PurposeTo identify the attitudes and traits of teachers with an at‐risk student population in a multi‐cultural urban high school.Design/methodology/approachA research team consisting of doctoral students and their faculty advisor used an appreciative inquiry model to identify attitudes and traits of teachers who supported effective teaching in an urban high school with a high at‐risk student population.FindingsThe research team's findings indicate that those perceived as effective teachers were culturally responsive, sought small successes, encouraged students, flexible, and caring. They also formed meaningful relationships with students, had caring attitudes, and viewed themselves as difference‐makers. The research team also found a number of non‐supportive teacher attitudes and traits: blaming, racial attitudes, frustration leading to inflexibility, co‐dependency leading to encouraging the neediness of students, and lack of respect for the contributions made by the surrounding community and parents.Originality/valueTeachers, administrators, and counselors agreed that forming relationships and caring for students were at the core of the attitudes and traits of effective teaching. Moreover, teachers with effective attitudes and traits were seen as having the ability to integrate into the school and surrounding community's culture to encourage students to succeed in school.

This article examines the legacy of segregation and desegregation in the town of Parsons, Kansas. We argue that school desegregation, the goal of which was to increase access and equalize educational opportunities for African Americans, did not have that desired affect. Fifty years after the closing of the all-Black Douglass School, Parsons' citizens had not openly acknowledged the effects this event had on the African American community. Three generations later, African American student achievement still lags behind that of White students. These unresolved issues have contributed to a number of losses in the Black community, including loss of Black teachers and loss of talented Black young people. We use theories of social capital and cultural capital as a framework to illustrate how White, middle class students had greater access to school resources, and to identify the social and cultural resources within the Black community that the school district could build upon, such as strong leadership and a sense of resolve and resiliency.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe how practitioners from Canada, the UK, Singapore, and the USA, university educational administration faculty from the USA, and the editor of a premier international journal of educational management engaged in a collaborative process to discover how to improve the preparation and practice of educational administration on a global basis.Design/methodology/approachAn appreciative inquiry theoretical research perspective was used to discover a positive core of experiences that could add to cultural proficiency as it relates to educational administration.FindingsIn each cultural context, the central nature of the highpoint stories focused on appreciative ways to work with other people. The stories suggest that relationships and collaboration are at the heart of an educational administrator's practice. It was discovered that twenty‐first century educational administrators operating in a global context believed that they could become difference makers in education.Originality/valueThe findings from this study provide encouragement for extended global collaboration for practicing educational administrators as well as those who are responsible for their preparation. The findings also suggest that using collaborative technologies in the framework of a cross‐cultural educator partnership can enhance the preparation and practice in educational administration programs.