Principals are the sole leaders at the campus level who are responsible for exercising leadership practices associated with improving classroom instruction (Lochmiller, 2014). Research conducted by Branch, et al.,(2012), support the premise that student educational outcomes are directly linked to principals’ effectiveness, when measured by student achievement. Additionally, researchers propose that students of color living in low socio-economic communities face greater instructional achievement gaps (Khalifa,et al., 2016, Viloria, 2017) because teachers are not well prepared or the curriculum is not culturally relevant. In the United States, minoritized students have long histories of oppression in schools related to their race, religion, ethnicity, citizenship, and language. As the student population becomes increasingly heterogenous, scholars highlight disparities in academic outcomes across various racial, ethnic, and language groups and argue that paradigmatic shifts are needed to effectively serve minoritized students unique educational needs (Gay, 2018; Khalifa et al., 2016). There is an urgency for principals to be culturally responsive instructional leaders that develop and implement the academic mission of the school via the creation of sustainable leadership practices where educational personnel will flourish in the classroom and community (Fullan, 2002). In this case, the academic mission of a culturally responsive instructional leader requires intentional and prescriptive decisions aimed at meeting the socio-cultural needs of low-income and socially excluded students’ instructional learning needs. Therefore, my primary research interest is focused on place-based instructional leadership and local agency to preserve diversity and foster educational equity in both rural and non-rural schools. My primary goal is to prepare educational leaders who are equipped with research-based culturally responsive leadership practices and STEM-based knowledge to lead in diverse public-school systems.