Hispanic teachers can be as ill-prepared
for inner-city classrooms as middle-class
Whites.”
The selection of beneficial role models has
to be based not only on their ethnicity, but
by their qualifications and capacity to per-
form their teaching and administrative du-
ties with efficiency and dedication. This as-
pect leads us to think that the question is no
longer how to recruit minority educational
leaders but how we prepare high quality ed-
ucators with the basic skills, knowledge and
sensitivity for success.
As we can derive from the available re-
search performed on the minority presence
in American education, the reasons for the
lack of non-White educators rely on many
variables. Some of these reasons include
the status of the current education pipeline
– fewer minority graduates, fewer minority
teachers and consequently fewer minor-
ity administrators; discrimination based on
cultural and linguistic attributes; the lack
of decisional power in middle management;
the lack of effective training in teacher and
administration preparation programs; and
the resistance to change by the “old order.”
Many researchers have concluded that in
order to improve the student condition, we
have to improve our teacher and adminis-
trator training programs. According to the
research, these programs have to establish
successful mentoring procedures and cre-
ate in-service experiences that will help
our current and future educational leaders
with the development of empathy and sen-
sibility to the historic and current role of
race in our society.
Some knowledge that could help the pro-
gressive educator and deserves inclusion in
any successful training would be:
• Public policy information, including
local officials, legal and legislative proce-
dures.
• Information about the complete educa-
tional structure, including accreditation of
preparation programs, certification of pro-
fessionals in education, effect of labor unions
and community members in the educational
process, and current funding of programs.
• In-service practice on effective and non-
effective scenarios.
• Basic finance and fundraising strategies.
• Public relations and marketing.
• Community, city, state, national and
international connection and collaboration.
• Mentoring of students, parents and
school staff into pedagogical careers.
• Effective strategies for empathy develop-
ment in culture and community needs.
• Evaluation and curriculum development
that includes all aspects listed above and use
of technology.
There are many programs around the na-
tion that provide such training, but they are
still a minority. While training initiatives
may continue to have resistance by the older
rule, the seed is being planted. If we con-
tinue to apply these inclusive concepts as an
additive approach to the existing curricula
at the training and in-service levels, a sig-
nificant change could take place in the near
future.
The current education situation of our na-
tional minority populations, which will be
our majority of students and future leaders in
a few years, cannot be ignored by education
stakeholders. The results of this negligence
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