Preservice Principals’ Perceptions of Culturally Proficient School Leadership 215
culturally proficient school leadership. The benefits of these discussions are twofold. First,
preservice principals could learn about the factors that may cause their principals to place
more emphasis on other culturally proficient leadership practices than adapting to diversity.
Second, the principals would become more aware of how their leadership is perceived by
other stakeholders-particular, those stakeholders who aspire to purse the principalship.
Overall, preservice principals and their principals could use these discussions to develop a
common vision for interpreting culturally proficient leadership in their schools.
The second implication is for the participants’ preservice principal programs to provide
them with a course on culturally proficient leadership. One reason is that the principals may
lack or refuse to make the time to discuss their culturally proficient leadership practices with
the preservice principals. In such cases, the preservice principals may lack a school leader’s
perspectives on the fundamentals of culturally proficient school leadership.
The second reason is that preservice principal programs are obligated to provide
preservice principals with experiences that will prepare them for the principalship. As
mentioned, today’s principals must be culturally proficient school leaders. Therefore,
preservice principal programs must prepare them for this role through a variety of culturally
diverse leadership activities. For example, instructors could use race, gender, current events,
and other culturally diverse characteristics to provide preservice principals with a theoretical
perspective on culturally proficient school leadership. From a practical perspective, the
preservice principals could engage in class and group discussions on their experiences in
culturally proficient or culturally deficient schools. In addition, they could engage in
simulations and problem-based learning situations on societal issues that impact schools. As
another example, instructors could ask practicing principals to inform the preservice
principals of their experiences with modeling culturally proficient leadership. These
implications may not immediately prepare preservice principals for providing schools with
culturally proficient school leadership. But they could serve as a conceptual framework for
reflecting on how to demonstrate this style of leadership.
FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
This study bears several noteworthy directions for future research. The first
recommendation is to replicate this study with larger populations of preservice principals
from other states and regions. The reason is that a larger population could either add a
supportive or contrasting view of the findings from this study. A second research direction is
to conduct a comparative analysis of preservice principals’ and their principals’ perceptions of
the most important culturally proficient leadership practices. An additional purpose should be
to compare the groups’ perceptions on the frequency of the principals’ uses of culturally
proficient school leadership. Smith’s (2004) study compared principals’ perceptions of and
frequency with using culturally proficient leadership practices. This research extended that
body of knowledge by repeating the same process with preservice principals. If research
includes both populations in one study, the findings could increase the reliability and validity
of Smith’s and this research.
Third, research needs to examine racial differences in preservice principals’ perceptions of
the importance of and the frequency of their principals’ uses of culturally proficient leadership
practices. In effect, race influences teachers’ perceptions of their teaching experiences (Bell,
Jones, & Madsen, 2001; Morgan-Brown, 2004). Because of the racial implications of
culturally proficiency, research should determine how this variable influences aspiring
principals’ perceptions of culturally proficient school leadership. The findings could be used