Administrator/Staff Training and Supervision for Schools With Diverse Student Populations

Context

Contexts affect supervision and professional development for leaders and other staff in schools with [Page 30]diverse learners. Effective administrators, supervisors, and other leaders of diverse schools take into account factors associated with the demographics of the school or district, including: recent demographic changes and trends; how demographic changes affect the school's community; and what peoples' attitudes are to such changes. In planning training and supervision, leaders consider the history of the local school and district, especially in regard to diversity. They note previous attempts to provide diversity training for staff and the outcomes of these attempts. They also pay careful attention to potential flashpoints that may affect interpersonal relations at the school or within the school community. Flashpoints may emerge from demographic shifts within the community, such as when a school with historical significance to a particular population no longer serves that population, or from internal school events, such as when an incident occurs that may be premised on or invoke issues of race, ethnicity, national origin, ableness, sexual orientation, or some other area of difference.

An understanding of culture is useful to the leader or administrator in making sense of the context and in designing and implementing programs of supervision and professional development for schools with diverse learners. Employing the theories and practices, for example, of cultural anthropology provides the leader with insight into the aspects of school culture that are particularly relevant to supervision and professional development: cultural knowledge, language and culture, and school climate.