The need for culturally competent school principals : K–12 school district hiring practices

Previous studies have investigated principal perceptions of cultural competence of already employed principals, principal standards, hiring decisions of school districts and principals. However, there is a gap in identifying what school districts are advertising and recruiting for culturally competent principals. The purpose of this study is to examine how school districts advertise, recruit and hire school principals for cultural proficiency through the lens of cultural competency conceptual framework (Terrell & Lindsey, 2009). Research questions: 1. In a school district emphasizing cultural competence, what hiring practices are used for culturally competent school leaders? a. What are the hiring procedures included in advertising, recruitment, screening, interview, and selection of principals of the school district? b. What culturally competent knowledge, skills, and dispositions do school district representatives use when hiring principals? This study uses a qualitative single case study approach on one public school district, Texas ISD. The school district identified in the study was selected due to the size and location of the school district within a large city. The school district also makes mention of cultural proficiency in their utilization of the cultural competency conceptual framework (Tderrell & Lindsey, 2009). This study utilizes a qualitative research approach of interviews and document analysis as data collection. Content and textual analysis (Davis, Gooden, & Micheaux, 2015) was used to examine job descriptions and additional documents. Findings indicated Texas ISD was strategic and purposeful in their hiring practices from the recruitment to the selection of school principals. Cultural competencies were reflective in several different portions of the hiring practices however, was not reflective in all aspects of the hiring practices of the school district. The study provides knowledge to the body of research of culturally competent leaders. Assessing the hiring practices of school districts for school principals assist in understanding how school districts identify the leadership capacity of principals in their cultural proficiency. The focus is on school principals because of their vital impact on campuses including in both teacher and student success. A call to action for school districts to examine their hiring practices and how they are hiring the best candidates for culturally diverse schools. This research study supports the following areas of research: culturally competent leadership, leadership, human resource hiring practices, and K–12 public school districtsEducational Leadership and Polic