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Leadership for ELL Success
Powerful Learning Experience #4: Developing Organizational Cultural Competency
Element
Description/Instructions
• Understand how teacher/leader “monocultural” competence in a
changing context, undermines school efforts to meet the needs of
ELLs.
Purpose
• Develop individual and organizational cultural competence
• Candidates will identify the individual teacher and administrator
cultural competencies required for ELL success
Instructor Notes
This PLE is called “Developing
Organizational Cultural Competence”
because of the important role that culture
and language have in ELL education. While
this PLE focuses on “culture,” we know that
linguistic competence (knowledge about
language and language acquisition) is
equally important.
In this PLE we look to link individual
cultural competence to organizational
cultural competence. Much of the focus in
multicultural efforts in schools has been at
the teacher level, but here we try to push
candidates to think about how the school
must develop this competency as well.
This is especially true of for candidates who
are working in schools with an “emerging”
ELL population and with a predominantly
English-only teaching staff. It is important
to note that while most monolingual
teachers may be White, African American
teachers may also face challenges when
introduced to an ELL population. In
addition, teachers may feel that they are
already “culturally competent” because of
minor changes to curriculum or events. The
nature of the cultural competency discussed
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Pre-Activity
In preparation for the PLE, candidates will complete a sample of the
“School-Wide Cultural Competency Observation Checklist”
(Bustamante & Nelson, 2007). This is a reflective tool for candidates
to see how “competent” their schools are when addressing issues of
racial/ethnic and linguistic diversity.
The focus of this activity is to emphasize the wide-range of areas that
must be addressed in order to develop individuals and a school that
are culturally competent.
here goes beyond that and much of what is
shared focuses on school-wide competence.
This is a tool for the individual to reflect on
the organization. The questions address the
necessary elements of cultural competence
and the level of integration into school
culture and daily life. Alone, this “checklist”
can be used to start discussions of
assumptions of other cultures and definitions
of “competence.”
The reflection can be given “whole class”
(rather than individually) to spark a
discussion about what candidates think
about their school’s level of cultural
competence.
If you are able to integrate this more into
your class, the areas highlighted in the
checklist can be used as “study questions” in
which students break into small groups and
discuss these issues in their school/district.
Response can be presented in class or
through an on-line discussion board.
Do not be surprised if students begin to pose
some resistance. While this tool can be used
to explore individual assumptions, it is
primarily meant to look at the degree which
organizational systems value diversity.
Candidates may struggle with their own
experiences and feelings about this (in
particular around the difference between
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Video can be assigned independently or in-class as part of a guided
discussion.
Video
If viewed independently, discussion/reflection questions are
embedded.
If viewed in-class, clip can be paused for discussion. Discussion can
be whole class or in small groups.
equity vs. equality). Candidates may default
to arguments such as being “color-blind” or
“not a racist.” The focus on the organization
may help them to understand how
“monocultural” school structures and
systems are. This is an important part of
their leadership development if they hope to
lead diverse schools. [If the resistance
persists, then we recommend the LSDL
module that focuses on race/ethnicity from
the UT-Austin]
Video Length ~ 7:26
These clips address how Global Middle
School began to develop its cultural
competence and some of the challenges the
principal faced. The video also highlights
the multiple levels of cultural competence
that were being addressed simultaneously.
The principal engaged teachers in these
events all at the same time, not one at a
time. This reflects the systems approach
discusses in PLE #3. It is also possible to
discuss principal learning through this PLE
and the strategies that she employed to help
her staff.
The principal introduces,
• Developing School Culture (by focusing
on ELL students and teacher relations)
• Teacher Cultural Competence (using
professional development and addressing
underlying assumptions)
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Guided
Discussion
There are discussion questions embedded in the video after every
segment. For example,
• How does this build organizational capacity?
• What resources were identified in the process?
• What other school structures support organizational learning?
• Home-School connections (understanding
parents, providing translation, parents as
partners, and identifying community
resources)
If candidates are completing this PLE
independently, then students can write short
responses to the discussion/reflection
questions. These can then be submitted for
professor review and/or an on-line forum or
brought to class for group discussion.
If students are watching the video in class,
the video can be stopped after every
segment and questions can be used to foster
class discussion.
These discussion questions can also be
modified to reflect the local context,
including constraints and needs.
Readings
Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for Culturally Responsive Teaching
Journal of Teacher Education, 53 (2), pp. 106-116
http://mrc.spps.org/uploads/preparing_for_crt-_geneva_gay-2.pdf
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Questions can also focus on the larger issue
of culturally competent leadership. Many of
the structures discussed here affect
teaching/classrooms and require reallocation
of resources (i.e. time, personnel). These are
organizational changes, which highlights
both a systemic approach AND how making
curricular changes alone will not foster
school improvement.
These readings highlight the role of
individual (Gay, 2002) and organizational
cultural competency (Bustamante, 2009) on
ELL achievement. Through identification
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Bustamante, R.M., Nelson, J.A., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2009).
Educational Administration Quarterly, 45(5) 793–827. (Not opensource)
Coady, M., Hamann, E.T., Harrington, M., Pacheco, M., Pho, S. &
Yedlin, J. (2003). "Claiming Opportunities: A Handbook for
Improving Education for English Language Learners Through
Comprehensive School Reform"
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/teachlearnfacpub/50
Supporting
Materials
Related
Websites
Claiming Opportunities is a free on-line
text. The whole book is relevant to this
module. For this PLE, we recommend
Chapter 3.
Bustamante, R. M. (2008). The “Culture Audit”: A leadership tool for These materials can be used in conjunction
assessment and strategic planning in diverse schools and colleges.
with or instead of the articles suggested.
http://csuprofessionaldevelopment.com/images/pdfs/CulturalAudit.pdf
Bustamante (2008) introduces a tool for
Chamberlain, S. Recognizing and responding to cultural differences in assessing organizational cultural
the education of culturally and linguistically diverse learners. (2005).
competence.
Teaching Tolerance
http://www.tolerance.org/index.jsp
Office of English Language Acquisition
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oela/index.html
Reflective
Journaling
and analysis of individual assumptions,
organizations can become more welcoming
environments for ELLs (Coady, et al, 2003).
These articles are vehicle for students to
address cultural competence issues in
schools and leadership.
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
http://www.carla.umn.edu/
Reflective journals are an important part of individual leadership
development. It allows students to capture their thinking and
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Chamberlain (2005) addresses the role of
teacher cultural competence in the referral
process – and overrepresentation - of
culturally/linguistically diverse learners to
special education.
There are numerous websites but these offer
both research and policy information on
ELL students and second language
acquisition.
One way to maximize the journaling
experience is to give students time in class
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underlying assumptions. Periodically, students can analyze their
journal and see how their thinking evolves over time, both in terms of
sophistication and skill development.
Candidates journal about of their experiences in changing contexts
and their feeling about it, as well as strategies that were used to
“manage the change.”
Assessments
Level One
Level One: Candidates reply to the discussion questions in written
form based on principal’s responses.
Level Two: Candidates write a brief case study of the school based on
principal’s responses
to share what they are learning about
themselves/their leadership. This serves to
highlight the value of the journal and also
give you insight into where their learning
needs are.
These journals can also be done on-line via
individual discussion boards, blogs, etc.
These assessments reflect the different
levels of integration into existing course.
Each “level” becomes increasing more
complex and will require more time on the
part of students and professor.
Level Three: Candidates respond to guiding questions based on their
own context
Extended
Activity
The extended activity described below
requires extensive work outside of class and
reinforces data collection and analysis
skills..
 Option A: Candidates write an in-depth case study of GMS, addressing all the leadership areas, based on Dr.
Baralié’s responses.
 Option B: Candidates write an in-depth case study of their own school, addressing all the leadership areas and
based on their own context. This requires that candidates interview their principal on some/all the leadership areas
raised in this PLE/Module and write an in-depth case study based on that data.
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