiences.
Ohio University education professor Arlie Woodrum studied the multicultural dynamics surrounding one Latina principal in a predominantly African American school in Boston. He discovered that the perceptions of this principal of color not only differed among racial, ethnic, and nationality groups but could also change depending on how the actions of the principal were interpreted.
The principal in the study, who was Puerto Rican, had an initial honeymoon period with African American teachers and community members. But African American teachers especially began to perceive her negatively because of her leadership style, her close work with white parents to help save the school from closing, and her decision to replace a black teacher on leave with a white one.
"Whomever the principal is—whether minority or not—she has to spend time understanding who the groups are in the community and also must understand her own cultural framework and leadership expectations," Woodrum advises.
Encouraging Potential Leaders
Minority administrators are often uniquely positioned to identify emerging leaders. Many minorities now in school leadership positions say a minority colleague encouraged them to enter administration. As policymakers at the state and district levels explore how to best find and train minority educators who will become administrators, many current principals attribute their achievements to professional relationships with other administrators who valued their talents for leadership.
Principal Janice Lloyd recalls that while she was social studies chair at a middle school, an African American assistant principal told her flat out, "You have leadership skills—don't waste them." Such words of encouragement in the right direction are sometimes all it takes.
