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Culturally responsive leadership: best practice in integrating immigrant students

Immigration to the US has fluctuated with economic conditions and with American immigration policies (Vernez and Abrahamse 1996). Historically, most immigrants settled in urban areas, while suburban towns and their schools remained almost completely homogeneous and overwhelmingly White. Today, roughly one in five children in the US comes from an immigrant home, altering the make-up of school classrooms by creating a diverse population of learners from many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds (Suarez-Orozco 2003). Importantly, this diversity is no longer limited to urban areas. In Connecticut, for example, suburban educators are facing new and increasing challenges based on growing numbers of immigrant children, unprecedented in their ethnic and linguistic diversity. While teachers face challenges in the classroom, school leaders play a critical role in developing a culture in the school which respects diversity (Suarez-Orozco 2003; Dimmock and Walker 2005). Indeed, scholars and practitioners around the world recognize that school leaders are essential in helping to raise student achievement and build successful schools in which all students thrive (Fullan 2004; Elmore 2004; Steiner-Khamsi and Harris-Van Keuren 2009). Yet few studies have examined the extent to which school leaders actively use the assets of immigrant students or adapt a school to its changing population. In a qualitative study of 14 school leaders (principals and assistant principals) in nine school districts in suburban Connecticut, it was found that, while many school leaders recognize the presence of immigrant students, most also favor assimilation over celebration of diversity (Schiff 2008), with one stating, for example, ‘the immigrant students are treated like the rest of the students; they are absorbed in the general population’ (Wentworth interview). Only one school leader in the study favored institutional adaptation in combination with student adaptation. This principal, Mr Bolls of Navan High School,1 practices what the authors call ‘culturally responsive leadership,’ by using diversity in a positive way to improve school culture and the socio-educational experience of all the students. Mr Bolls’ approach is highlighted in this article as an example of best practice. Mr Bolls of Navan High School is an exemplary school leader who encourages and uses the cultural diversity of immigrant students across two spheres of activity: (1) making institutional adjustments to welcome and support immigrant students in