Amid ongoing political and social division, school leaders who advance towards Culturally Relevant Practices (CRP) must navigate tensions arising from conflicting stakeholder beliefs. Despite these challenges, several district and school leaders in Pennsylvania have taken steps towards CRP by offering professional development and revising district and school policies, procedures, and practices that perpetuate systemic inequities. This qualitative, multiple case study examines how district leaders in two suburban Pennsylvania school districts are implementing CRP that can be aligned to the Cultural Awareness Competencies of the Common Ground Framework, the barriers they encounter, the strategies they employ to address those barriers, and the effectiveness of those strategies. Findings indicate that district, school, and teacher leaders are primarily motivated by internal commitments to inclusive education rather than by external mandates. Districts advancing CRP initiatives do so through multi-faceted approaches that address policy, practice, curriculum, and community engagement. When leaders encounter barriers, including time constraints, limited capacity for change, and divergent stakeholder beliefs, flexibility, adaptability, and transparent communication are more effective than rigidity, defensiveness, secrecy, or delayed action in sustaining reform efforts. Further research is needed to examine the effects of CRP-aligned changes on overall student learning, with particular attention to outcomes for students from historically marginalized groups. In addition, future studies should investigate implementation in rural districts and in districts with fewer financial and organizational resources than those included in this study to better understand how contextual factors shape CRP adoption and sustainability.
Colette M. Koszarek (Thu,) studied this question.