Examining the lived experiences and impact of public school leaders within Cultural Proficiency & Equity Professional Development

Vulnerable engagement by educational leaders and teachers within Cultural Proficiency & Equity (CP&E) Professional Development (PD) remains vital to leading initiatives that serve to increase educator awareness, foster self-reflection, and evolve practice over time to yield actionable change for all students. To cultivate educational environments where holistic experiences are rooted in equitable opportunity, influences such as race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and (dis)ability adversely impacting marginalized populations must be minimized via intersectionality within CP&E PD. Committed, empathetic intentionality manifested within emotional intelligence and dedication is requisite. Through a blend of a descriptive and interpretive phenomenological methodology, as well as exploratory research – grounded within Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Social Practice Theory (SPT) as frameworks – this Mixed Methods Research Study (MMRS) examines the lived experiences of 18 public school leaders. Participants shared challenges and barriers in institutionalizing cultural knowledge to address a history of inequitable access to education in the community, while stressing that CP&E becomes politicized and is mentally-taxing. Shared stories, paired with opinions of multi-year PD, illustrate a massive responsibility challenged by active and passive resistance towards activism. Findings included misconceptions regarding CRT, differing levels of urgency to strengthen organizational capacity, and progress contingent upon values and beliefs serving to expand CP&E knowledge. Ideas such as bias, culture, diversity, and equity represented discourse topics of comfort, whereas antiracism, disproportionality, inclusion, race, and Whiteness were addressed with reservation. Leaders believe enhanced understanding is attainable through personal growth and targeted PD – which leverages relationships with all stakeholders – yet, various voices still showcased doubtful undertones for change becoming actualized.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Heinel, Wesley R.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ward Hood, Denice
• Huang, David
• Pak, Yoon
• Rice, Patrick

• Cultural Proficiency & Equity
• Professional Development
• Equity In Public Education
• Critical Race Theory
• Social Practice Theory
• Marginalized Populations
• Disproportionality
• Activism

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Wesley Heinel

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124323

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F124323