The Role of Superintendents in Leading Districts to Cultural Proficiency 239
American, Hispanic, Asian, and low socio-economic. The final criterion for inclusion was that
the district must have made improvement in closing the achievement gap since 2002. In both
participating regions there were 106 school districts. Five of the 16 superintendents whose
districts met the criteria agreed to participate in the study.
Prior to conducting the study, the primary investigator used mock interviews with doctoral
students enrolled in an education leadership program, as well as professors with expertise in the
areas of cultural awareness or the superintendency to strengthen internal validity (Creswell,
1998). Drawing from the literature also strengthened content validity. Guiding questions were
revised and strengthened. Questions investigated the superintendents’ role in responding to a
need for cultural awareness and the perception of district cultural proficiency in closing the
achievement gap between majority and minority students. Follow-up interviews were conducted
after the initial interview to identify inconsistencies and clarification of details.
Each interview was tape recorded, then transcribed. Additionally, the interviewer took notes
and included reflective comments. Using constant comparative analyses, data were read and
organized into emerging themes, concepts, and categories (Creswell, 1998). Data were also
triangulated through observing artifacts, such as test data, and newspaper articles.
FINDINGS
Research Question One
Research Question One asked about the role of the superintendent in leading the school
district to become more culturally proficient. Vision and the ability to put the right people in
place to carry out that vision were the two most common themes to emerge. All superintendents
stated that one of their main roles was not only to express the vision, but to assure that the vision
was implemented by finding the correct people to help all of the students be successful.
All five superintendents noted that the vision had to begin with the superintendent. One
superintendent commented, “The vision has to come from the top, but then you have to engage
your campus teams in the planning process.” Another superintendent emphasized that while
vision started with the superintendent, it was also his responsibility to model high expectations.
He stated, “High expectations for all learners must be communicated to both staff and the
community. Our principals must be held accountable for performance for all students with
special emphasis on our minority learners.”
Another superintendent viewed the role of the superintendent in shaping the cultural
proficiency of the school district as visionary, and noted that it was the superintendent’s
responsibility to set district priorities, then to assist the staff in reaching those goals. He said, “I
think the superintendent sets the stage for the entire district as far as celebrating the diversity of
the district and recognizing the diversity resulting in the meeting of the needs of all the kids.”
The importance of the leader’s role was addressed by one superintendent who suggested that
communication of the superintendent’s vision for the district to be culturally proficient must be
done by design. He emphasized that the superintendent must “demonstrate through symbolic
gesture, event, and word” that he supports and values all cultures while assuring that all students
are having their instructional needs met. He stressed that modeling the vision was a key
component: “The evidence the people can see the superintendent doing speaks more than all the
words he can ever utter.”
Another theme that emerged was the belief that there is a direct relationship to the success of
the vision and hiring the correct personnel to help bring the superintendent’s vision to fruition.
Four of the five superintendents stressed the importance of not only getting the right people to