Preparing role models for a majority minority student body
The need for school leaders whose culture matches changing student demographics is well-established , but there is a shift from recruiting minority leaders as the only solution to providing major improvement in administrator preparation .
38 Leadership
In the last two decades , demographics for public school students have changed drastically in the United States . According to the National Center for Education Statistics , White students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade in U . S . public schools decreased from 60 percent to 52 percent from 2001 to 2011 , and a further decrease to 45 percent is expected by 2023 . At the same time , the enrollment of minority students increased from 40 percent to 48 percent and is expected to increase to 55 percent by 2023 .
Even though there are many urban centers with a good representation of minority teachers and administrators in their education systems , these cities have an overwhelming number of minority school students with a White majority of teachers and administrators as their role models .
For many decades , we have known about the need to have minority leaders as effective role models and mentors who can serve as cultural connections , demonstrating the possibilities and opportunities available to their communities . However , we still have to have an awareness of the need to make this role modeling and cultural connection integral in the preparation of all leaders in education .
As many research studies have already shown , minority leaders and teachers can provide unique contributions to students ’ levels of comfort , motivation and academic achievement , especially when communities comprise a vast majority of minority students . Role modeling is essential to helping students develop self- and cultural-identity , create future aspirations and connect their academic career with family , community and the global environment .
This mentoring and modeling process is best accomplished with leaders who are connected to students ’ culture and needs , and are consequently aware of the importance of their task in the community .
In 1996 , Jordan Irvine , a professor at Emory University in Atlanta was quoted in the New York Times addressing this issue with the statement : “... increasing the ethnic diversity of the teaching pool is not necessarily the solution . Middle-class Black or
By Luis Mojica