Social Equity for the Long Haul: Preparing Culturally Competent Public Administrators Susan White Perry Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration/Public Affairs Susan T. Gooden, Chair Terry Kershaw Joe Rees Gary Wamsley Blue Wooldridge November 18, 2005 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: Cultural competency, social equity, diversity, Master of Public Administration programs, NASPAA, content analysis Social Equity for the Long Haul: Preparing Culturally Competent Public Administrators Susan White Perry ABSTRACT Each year, over 6,000 students complete Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees in over 200 university accredited programs. Many of these graduates commit to a career in the public service in one of thousands of public sector organizations at all levels of government or in the non-profit sector. Are students qualified to work successfully with multiple “publics” and to work towards achieving the goals of social equity? The core curricula of 123 National Association of School’s of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) accredited MPA programs were examined and the analysis focused on the following question: To what extent do NASPAA accredited programs provide cultural competency training to MPA students through their curricula? This dissertation assesses the current state of the field and recommends cultural competency standards to be adopted by public administration programs. To my family, For your unending patience, support, encouragement and love iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have contributed to what has now become the culmination of a dream. To each of these individuals, for shaping and molding me in ways that I initially thought not possible, I am forever grateful. To my committee members, Susan Gooden, Terry Kershaw, Joe Rees, Gary Wamsley and Blue Wooldridge, thank you for your guidance, wisdom and support of my research. I also wish to thank you for pushing me to think critically and to write professionally. To Susan Gooden, my committee chair, advisor and friend, who has provided me with her expertise, wisdom, and encouragement throughout my time in the Ph.D. program and especially during the dissertation process. You have helped me through many concerns, some academic and some otherwise, to enable me to get to this point. Thank you for always believing in me and for pushing me to believe in my research and myself. I appreciate that you always expect the best from those around you. I am especially grateful to you for your time and patience and for being good-humored about my “deadlines”. You are a true inspiration. I wish to thank the faculty and staff at the Center for Public Administration and Policy, for your extensive knowledge and for teaching me to share your love of public administration. It was an honor to study under such distinguished faculty. For their administrative assistance and continued patience through it all, I wish to also express my thanks to Brinda Ross-Myatt, Rhea Epstein, Missy Graham, and Sharon Proffitt. I would also like to acknowledge and thank all of my fellow students who have made this experience more enjoyable: Kim Eagle, Brandy Faulkner, Waxin Lee, Kasey Martin, Jason Sonnenfelt, Bethany Stich and many more. To Brandy Faulkner, thank you for your friendship and for always expecting me to represent. You have taught me to laugh in even the most unbearable situations. To Raquel Becerra, thank you for always supporting me, academically, professionally and personally. I will always value your friendship and guidance. To my former colleagues at the Race and Social Policy Research Center, thank you for your friendship, support and encouragement throughout my years in the Ph.D. program. The support, patience, and love extended to me by my family and friends have sustained me through the sometimes seemingly endless days and nights. To them, I give my undying love and gratitude. Each of them, in different ways and at different times, knew when to motivate me with a call, a hug, or a touch and when to flee the room. To my confidant and friend, Dr. Nakeina E. Douglas, I cannot imagine sharing this joint accomplishment with anyone else but you. The friendship we sparked at Radford University has grown beyond words. You have supported and pushed me from day one and we have been through so much together. Thank you for the endless hours we spent laughing, studying, talking, crying and fighting for justice. At the beginning of this journey, you set the bar at excellence and stayed beside me to make sure we both reached it. You have helped me remain sane through many rough times, both academically and personally. I am proud to forever call you my friend. iv To my great friends Donna Braun, Erika Fischer, Jeannie Gray, Melani Miller, Monica Nicely, Christa and Howard Pickrell, and Beverly Turner, thank you all for encouraging me to finish my studying and writing and for reminding me to continue to live while I worked. Your unending understanding of when to pull me in and when to leave me alone has helped beyond words. The friendships I share with each of you have helped make me into the person I am today. To my parents, Richard and Evelyn White, you raised me to believe that with hard work and determination, anything is possible. Thank you for making college a requirement, not an option, and for allowing the seed you planted many years ago to grow into an accomplishment I could not have completed without either of you. There were many times, especially in the beginning, when I wanted to quit and when I felt I did not belong or have what it took to be successful. With love and support, you showed me that I could do it all, and do it brilliantly and with honor. Many days and nights, I have pushed through those feelings of doubt by remembering your words. Thank you for all of your love and for always pushing me to do my best. I share this degree with you both. To my sister, Christine Garczynski, thank you for your endless belief in me. As with everything in my life, you have supported me through every step of this process. You have listened, consoled, loved and pushed me to move forward through every hardship, roadblock, hurt, and victory. Thank you for reading and printing all of my drafts and for insisting on a polished finished product. Your thoughtfulness and love have made the difference in so many aspects of my life. God made me the luckiest person on earth when He granted me the honor of being your sister. To my nephews, J.T. and Kevin Garczynski, thank you for the endless questions about when I would finish my “paper” and for your hugs, especially the ones given for no reason. Both kept me motivated. To my brother, Ricky White, thank you for pushing me to see all sides of a problem and for challenging me to think outside the box. Our conversations are an endless source of inspiration and fun and served, many times, as a needed break from my studying and writing. Thank you for believing in me. My father and mother in-law, Leigh and Mary Perry, have also been a source of support for which I am grateful. From making sure we always had dinner when I was too busy to cook to helping us out in every imaginable way, I want to thank you both from the bottom of my heart. And lastly, I offer my admiration, indebtedness and love to my husband, Leigh Perry, who for the first two years of our marriage watched me on too many nights, finish with dinner and walk right back into the office to write and rewrite. This accomplishment would not have been possible without you. Your love and commitment to my success has been unconditional. Thank you for understanding when I was discouraged, grumpy and tired. You believed in me when I wasn’t strong enough to do it myself. I will never forget the love I felt when you agreed to be our sole means of support so that I could complete this dream, my dream. It was then that I realized that this had become your dream as well. You chose to let me shine, never once thinking of yourself and for that, I can never repay you. Thank you for your understanding, unselfishness, and tremendous support during this journey. Your love and devotion has sustained me and I devote this work to you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE STUDY INTRODUCTION AND A CONCEPTUAL MAP Introduction......................................................................................................................................1 Cultural Competencies.....................................................................................................................3 A Conceptual Map...........................................................................................................................4 Problem Statement and Research Questions..................................................................................12 Why Race is the Focus...................................................................................................................15 Study Rationale..............................................................................................................................20 Filling the Gap...............................................................................................................................21 Overview of Chapters....................................................................................................................23 CHAPTER TWO THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS The Pillars of Public Administration.............................................................................................25 Social Equity..................................................................................................................................26 Representative Bureaucracy...........................................................................................................29 Managing Diversity.......................................................................................................................33 Cultural Competency.....................................................................................................................35 Cultural Competency and Professional Programs.........................................................................38 Why is there a need for Cultural Competency among Public Administrators?.............................42 Example 1: Japanese Interment Camps during WWII.........................................................43 Example 2: Racial profiling after 9/11.................................................................................44 Example 3: Flying the confederate flag on state property...................................................45 Example 4: Job analysis and applicant selection.................................................................45 Example 5: Language assistance.........................................................................................46 Public Administration Conceptual Values: Social Equity, Representative Bureaucracy, and Cultural Competency.....................................................................................................48 A Case for Multicultural Education...............................................................................................50 Critiques of Multicultural Education.............................................................................................52 Multicultural Education and Public Administration......................................................................57 NASPAA and Cultural Competency: A Brief History of NASPAA............................................59 CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY Overview of Research Design.......................................................................................................66 Content Analysis............................................................................................................................67 Population and Sample Selection...................................................................................................70 Data Collection Procedures............................................................................................................71 Step One: Reviewing Websites.....................................................................................................71 Step Two: Reviewing the Syllabi.................................................................................................73 vi Step Three: Sharing Summary Profiles.........................................................................................75 Step Four: Preparing Reports & Discussing Results....................................................................76 Content Analysis with NASPAA-Accredited Schools Curriculum...............................................77 Limitations to the Research Design...............................................................................................79 Significance of the Work...............................................................................................................81 CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS: CULTURAL COMPETENCY SKILLS IN MPA CURRICULUM School Trends................................................................................................................................84 Program Trends............................................................................................................................105 Key Themes.................................................................................................................................106 CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION Curriculum Transformation.........................................................................................................116 Stand-Alone Course.....................................................................................................................117 Sample Syllabus...........................................................................................................................120 Incorporation into the Core..........................................................................................................128 Suggested Curriculum Transformations and Considerations for Integration..............................130 Curriculum Transformation Steps................................................................................................130 Concluding Thoughts...................................................................................................................133 APPENDICES A. Research Request Letters...............................................................................................138-139 B. Codebook.......................................................................................................................141-147 C. Summary Profiles...........................................................................................................149-220 D. U.S. News and World Report Rankings........................................................................222-224 FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1 Conceptual Map.............................................................................................................5 Figure 2 Curriculum Transformation Process..........................................................................130 Table 1 School Ranking by Amount of Coverage..............................................................85-86 Table 2 Comparison of U.S. News and World Report and Amount of Coverage Ranking........................................................................96-97 Table 3 Social Equity Topics in Core Curriculum by School.........................................100-104 vii CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER ONE Introduction In order to understand public policy matters and to participate in public administration activities in a democratic way, public administrators need to be well educated and knowledgeable in several key competency areas (Bowman, West, Berman & Van Wart, 2004). The Webster’s dictionary definition of competence is “fitness or ability”. Synonyms listed include capability, capacity, efficiency, proficiency and skill. In fields such as philosophy, psychology, sociology, and political science or public administration the term competence refers to “a roughly specialized system of abilities, proficiencies, or skills that are necessary or sufficient to reach a specific goal” (Rychen & Salganik, 2001). In the world of academia, there is much discussion about what types of competencies students should obtain prior to graduation to prepare them for the workforce. For public administration specifically, schools accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) must meet certain general competencies that are consistent with the program mission. These competencies are to be achieved through core curriculum components that must include: • Management of the Public Service Organizations: The management section includes courses in the areas of human resources, budgeting and financial processes and information management, technology applications and policy. • Quantitative and Qualitative Techniques of Analysis: This core section gives students information in the areas of policy and program formulation, implementation and evaluation, as well as, decision-making and problem-solving. 1 • Public Policy and the Organizational Environment: This component provides an understanding of political and legal institutions and processes, economic and social institutions and processes, organization and management concepts and behaviors (NASPAA, 2005). While NASPAA mentions the importance of diversity and competence in this area for public administrators, there is not a specific curriculum component that addresses cultural competency or that is required of schools seeking accreditation. For many professors and administrators at institutions of higher education, it is a daunting task to include in an already overloaded curriculum the many competencies that are necessary to provide public service in the modern workforce. It is important, therefore, to determine the key competencies that public administrators need in order to uphold their duty and responsibility to the public they serve. Higher education in general, but master of public administration programs specifically, should help graduates develop competencies that enable them to become political actors able to responsibly influence policies that produce equitable and fair programs, policies, and laws. Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs must offer basic skills to all students in order to confer a degree, and it is imperative that cultural competency fall within those basic skills. In essence, competencies developed through education must also prepare students for the multiple roles they will play in society, including being a citizen in a democracy, with awareness and respect of their own rights and those of others (Rychen & Salganik, 2001). Little is known about how much exposure MPA students receive in their programs that prepare them for these various roles. How well do the core courses offer training to students to manage or work in a diverse society? Can we be reasonably certain that the “core” includes exposure to some of the concepts of social equity and cultural competency? 2