216 CRITICAL THEORY AND LEADERSHIP PRACTICES
to develop strategies for tailoring school leadership to the ethnic uniqueness of teachers and
aspiring principals.
Similarly, research should examine the influence of the principal’s leadership style on
preservice principals’ perceptions of culturally proficient leadership. Decades of research
have documented the impact of the principal’s leadership style on school culture and
personnel (Adams, 1999; Bass & Avolio, 1997; Burns; 2002; Deal & Peterson, 1999). In his
seminal research, Hines (2007) showed that the principal’s leadership style affects preservice
principals’ concerns about becoming a principal. Though empirically unproven, the outcome
of this study may be somewhat indicative of the leadership styles of the preservice principals’
principals. A study of this possible relationship could support or refute this hypothesis.
The final research recommendation is to conduct longitudinal research on preservice
principals’ perceptions of culturally proficient leadership. The cross sectional aspects of this
research prevent the researcher from fully confirming the outcomes of this study. By
evaluating a group of preservice principals’ perceptions over time, researchers could develop
a stable picture of their perceptions of culturally proficient school leadership. These findings
could then be used to make long-term recommendations for preparing the preservice
principals to demonstrate culturally proficient leadership in schools.
CONCLUSIONS
Culturally proficient leadership is defined as the ability to create school environments that
facilitate and acknowledges the cultural diversity of students and teachers. According to
Lindsey et al. (2005), principals achieve this goal by engaging all stakeholders in valuing
diversity, assessing the culture, managing the dynamics of differences, institutionalizing
cultural knowledge and resources, adapting to diversity, and inclusiveness.
This study highlighted preservice principals’ perceptions of the important aspects of and
their principals’ uses of these elements. The findings showed similarities and differences
between the preservice principals’ perceptions of and observations of culturally proficient
school leadership. The most notable finding is that the preservice principals’ perceptions of
some elements of culturally proficient leadership did not match observations of their
principals’ uses of this style of leadership.
The recommendations are twofold. First, the preservice principals and their principals
should discuss the differences in perceptions of and observations of culturally proficient
leadership. Second, preservice principal programs should train the preservice principals on
how to demonstrate this style of leadership in schools. These recommendations could increase
preservice principals’ understanding of how to serve as culturally proficient school leaders.
LIMITATIONS
This study consisted of three limitations. One limitation is the small sample size. A second
limitation is that the population was located in one region. Therefore, the findings can only be
generalized to similar populations of preservice principals. In addition, those preservice
principals must work in similar Texas regions. The third limitation is that the researcher did
not control for the participants’ years of experience with their principals. Research has shown
that teachers’ perceptions of their principals are influenced by their years of experience with
the principals (Morgan-Brown, 2004). Thus, some of the participants may not have spent
enough time with their principals to evaluate their culturally proficient leadership accurately.