3. Diversity Leadership
a. Demonstrate and recognize the significance of diversity and responding the all needs
b. Create and monitor a positive environment for all learners c. Create and monitor a positive environment for all staff d. Promote sensitivity of diversity throughout the school community e. Demonstrate the ability to adapt education programs to the needs of diverse constituencies |
In the book, Managing Diverse Classrooms (2008), the authors share the opposing viewpoints of teachers recognizing their classrooms as a collection of individuals versus recognizing them as system with group norms and peer culture. I believe that when managing a school, both viewpoints must be considered.
I was fortunate to spend a year in Singapore experiencing the education community while living in a completely new cultural paradigm. I now have a better appreciation for the challenges of living every day with foreign communication styles and expectations. A particularly poignant moment occurred after spending a day on a small island in Indonesia where my family members were the only Caucasians. The island, a tourist destination, had many schools visiting it that day. All day long, kids and adults were staring at us, while others took pictures sometimes even posing with us. That night, my daughter summed up what I think was in all of our heads, “From now on, I will work extra hard to help anyone who is different feel like they are a part of the group.” Students should not be singled out for their differences, yet differences must be recognized and respected. This is complicated, yet a required balance that I believe in maintaining as a principal.
Principals must also recognize and prepare a school-wide plan of behavior expectations that reverberates through both staff and students. In order to create a positive learning experience, I believe in fostering a school-wide focus on kindness, which I have been a part of in my current school. At the beginning of the year, my school uses the book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? (2015) and classroom discussions to set the framework for school wide kindness. We also participate in Kindness Week and Unity Day (Artifact 1). I have learned that attention to a positive environment is a daily opportunity that is worth the work to maintain. It is essential for kids to have an uplifting place to spend their days.
Not only does a principal need to create a landscape of support and acceptance, but he or she must also provide a framework for students’ diverse needs to be met. To this end, I have been a leader in the RtI initiative in our district. In its infancy, I lead the middle school teachers to create plans for documenting students’ challenges, which eventually became the referral for iTeam (intervention team) (Artifact 2). This year, I served on the iTeam in the elementary, middle, and high schools. At the elementary, the counselor and I created an intricate structure for 2015-2016. It included a PLC calendar (Artifact 3) when teams would discuss students, core iTeam representatives placed on every PLC team, a program evaluation process, and core iTeam meeting plans. The evaluation results have shown that this program has been extremely effective this year.
In working with the high school iTeam, I put together a spreadsheet of data that color coded students at risk in a variety of areas. When I looked at the data, I realized that we had a problem. Our Hispanic students were at risk in many more categories than students in other categories. I knew that our Hispanic students were also our largest EL population. After discussing this with the principal, I was able to garner support to do an informal audit of our EL program with the EL teacher. The outcome of this was that we were able to make some suggestions for change and begin targeting change for the gap that we had recognized (Artifact 4).
Schools should be positive places for students, teachers, and staff. This is only accomplished through purposeful planning and continued attention. In order for students in these systems to reach their potentials, they must be nurtured as individuals, but also as important members of the school community as a whole. Achievement gaps, where they exist, must be studied for specific root causes and targeted for improvement. Ultimately, it is the job of the principal to ensure that students and staff are accepted and able to function in a system where it is ok to be who they really are.
I was fortunate to spend a year in Singapore experiencing the education community while living in a completely new cultural paradigm. I now have a better appreciation for the challenges of living every day with foreign communication styles and expectations. A particularly poignant moment occurred after spending a day on a small island in Indonesia where my family members were the only Caucasians. The island, a tourist destination, had many schools visiting it that day. All day long, kids and adults were staring at us, while others took pictures sometimes even posing with us. That night, my daughter summed up what I think was in all of our heads, “From now on, I will work extra hard to help anyone who is different feel like they are a part of the group.” Students should not be singled out for their differences, yet differences must be recognized and respected. This is complicated, yet a required balance that I believe in maintaining as a principal.
Principals must also recognize and prepare a school-wide plan of behavior expectations that reverberates through both staff and students. In order to create a positive learning experience, I believe in fostering a school-wide focus on kindness, which I have been a part of in my current school. At the beginning of the year, my school uses the book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? (2015) and classroom discussions to set the framework for school wide kindness. We also participate in Kindness Week and Unity Day (Artifact 1). I have learned that attention to a positive environment is a daily opportunity that is worth the work to maintain. It is essential for kids to have an uplifting place to spend their days.
Not only does a principal need to create a landscape of support and acceptance, but he or she must also provide a framework for students’ diverse needs to be met. To this end, I have been a leader in the RtI initiative in our district. In its infancy, I lead the middle school teachers to create plans for documenting students’ challenges, which eventually became the referral for iTeam (intervention team) (Artifact 2). This year, I served on the iTeam in the elementary, middle, and high schools. At the elementary, the counselor and I created an intricate structure for 2015-2016. It included a PLC calendar (Artifact 3) when teams would discuss students, core iTeam representatives placed on every PLC team, a program evaluation process, and core iTeam meeting plans. The evaluation results have shown that this program has been extremely effective this year.
In working with the high school iTeam, I put together a spreadsheet of data that color coded students at risk in a variety of areas. When I looked at the data, I realized that we had a problem. Our Hispanic students were at risk in many more categories than students in other categories. I knew that our Hispanic students were also our largest EL population. After discussing this with the principal, I was able to garner support to do an informal audit of our EL program with the EL teacher. The outcome of this was that we were able to make some suggestions for change and begin targeting change for the gap that we had recognized (Artifact 4).
Schools should be positive places for students, teachers, and staff. This is only accomplished through purposeful planning and continued attention. In order for students in these systems to reach their potentials, they must be nurtured as individuals, but also as important members of the school community as a whole. Achievement gaps, where they exist, must be studied for specific root causes and targeted for improvement. Ultimately, it is the job of the principal to ensure that students and staff are accepted and able to function in a system where it is ok to be who they really are.