Dr. Randy Speck

From Awareness to Action: Leading with Cultural Humility Drawing From Marzano’s Leadership Frameworks

This session explores how school and district leaders can move from cultural competency to cultural humility drawing from the Marzano Focused School Leader Evaluation Model and the Marzano District Leader Model (2018) as guiding frameworks. Acknowledging that leaders may not share the racial, cultural, or immigrant experiences of the communities they serve, the session centers on leadership practices grounded in reflection, continuous learning, and shared responsibility.

Participants will examine how cultural humility aligns with key leadership actions in Marzano’s models, including building trust, engaging stakeholders, strengthening equitable systems, and making informed, equity-centered decisions. Leaders will leave with practical strategies for embedding cultural humility into their daily leadership practice to foster belonging, strengthen community trust, and improve outcomes for all students.

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Dr. Azra Ali

Dr. Azra Ali is a veteran educator and leadership coach with over 28 years of experience serving students and communities as a classroom teacher, school principal, and superintendent across private and charter school settings. She holds a PhD grounded in culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and equity-centered leadership, with a particular focus on culturally and linguistically diverse learners, immigrant communities, and biliteracy development.

A formally trained Marzano Focused School Leader and District Leader practitioner, Dr. Ali has spent the past decade coaching school principals and building team capacities to strengthen instructional leadership, school culture, and student outcomes. She approaches leadership as a mindful practitioner, emphasizing leaders’ inner work—awareness, reflection, emotional intelligence, and intentional choice-making—as foundational to creating thriving, equitable school communities.

Dr. Ali’s work centers on culturally relevant pedagogy, which situates academic content within students’ own cultural contexts, experiences, and frames of reference to design environments that affirm student identity, leverage linguistic assets, and cultivate authentic family and community partnerships. By integrating CRP with Marzano’s leadership frameworks, she helps leaders co-create equitable systems, make informed, culturally responsive decisions, and foster school environments where all students feel seen, valued, and empowered. Her approach has moved school leadership from cultural competency to cultural humility, strengthened trust with families and communities, and produced measurable improvements in school climate, student engagement, and academic achievement.