views of selected school administrators in Broward County, Florida on managing culturally diverse schools

Changing demographics, high minority failure, high dropout rates, and evidence of poor race relations are all indications that our nation's educational systems must reexamine the way they view ethnically diverse populations. Efforts are underway to reduce incidents of minority failure and racial conflict by addressing concerns in the areas of school curricula and teacher preparation. Surprisingly, school administrators, to a large extent, have not joined in the multicultural dialogue. The place to begin in order to help administrators accept the leadership role in meeting the educational needs of minority students is to elicit input from principals with experiences in managing culturally diverse schools. Few research studies have been geared toward the investigation of administrative practices in managing ethnically diverse schools. Even fewer have included listening to the views of administrators who direct these schools. Furthermore, there exists only a modest number of administrative training programs specifically designed to address cultural issues in American schools. As a result there are only limited resources for learning how to lead multicultural schools. Clearly, research is needed that will fully examine the perspectives of the small number of school administrators who have both managed culturally diverse schools and had the opportunity to receive comprehensive training in dealing with cultural issues. The purpose of this study is to identify knowledge and management practices necessary to facilitate a school climate that encourages equity and success for ethnic and minority students in Broward County Public Schools. The results of this study will help to shape further development of needed competencies for school administrators, using a previously administered training program as a foundation for discussion. Without adequate research to identify what an administrator needs to know and be able to do to manage a diverse school community, school administrators have no well-formulated guidelines by which to pattern their efforts in serving these populations. This research has also extended efforts to add to the current limited theory through qualitative inquiry. An analysis of the data collected as a result of this study adds to the discussion related to the dynamics and dimensions involved in leading multicultural schools. In addition, the results help to lay important groundwork for the development of practical and up-to date training programs and university courses for future educational leaders. School administrators lead our nation's educational efforts in preparing future generations of responsible citizens. How prepared they are to lead our schools of increasing cultural and language diversity will depend, in large measure, upon the quality of the research in discovering the management practices found to be useful with minority student populations.