Leadership magazine Nov/Dec 2014 V 44 No 2 | Page 26

dents’ achievement patterns to ever-higher
levels. Correspondingly, district policies
and practices are monitored and analyzed to
ensure that disproportional representation
by race, ethnicity, gender, language, ableness
or social class are mitigated and eliminated
over time.
One illustration is the current work of
the Common Core State Standards. Viewing CCSS expectations through the lens of
culturally proficient leadership practices is
an illustration of approaching curriculum
and instruction, assessment, leadership and
professional learning in the same way.
CCSS can be the post-NCLB approach to
academic learning for broader, culturally inclusive groups of students. Some school leaders have been working in this way all along;
however, for other leaders doubts that many
students can meet Common Core goals are
becoming increasingly evident.
Theoharis (2007) reports in his study
that principals who came to the field with
a calling to do social justice work were
able to raise student achievement, improve

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Leadership

school structures, build staff capacity, and
strengthen school culture and community.
To lead our schools in a culturally proficient manner, education leaders must check
up on their own assumptions and beliefs
about who can learn high-level content and
discuss it with sophisticated, academic, analytic and evidence-based language.
District office administrators and principals must consider how quality professional learning, with the lens of cultural
proficiency, strengthens the likelihood of
all students being college- and career-ready
graduates.

among three key leadership questions: what,
how and why. Each of the questions has a
specific position of importance to reflective
and dialogic processes:
•  What? – This question identifies the result to be accomplished.
•  How? – This question yields the process
to attain the desired result.
•  Why? – This question reveals your purpose; the cause for which you are working.
When we align Sinek’s golden circle
model with the tools of cultural proficiency,
three phases emerge.

The tools: A powerful leadership lesson

Consideration of “why” questions fosters
deep ref lection and dialogue that guides
awareness of barriers that obstruct access to
educational opportunities. Recognition and
acknowledgment of barriers provides opportunity to embrace inclusive core values
derived from guiding principles of cultural
proficiency. These guiding principles are
grounded in deeply held assumptions and
values for diverse cultures.

The tools of cultural proficiency provide
educational leaders the means to respond effectively in cross-cultural environments to
guide personal and organizational change.
The interrelated nature of the tools allows
school leaders to embrace students’ cultural
assets in overcoming school-based barriers
to student success.
Sinek (2009) describes the relationship

Intention cycle