Cultural Competence in America's Schools

Cultural Competence in America's Schools: Leadership Engagement and Understanding focuses on explicatingthe impact of culture and issues of race and ethnicity on student learning teacher and leadership efficacy andeducational policy making in our nation's public school system. The authors agree with Levin (2012) whopointed out that the challenge of dealing effectively with racial and ethnic diversity in education in traditionallyhomogeneous societies is a global problem. One indicator of this point is revealed in a U.S. study that was commissionedby the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality which reported on the serious consequencesfor student achievement and teacher effectiveness in the face of the gap between teacher training andthe realities of the classroom when it comes to teaching diverse populations and students with special needs.(Public Agenda 2008 p. 2).