An Examination of The Relationship Between A Redesigned School Leadership Preparation Program and Graduates' Cultural Competence

Culturally competent leaders positively affect school environments which in turn fosters equitable learning. Educational leadership preparation programs bear the responsibility of preparing culturally competent school leaders. Few programs assess their graduate students' cultural competence and its development. Using the Cultural Competence for Educational Leaders (CCEL) instrument, this convergent triangulation mixed methods study examines change in cultural beliefs and motivation, cultural knowledge, cultural skills and the overall cultural competence of students after going through a redesigned combined Master's Degree and educational leadership certification program. Qualitative data were gathered through focus group interviews, an open-ended survey question, and program document analysis. Findings show statistically significant increases in graduates' cultural knowledge, beliefs and motivations, and skills. Changes were perceived to be influenced by the cohort model, culturally diverse and social-justice oriented adjunct-instructors, a required "Leadership for Social-Justice" course, and social-justice embedded throughout the program as a cross-curricular theme.