Cross-cultural leadership is a term that recognizes the diversity of today's schools and the fact that the leader (or leaders) may come from social, linguistic, ethnic, or cultural groups not representative of the student body as a whole.

There is strong evidence that the majority of minority students (linguistic, ethnic, class, and socio-economic) do not perform as well in our schools as their peers from more middle-class, traditional backgrounds (Berliner & Biddle, 1995). Yet, there is a large body of literature aimed at educating teachers about the needs of various groups of students and a myriad of programs claiming to enhance the success of students from minority backgrounds. In general, the focus is on introducing new instructional strategies, bilingual instruction, or English as Second Language programs. In other words, most initiatives are programmatic in nature, and pay little attention to making explicit some of the underlying beliefs, values, and assumptions critical to effecting positive change. Less is known about the roles, personal educational experiences, and philosophies of educational leaders who are successful in cross-cultural situations. This study will begin to fill that gap.

Overview of this Study

During the last eight years, as I have conducted research in various schools and school districts in several provinces and states, I have been attempting to better understand issues related to cross-cultural leadership. During my research trips, I have noted a number of perplexing and troubling situations in which teachers seem to be unaware of how to make appropriate curricular or pedagogical adaptations for their students and principals seem even more at a loss as to how to help them -- sometimes unaware there is a problem. (For example, in one school the principal had not recognized the inequity of a policy that kept ESL students off the honor roll.) Yet, at the same time, I have seen instances in which excellent and innovative adaptations were made and students were engaged in their learning, succeeding (by a number of different measures), despite (or perhaps because of) the diversity of their setting. Unfortunately the "success stories" for many students are still quite rare, whether they are from a numerical minority group or a numerical majority that has not attained power within the education system.

This research is being undertaken to begin to develop a theory of cross-cultural leadership related to improving the academic success of all groups of students within our schools.

The objectives of the project are:

• to better understand how some schools are more successful with students from a wide variety of backgrounds than others,
• to understand the personal experiences, philosophies, beliefs, values, and pedagogical approaches of teachers and administrators successful in cross-cultural situations,
• to understand the basis for conflicts, lack of relevance, and support or non-support of public schools by various minority and majority groups.

Literature

The literature does not provide much guidance. Most is aimed at helping classroom teachers understand the learning characteristics of specific groups of students (First Nation, Chinese, Hispanic). While there is an increasing literature that recognizes that principals do play a key role in the academic success of students in their schools (Barth, 1990; Hargreaves & Fullan, 1998; Leithwood & Montgomery, 1982; Sergiovanni, 1996), there has been little research focused on effective cross-cultural leadership. With the exception of an edited book by Capper (1994), there is almost no literature that examines the role of the principal in creating a learning environment or in implementing curriculum that enhances the relevance of the curriculum for students from diverse backgrounds and that helps them achieve academic success. Further, Capper's work is conceptual rather than empirical. There is, however, evidence that understanding the attitudes and assumptions of educators, the conflicts between home and school culture (including the different and competing concepts of success), and learning how to make pedagogy in cross-cultural situations relate to the real lives of the students may be critical to successful cross-cultural leadership (Shields, 1997). For example, Wagstaff (1993) has found that the single most important factor in the academic success of Hispanic students is the explicit rejection of a cultural deficit approach to education - rejection that needs to be spearheaded by the administrator on a school-wide basis.

Shields, C. M. (To be published 2000-2001). Leadership for communities (working title, invited chapter) International handbook on Educational Leadership, 2nd Edition, K. Leithwood & P. Hallinger (Eds.). approx. 70pgs.

Shields, C. M. (2001). Examining our Discourse. R. Macpherson (Ed.), Conference Proceedings from the New Zealand Educational Administration Society Biennial Conference, Waitangi, NZ.

Shields, C. M. (in press) Principals and school community: Wholeness incorporating diversity. R. Macmillan (Ed.), Conference Proceedings from the NS Principalship Symposium, Antigonish, NS., 20 pgs.

Pillsbury, J., & Shields, C. M. (1999). When "they" becomes "we". Journal for a Just and Caring Education. 5(4), 410-429. Journal of School Leadership, 9(1), 4-25.

Shields, C. M. (1999). Learning from students about representation, identity, and community. Educational Administration Quarterly, 35(1), 106-129.

Shields, C. M. (1998). Leadership for pedagogical change in a cross-cultural setting: Learning from Red Rock School. Planning and Changing, 29(2), 62-84.

Shields, C.M. & Goddard, T. (1998) An ethnocultural comparison of empowerment in two districts: Learning from native American and Canadian First Nations Schools. American Journal of Indian Education, 36(2), 19-45.

Shields, C. M. (1996). Creating a learning community in a multicultural setting: Issues of leadership. The Journal of School Leadership, 6(1), 47-74.