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Articles

Vol. 7 No. 3 (2021): Journal of Leadership, Equity, and Research

Examining Culturally Relevant Leadership Best Practices in Different Educational Environments

Submitted
July 9, 2021
Published
2021-07-24

Abstract

Though culturally relevant educational leadership has been practiced for more than 20 years, marginalized students from culturally diverse communities continue to be underserved. Additionally, other educational programs outside of traditional K-12 school environments are far less likely to have educational administrators who have any experience or training in culturally relevant leadership, begging the question, “Do we really understand what effective culturally relevant leadership best practices are, and if so, how can we improve them in all educational settings, and not just K-12 education?” This research project focuses on answering the following questions: 1.) What best practices are utilized by culturally relevant educational administrators?; 2.) What best practices are utilized by culturally relevant educational administrators who come from different cultural or racial backgrounds?; and 3.) What best practices are utilized by culturally relevant administrators from different types of educational institutions or environments? A qualitative multiple-case study design was utilized to explore the best practices of four randomly selected educational administrators in California, from different cultural backgrounds and from different school environments, with considerable experience and success in teaching and educational administration. Results from the study indicate that despite some differences in their approaches and their respective educational programs, there were common factors that were instrumental in the record of success experienced by these research participants. Key among these factors were (I.) Positive Relationships with the local community; (II.) Principal or Administrative Mentoring Programs; and (III.) Shared Decision Making. These, and other factors were vital for professional development, improved student academic performance, retention, and engagement, especially for marginalized populations in culturally diverse schools.