Culturally Competent Practices and Implications for Special Education Leaders

Introduction

The National Summit for Educational Equity reported that culturally competent leadership is key to the United States’ racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse public schools, especially addressing disproportionality (NSEE, 2017). For decades, an abundance of research documented that students from diverse backgrounds are overrepresented in special education compared to their counterpoints across the United States (Diaz-Rico, 2018; Ford, 2012; Sullivan, 2017). In today’s schools, treating students and families from different backgrounds and cultures thoughtfully and with equity has become a pivotal concern (Chang, 2007; Umansky, Thompson, & Díaz, 2017). School leaders must engage in ways that enable both the individual and the organization to respond effectively to people who are different from themselves (Kirven, 2009). According to IDEA (Diaz-Rico, 2018), schools are mandated to provide educational opportunities to benefit all students; however, many of our students in special education classrooms are not succeeding. Gaps exist in graduation rates, suspensions, expulsions, retention, achievement, and special education, especially for culturally and linguistically diverse student populations (Gay, 2002; Ford, 2012).

Culturally competent leaders esteem culture and understand how to work with students and families by interacting effectively in a variety of cultural environments (Terrell & Lindsey, 2009). Such leaders advocate for lifelong learning for the purpose of being effective in serving the educational needs of cultural groups in the school community (Terrell & Lindsey, 2009). In the same manner, culturally competent special education leaders engage in practices that improve services and outcomes for all students. Those leaders are proactive and apply cultural competence practices to both the organization and individual behaviors (CEEP, 2006).

This chapter addresses cultural competence in education and offers specific implications for special education leaders. The authors suggest that creating and implementing Culturally Competent Practices that moves education towards optimum results in culturally rich settings.

Three questions were formulated in accordance with the purpose of this research:

• 1.

  What culturally competent practices are imperative to improve student services for CLD students in special education?

• 2.

  To what extent do cultural competencies inform the interactions of special education leaders in the school environment?

• 3.

  What are some recommendations for educational leaders to become more culturally competent?

Background

Cultural competence is a developmental process through which a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies come together to form a system that works effectively across cultures (CEEP, 2006). Gay (2010) defines culturally responsive teaching as “using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning meaningful and relevant” (p. 31). Cultural competency is relevant in all contexts: rural, urban, and suburban, despite the population. Ladson-Billings (2001) added that culturally responsive teaching is “a pedagogy that empowers students with intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (p. 20). Cultural competence behaviors align with standards that move an organization toward interactions of equity for all (Terrell & Lindsey, 2009). Educators who use culturally competent methods see culture as a strength to enhance academic and social achievement. In essence, cultural competence involves acquiring the ability to function efficiently in cultural contexts which differ from one’s own.