Cultural Competence in 2025

 Course Description​​

Academic Leaders are visionaries and freedom dreamers—people who believe that the future can and will be better. The future starts now for the students and teachers in our school communities.

Today’s Academic Leaders must be equipped with cultural competence so that we can create a school where every member of the community truly belongs. In order to make room for all community members to participate with their whole identity in the whole program, we need to weave the skills we’ve been building - social-emotional learning, equity and inclusion, trauma informed practices, culturally responsive teaching, and personalized learning, into a resilient fabric.

In this one week course, we will begin by defining cultural competence and exploring the role of identity in this work. Grounded in an honest assessment of who we are as individuals and institutions, we will build competence in inclusive leadership. To accomplish this, the course will tackle case studies that surface practical strategies for fostering inclusive environments and engaging in culturally sensitive, capacity-building conversations, learning to implement equitable practices in our communities that align with our schools’ missions and values.

This course equips leaders to create the conditions where students and teachers can thrive because they know that they belong within the life of your school.

Course Objectives

• Understand what cultural competence is (and isn’t), how cultural competence strengthens belonging in the community, and how identity-awareness forms the foundation for inclusive leadership.

• Build your capacity as a leader to: foster a school culture that reflects the full humanity of your students and teachers; confidently defend valuing diversity in a charged environment, and support a thriving, inclusive learning community.

Course Facilitators