Title: Cultural Proficiency
1Cultural Proficiency
2Your Facilitators
- Kikanza Nuri Robins, EdD
- Principal, The Robins Group
- Randall B. Lindsey, PhD
- Interim Dean, California Lutheran University
- Associate, The Robins Group
- Co-Authors of the Cultural Proficiency books
(Corwin Press)
3Cultural Proficiency
- A mind set a way of being
- The use of specific tools
- Policies and practices within organizations
- Values and behaviors of individuals
- The gift of Terry Cross
- A Culturally Competent System of Care, 1989
4An Inside-Out Approach
- Tied to your core values
- Using your organizational structure and systems
- Described with your language
- Building on your organizational norms and
traditions - Infused, transformed, and bolstered with the
tools of Cultural Proficiency
5Cultural Proficiency Helps
- To create learning communitiesamong and between
educators and students - To align your values and educational philosophies
with your daily practices
6A Moral Frame for Teaching
- A commitment to practice in an exemplary way
- A commitment to practice toward valued societal
ends - A commitment not only to ones own practice, but
to the practice itself - A commitment to sharing knowledge and skills with
other professionals - A commitment to the ethic of caring
- Sergiovanni, 1994
7Activity
- Why am I an educator?
- What do I stand for as an educational leader?
- What difference do I make now?
- What legacy do I want to leave?
- Why do I want to become culturally proficient?
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8Education in and for Democracy
- The best case for public education has always
been that it is a common good. - As the main institution for fostering social
cohesion in an increasingly diverse society,
publicly funded schools must serve all children,
not simply those with the loudest or most
powerful advocates. This means addressing the
cognitive and social needs of all children, with
an emphasis on including those who may not have
been well served in the past. - Michael Fullan, The Moral Imperative of School
Leadership
9Major Equity Events
- Mendez vs. Westminster - 1947
- Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education - 1954
- School desegregation cases
- Public School Accountability Act - 1999
- No Child Left Behind - 2002
10The Tools of Cultural Proficiency
- The Continuum
- Language for describing both healthy and
non-productive policies, practices and individual
behaviors - The Essential Elements
- Behavioral standards for measuring, and planning
for, growth toward cultural proficiency - The Barriers
- Caveats that assist in responding effectively to
resistance to change - Â The Guiding Principles
- Underlying values of the approach
11The Continuum
- There are six points along the cultural
proficiency continuum that indicate unique ways
of perceiving and responding to differences.
- Cultural destructiveness
- Cultural incapacity
- Cultural blindness
- Cultural pre-competence
- Cultural competence
- Cultural proficiency
12The Power of Context
- It is not the heroic actions of tackling complex
societal problems that count instead, the power
of context says that what really matters is the
little things. - Fullan 2003
13ActivityWords often used to describe some
groups and implied terms for others
- Inferior
- Culturally deprived
- Culturally disadvantaged
- Deficient
- Different
- Diverse
- Third world
- Minority
- Underclass
- Poor
- Unskilled workers
- Superior
- Privileged
- Advantaged
- Normal
- Similar
- Uniform
- First world
- Majority
- Upper class
- Middle class
- Leaders
14Activity
- Examples along the Continuum
- Reflect on comments you have heard, situations
you have experienced, and events you have
observed - Where would you place them on the continuum?
15Research-Based Pedagogy for Narrowing the
Achievement Gap
- Teachers have a clear sense of their own cultural
identities. - Teachers communicate high expectations for
learning and a belief that all students can
succeed. - Teachers are committed to achieving equity for
all students and believe they are capable of
making a difference in students learning.
16Narrowing the Gap, continued
- Teachers cease seeing students as the other.
- Teachers provide academically challenging
curriculum that includes the development of
higher-level cognitive skills. - Teachers guide students to create meaning about
content in interactive, collaborative
environments.
17Narrowing the Gap, continued
- Teachers provide learning tasks that students see
as meaningful. - Teachers provide a curriculum with multiple
perspectives. - Teachers scaffold new and challenging curriculum
to existing student resources and knowledge.
18Narrowing the Gap, continued
- Teachers explicitly teach students to know and
maintain a sense of ethno-cultural pride and
identity. - Teachers encourage parents and community to
become partners in students'Â education. - Parents are given a significant voice in making
decisions related to school programs and
resources. - B. Williams, Closing the Achievement Gap, 2003
19The Essential Elements
- The Essential Elements of cultural proficiency
provide the standards for individual behavior and
organizational practices
- Assessing Culture Naming the differences
- Valuing Diversity Claiming the differences
20The Essential Elements (cont.)
- Managing the Dynamics of Difference Reframing
the differences - Adapting to Diversity - Training about the
differences - Institutionalizing Cultural Knowledge Changing
for differences
21Activity
- Making Room at the Table
- Examine a few of the tables at which you sit.
- How did you get there?
- Do you have a voice?
- How do you help or hinder others who want to sit
at the table?
22The Barriers
- The barriers to cultural proficiency are systemic
privilege and resistance to change
- The presumption of entitlement
- Systems of oppression
- Unawareness of the need to adapt
23Activity
- Examples of Barriers
- There are many barriers that are out of your
control - List some of the barriers that are within your
sphere of influence
24Activity
- Telling Your Stories
- Select a term and tell your colleagues of a time
when you experienced that social phenomenon - Listen for the emotional content of the story
25The Guiding Principles
- The Guiding Principles are the core values, the
foundation upon which the approach is built
- Culture is a predominant force
- People are served in varying degrees by the
dominant culture - Acknowledge group identities
- Diversity within cultures is important
- Respect unique cultural needs
26Courageous Leadership
- There are many persons ready to do what is right
because in their hearts they know it is right.
But they hesitate, waiting for the other one to
make the first move and the other, in turn,
waits for you. The minute a person whose word
means a great deal dares to take the openhearted
and courageous way, many others follow. - Marian Anderson, 1956
27The Moral Imperative
- Listening . . . requires not only open eyes and
ears, but open hearts and minds. We do not really
see through our eyes or hear through our ears,
but through our beliefs. . . . It is not easy,
but it is the only way to learn what it might
feel like to be someone else and the only way to
start the dialogue. - Lisa Delpit
28A Culturally Proficient Vision
- Equity will be a reality when children from
minority racial, cultural, socio-economic, and
linguistic backgrounds experience statistically
similar rates of meeting high standards as do
children from the majority culture. - Bay Area Educational Equity Task Force