EDUD 6322 Trends and Issues In Multicultural Education
Artifact Five
Trends and Issues In Multicultural Education
Wrap It Up And Connect It.
Create a portfolio comprised of a minimum of 5 artifacts representing leadership examples of current trends, technologies, and emerging issues in multicultural and global education as applied in various contexts.
MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE
This course facilitated excellence in leadership by exploring current knowledge and research related to diversity issues reflected in cultural and societal patterns affecting the Multicultural Educational Leader. These issues include but were not limited to socioeconomic, ethnicity, religion, literacy, gender, age, sexual orientation, geographic or regional, and special needs. An emphasis on the educational leader as scholar-practitioner guided the examination of socio-cultural and diversity issues pervasive in society. These issues were examined through an exploration of educational history, philosophy, multicultural, and critical pedagogy and contextualized in terms of leadership in Texas, the US, and globally.
WE STILL HAVE A WAYS TO GO!
LEADERSHIP AND MULTICULTURAL GLOBAL EDUCATION
In order to reframe the conversation about cultural differences so that diversity is not perceived as a problem to be solved, as educational leaders we should view multicultural environments as an opportunity to build up our toolbox to fit the ever growing needs of the students we service. Each experience a person has helps to shape their leadership style and can help expand, or even limit, their ability to lead an organization or a group. Gundling, Hogan and Cvitkovich (2011) advise, different cultures also learn in different ways. It is in observing how people deal with and react to conflicts that we see clear differences between cultures. Our perception will shape the perceptions of others and we should reflect on the message we are portraying. Ultimately, such an approach should help us as educators to understand and respect diverse students and to guide these students more effectively toward academic and personal success and fulfillment.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Artifact One – Self-Assessment Of Your Past, Present, And Future Leadership Capacity.
Provide a self-assessment and personal reflection regarding your leadership competency in multicultural and global education and discuss the implications for your future leadership in education.
Artifact Two – Demonstrate Your Engagement In Educational Media.
Read and reflect on three scholarly journal articles or describe previous personal publications regarding current trends and technologies in multicultural and global education and discuss the implications for educational leadership in varied contexts.
Artifact Three – Publish Your Education Manifesto.
Identify emerging issues related to multicultural and global education and produce a digital product that analyzes the implications for leadership in state, regional, national, and /or global contexts.
Artifact Four – From Research, What Is Working/Not Working In Education.
Examine a research-based practice in multicultural and global education and generate a product that critiques the effectiveness of the practice as applied in a specified context.
FADQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
In terms of global education, the educational landscape has change significantly in the last few decades and many of the archaic notions are of processes used to satisfy a localized industrial complex, which no longer exists. A model which is in great decline with the globalization of communication, travel, and economics. Megatrends such as global population growth, emerging economies in developing countries, and urbanization bring with them strong implications for today’s leaders and especially for the leaders of tomorrow (Gundling, Hogan, and Cvitkovich, 2011). In order to achieve this objective, an effective global leader must reduce the emphasis on bureaucratic structures and procedures and move towards a collaborative process that is open to creativity, articulation, and risk taking. Therefore, beginning the journey toward increasing our multicultural competence requires us as educational leaders to rethink our assumptions and consider life’s issues through the lenses of people who come from cultural backgrounds different from their own. I feel it is extremely important to get to know our student’s families in their homes, neighborhoods, or places of worship. By first talking with parents and discovering the diverse strengths within families. And then by creating programs and initiatives to build school community relations that focus on exploring customs and history and make these an integral part of our curriculum.
I have found that from a purely schematic perspective educational leadership does involve a requisite collection of conventional leadership skills such as setting clear goals, managing curriculum, monitoring lesson plans, allocating resources and evaluating teachers regularly to promote student learning and growth, but through the lease of a multicultural perspective , the true role of an effective educational leader should be in line with a global mindset incorporating a shift away from just “management,” and a move toward a global skillset that emphasizes intellectual, psychological, and social equity. Javidan and Walker (2012) provided arguments that intellectual capital, psychological capital, and social capital are three primary components of a global mindset that equip leaders with the skills to more readily discern a situation and respond rapidly and perhaps even operative proactively in the changing landscape of the world and specifically in education. If we care about students, we must prepare them for serving in a world with increasing globalization (Irving, 2010). I feel that leaders are looked to when our institutions no longer satisfy their intended purposes.
True global leadership draws on aspects of creating shared values and understandings in a climate of trust and caring relationships. According to Grundling et al. (2011) the most important skill global leaders should possess is the ability to deal with change and form informal networks to help them deal with change ultimately servicing communities, entities, or people. Servicing in such way that the integrity and effectiveness of everyone involved is empowered, thus in turn everyone is provided with the resources necessary to improve, advance, and move towards a vision. Yes, to lead a group of people one must possess the skills, innate or trained; but, the habit of constantly servicing others is vital to keep the leader at the top serving as a base for others to reach the vision successfully.
References
Gundling, E., Hogan, T., & Cvitkovich, K. (2011). What is Global Leadership? : 10 Key Behaviors That Define Great Global Leaders. Boston: Nicholas Brealey Publishling, 2-6.
Irving, J.A. (2010). Educating global leaders: exploring intercultural competence in leadership education. Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies, 3.
Javidan, M., & Walker, J.L. (2012). A Whole New Mindset for Leadership. H.R. People and Strategy, 37-39.
Learning environments that promote racial sensitivity, inclusiveness, and embedded multicultural perspectives on a daily basis eliminate cultural barriers. As educational leaders we should view multicultural environments as an opportunity to build up our toolbox to fit the ever growing needs of the students we service. It is important to acknowledge that educators whom understand and appreciate culturally different fields of knowledge are more likely to provide enriching ways of knowing, communicating, and dealing with issues that exist within the school environment (Harris, 2013). Increasing student’s multicultural competence as educational leaders, requires teaching students to rethink their prior assumptions and consider life’s issues through the lenses of people whom come from cultural backgrounds different than their own. According to Banks and Banks (2013) “multicultural education should incorporate the idea that all students regardless of their gender; sexual orientation; social class; and ethnic, racial, or cultural characteristics should have an equal opportunity to learn in school” (p. 3)
Establishing a supportive learning community eases the process of change, because everyone involved in the collaborative effort becomes a stakeholder. In creating a campus action plan, the implications that it has on Professional Development is in direct correlation with the utilization of the collaborative process of data analysis, needs assessment, improvement planning, and implementation and monitoring of the plan (William, 2008).
These learning environments are built with equity through consensus building. Each experience a person has helps to shape their leadership style and can help expand, or even limit, their ability to lead an organization or a group. Gundling, Hogan and Cvitkovich (2011) advise, different cultures also learn in different ways. It is in observing how people deal with and react to conflicts that we see clear differences between cultures. Our perception will shape the perceptions of others and we should reflect on the message we are portraying. Ultimately, such an approach should help us as educators to understand and respect diverse students and to guide these students more effectively toward academic and personal success and fulfillment.
References
Banks, J. A., & McGee-Banks, C. A. (2013). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (8th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Harris, S. (2013). Conflicts in culture: Strategies to understand and resolve the issues. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Gundling, E., Hogan, T., & Cvitkovich, K. (2011). What is global leadership? 10 behaviors that define great global leaders. Boston, MA: Nicholas Briley Pub.
William, D. (2008). Changing Classroom Practice. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 36-42.
Frontstage/backstage behavior refers to how a person communicates, interacts and behaves with others publicly and with those with whom they feel safe or share more characteristics with (Banks & McGee Banks, 2013). Understanding that the backstage and frontstage dichotomy identifies the theoretical conception that “all the world is a stage” and our social interactions are encapsulated by the time and place in which it occurs, as well as by the “audience” present to witness it. By recognizing the correlation, it is not hard to expand the racial conception to other social convergences of cultural typologies, i.e. religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic strata, etc. As our individual worlds grow, literally through globalization, our audience inherently grows as well. Technological innovations and social presence have created a state that the boundaries between the frontstage and the backstage presentation of the individual increasingly gets blurry. This blurring of the lines negates individuals to rethink their assumptions and consider life’s issues through the lenses of people who come from cultural backgrounds different from their own. Through this process a false quorum is established and consensus is marginalized. Perception will shape the perceptions of others and we should reflect on the message we are portraying.
By establishing a learning community of general education and special education teachers is a great way for them to share teaching ideas and get feedback from each other as they experiment with their curriculum to find what works better. Those components are clarify and share, engineer effective classroom discussions, questions and learning tasks, provide feedback, makes students owners of their learning and finally show students how to be a resource for one another (William, 2008). Learning communities are an essential tool for teachers, when utilizing ways to identify, implement, and instruct, while also providing an outlet to monitor student and instructor progress, through peer review and collaboration. As teachers need to make sure that their instructional, fact-based, and abstract concepts are being processed, received and understood by the students they are servicing. This is point is especially important, when working with students with disabilities as it reduces the barriers of often associated with instructional differentiation based on students IEP’s. Banks and Banks (2013) noted that when students have teachers with high expectations for them, the students are more likely to achieve more. Students of all learning modalities need instant and directed feedback not feedback that has been analyzed and disaggregated over long periods of time. Teachers need to be able to explain changes in learning strategies or so they can take your insight and apply it. Establishing a supportive learning community eases the process of change, because everyone involved in the collaborative effort becomes a stakeholder.
References
Banks, J. A., & McGee Banks, C. A. (2013). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (8th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
William, D. (2008). Changing Classroom Practice. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 36-42.
As our country grows each year through the dynamic immigration process, both legal and illegal, places like my school district are at the forefront of dealing with cultural diversity issues and information flow biases. There are only so many ways in which an educational system can be arranged, and even fewer successful multicultural approaches to disseminating information without cultural bias, when leading them. As global educational leaders, and by-proxy, the delivery mechanism of information for those under our influence, there’re several reasons to be cognizant of this bias. Cultural proficiency, in the realm of multicultural educational leadership, is ” the ability of an educator from one cultural background to effectively teach, interact and connect with students of a different cultural background” (as cited in Anderson, 2011, p. 32). …Being exposed to a wider set of circumstances requires leaders to constantly check for similarities and differences with what they already know, or think they know, and to recalibrate their expectations (Gundling, et al., 2011). Much as the microcosm of any globalized institutions, the challenges in all educational systems is that there will be hierarchies in terms of ranks; there will be functional divisions, in terms of roles; there will be geographical divisions in terms of territorial arrangements, and there will be status distinctions in terms administrative, management, support staff, etc.… Effective educational systems should be structured to advance and succeed from a multicultural perspective . But, it takes more than good intentions, it takes vision, open and honest conversation, and enlightened attitudes through structural design work that ties the parts together thematically (Mintzberg, 2000). Effective educational systems rely on multiple frames…. They provide high-quality, flexible instructions with appropriate resources and services to meet individual needs .” (Denhardt, 2011).
Globalization through technology represents the broader picture of cultural and social economic interactions and the nuances or typologies which have been influenced by their historical background, current political and social interactions, and cultural autonomy and exchange due to cultural drift. The undeniable reach of globalization is the propelling factor that has led and will continue to lead developing and developed countries towards economic, social and political growth. This immeasurable drive for education has motivated governments to put priority to education in the context of an emerging knowledge society and globalization (Bolman, 2008).
The practices and the responsibility as global education leaders to provide an environment conducive and aware of the immense scope of global technology strategy. In terms of acceptance and rejection, the mere acknowledgment of megatrends in Communication, Technology, and Change when combined with global population growth, and urbanization bring with them strong implications for today’s leaders and especially for the leaders of tomorrow. We all know the technology sector is vast and our unquestioned reliance is not without risk. Indeed, it’s a veritable universe of information an exciting frontier open to all (Pariser, 2012). But at what cost, the overarching dilemma and ever present “elephant in the room” questions can we be trusted as consumers, contributors, and content creators over an all-encompassing global technology network.
Governance of the information society should be democratic. Democratic networks like the internet provide the principle mechanism for realizing ends that lie beyond the abilities of the lone individual. The reality is that although a handful of decisions lend themselves to this hyper-rational approach, most decisions are made in the midst of unknowns. These unknowns are consequential for the decision-making process and require thought. When coupled with the limitations of human awareness, unknowns increase the potential for error in the decision-making process. It is basic risk management. Mediate your losses through analysis of the situation. Accountability management is about the decisions made day-by-day, moment-by-moment. Each of them is the sum total of past decisions. The factors which impact decision-making in slow time and operational decisions where there is some immediacy underscores the centrality of decision making to individual and collective life.
These are huge components in an effort to change the systems to ensure healthy and effective responses to an ever growing integrated world. According to Grundling et al. (2011) the most important skill global leaders should possess is the ability to deal with change and form informal networks to help them deal with change ultimately servicing communities, entities, or people. Effective global leaders are able to understand the complexities of organizational structures as they relate to function and flow of information. Hamelik’s analysis implies that the “flow of information” is an understanding that the cultural anonymity and allocation of information is depend upon access and availability for society to decide the allocation of its own resources for adequate adaptation to its environment (Wise,1997). Subsequently the transfer of information is highly depending upon the delivery methodology and the social capital reserved.
Hamelick (2015) explains that the capitalization of information is the direct result of the evolution of how information is delivered and accessed by individuals. Javidan and Walker (2012) add that, intellectual capital, psychological capital, and social capital are three primary components of a global mindset that equip leaders with the skills to more readily discern a situation and respond rapidly and perhaps even operative proactively in the changing landscape of the world and specifically in education.
References
Anderson, M., (2011) Teacher and student perspectives on cultural proficiency. Leadership, May/June, 32-35.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2008). Reframing organizations: artistry, choice, and
leadership. A Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Denhardt, R. B. (2011). Theories of public organization. Boston, MA: Wadsworth
Gundling, E., Hogan, T., & Cvitkovich, K.(2011). What is global leadership?:10 key behaviors that define great global leaders. Boston:Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Hamelink, C. J. (2015). Global communication. London: Sage Publications.
Javidan, M., & Walker, J.L. (2012). A Whole New Mindset for Leadership. H.R. People and Strategy, 37-39
Mintzberg, H. & Van Der Heyden, L. September/October 2000. Taking A Closer Look. Toronto,ON: Ivey Business Journal.
Pariser, E. (2012). The filter bubble: What the Internet is hiding from you. London: Penguin books.
As Banks and McGee Banks (2013) explained, the productivity gaps presented by gifted minority categorizing them underachievers is prevalent for numerous reasons including lack of interest, motivation, and the framework of the selection process. Recent statistical advances have made it possible to look at student achievement gains after adjusting for some student and school characteristics. Historically, most gifted students were identified through an informal referral process; teachers would identify students, or parents would nominate their own children. This process was heavily based on teacher expectations. Because of this, it is expected that even those students that are identified by parents or schools are under-identified for GT programming. Teacher expectations can perpetuate self-fulfilling prophecies that make students more likely to either succeed or fail. The most effective approach to quality teachers is to “grow” their own within their schools by encouraging meaningful involvement, accessibility, quality instruction and cultural competence (Danielson, 2012). The move to a more unified selection process, has streamlined this bias. Data points such as student performance scores, growth measures, and subpopulation designations such as race, ethnicity, language proficiency, and economic status are also made available to educators; to assist teachers to better design instructional strategies and plans to address the needs of diverse learners.
Racism was built on a long history of racially distributed resources and ideas that shape our view of ourselves and others, and for this discussion I will define and provide personal reflection on two specific forms of racism, individual and institutional.
Individual racism refers to prejudices and discriminatory behaviors where one group or individual makes assumptions about the abilities, motives, and intents of another based on race (Griffith, Mason, Yonas, Eng, Jeffries, Plihcik, & Parks, 2007). This set of prejudices leads to cruel intentional or unintentional actions towards other the targeted party. Ironically, as an African American male, I have been the not only the victim of overtly racist and “backstage” underlying racist overtures experienced form an individual and institutional interactions, but I have also shamefully participated in the perpetuation of institutional racism. Institutional racism occurs when organizations, businesses, or institutions like schools and police departments discriminate, either deliberately or indirectly, against certain groups of people to limit their rights (Griffith, Mason, Yonas, Eng, Jeffries, Plihcik, & Parks, 2007).
My personal experiences with individual and institutional racism come from opposite spectrums, as a victim of racism, I look back to an incident, when I was high school. The incident started as unassuming as any, when my cousin came to watch one of my Friday night varsity football games. After the game, my mother asked me if I would take him home, as he lived in a neighboring community approximately an hour away. On the way to his house we received a flat tire and I pulled over to most visible lighted area I could find, (a bank parking lot) to change the spare tire. As I attempted to change the tire, I realized that I had not returned the jack after helping change some else’s tire a few weeks prior. I ended up calling my dad, whom told me to wait in the car and he would come and help us. About 30 minutes later 3 local police cars and 2 Sheriff’s deputy cars converge on my vehicle as myself and cousin sat in my car, two of the officer pulled their weapons out and several of the other officers yelled instructions to turn my car off and throw my keys out the window. We were pulled out of the car and told that we were being detained because suspicious and had no business parked there. I couldn’t figure out why we were being treated this way, and I tried to explain, about the tire, but one of the officers told me to shut up and that “us boys” didn’t” look like people” who live around there. A comment based heavily in racial overtones. They told us that they got. Report of two black males trying to break into the bank. Eventually, I was heard out and all the officers left (they didn’t even offer a tow), but it wasn’t until I later when I became a police officer (five years South Houston PD) did I recognize that not only was I racially profiled, but was treated as if I was on a “felony stop”; treatment reserved for convicted felons or someone in pursuit from a felony offense, not a stranded motorist. It is important to understand the in its complexity racism is a hierarchical system that comes with a broad range of policies and institutions that keep groups of people in a certain place through intimidation and fear.
As eluded to above, shamefully I also participated in this vary type of racism in college as an employee in the bar/club business as a “door man/bouncer”. As employees we were given coded directives to actively keep large numbers of minorities out of the establishment at one time by invoking “dress code” violations, exorbitant “door charges” and false capacity ratings. The reasoning was that large groups of minorities would deter the affluent white college students from coming to our establishment. I actively participated in telling minorities like myself that they were unable to come in because they were out of dress code, or that it was “student night”. It didn’t take long to realize that what we were doing was wrong and I ended up leaving the company shortly afterwards, but I can see how one gets caught up in the group mentality that perpetuates institutional racism.
As Harris (2013) concluded, becoming culturally competent is a component of being anti-racist, particularly since the default culture for interactions and business in our country is the “white” culture. This reinforces a single way of doing things that keeps racism locked into our institutions and society. Each of us needs to learn about the myriad cultures that make up our community particularly those with which we interact daily in order to effectively and respectfully live and work together and build a society that recognizes that we both learn and teach through the relationships we build.
References
Banks, J. & McGee Banks, C. (2013). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives.
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Danielson, C. (2012). Observing classroom practice. Educational Leadership, 70(3), 32-37.
Griffith, D. M., Mason, M., Yonas, M., Eng, E., Jeffries, V., Plihcik, S., & Parks, B. (2007). Dismantling institutional racism: Theory and action. American Journal of Community Psychology,39(3-4), 381-392. doi:10.1007/s10464-007-9117-0
Harris, S. (2013). Conflicts in culture: Strategies to understand and resolve the issues. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Multicultural Global Leadership Connects Teachers and Educators Across Borders in the Real World
The most effective approach to quality multicultural aware teachers is to “grow” their own within their schools by encouraging meaningful involvement, accessibility, quality instruction and cultural competence.
The distribution of efficiency of highly qualified educators depends, in large, on ensuring that educators are highly trained, adequately resourced, and well informed on the multicultural communities they service.
As educational leaders we should view multicultural environments as an opportunity to build up our toolbox to fit the ever growing needs of the students we service.
Improvement through change is a process vital for instruction and has been examined and supported at the local, state and national level through the integration of improved technology resources and support.