Cultural Proficiency: A Manual for School

LeadersLindsey, Robins, & Terrell

Dale Ellis, Ed. DSuperintendent

Montgomery County SchoolsJanuary 9, 2013

The key to understanding cultural

proficiency begins with recognizing the existence of different worldviews. Differing cultural worldviews become problematic when one’s worldview causes one to judge a culture as “inferior” or “less than” rather than “different.”

Chapter 4: Framing Your Work

A commitment to examining your own values,

assumptions, and behaviors. A commitment to working with colleagues to

examine your school’s and district’s policies and practices.

A commitment to being an integral part of the community you serve by learning with and from the community.

Is the community, or certain parts thereof, viewed as a detriment or a resource?

Step 1 Commitments

Introspection as a means to understand your

own thoughts, feelings and motives. Reflection as a means to examine your

actions. Examination as a means to study current

policies and procedures. Analysis as a means to understand all aspects

of the education process. Planning as a means to be intentional in

serving ALL students.

These commitments involve the use of…

Review the Table on Page 60…starting at the

bottom and working up.

What possible complications do you see with your faculty?

What possible bridges do you see on your staff from which to build?

Table Talk

The presumption of entitlement and privilege

makes some people blind to barriers experienced by others.

Systems of oppression and privilege are forces that affect some individuals based upon membership in a distinct cultural group.

Unawareness of the need to adapt is a type of resistance to change where some individuals believe other groups need to change to adapt to the dominant group.

The Barriers

Culture is a predominant force…You can’t not

have a culture. People are served in varying degrees by the

dominant culture. Group identity of individuals is as important as

individual identities. Diversity within cultures is vast and significant. Each group has unique cultural needs. The family, as defined within the culture, is the

predominant force in a child’s education.

The Guiding Principals

Marginalized populations have to be at least

bicultural, which creates unique issues. Cross-cultural interactions are dynamic and

must be acknowledged, adjusted to, and accepted.

The school system must incorporate cultural knowledge into practice and policy making.

The Guiding Principals-Cont.’

Cultural Destructiveness – Seeks to eliminate

cultures within the school. Cultural Incapacity – Trivializing and

stereotyping other cultures….making others inferior to the dominant group.

Cultural blindness – Not noticing or acknowledging other cultures and being blind to the need for differentiation.

The Continuum

Cultural Precompetence – Increasing awareness of what

you and the school don’t know about working in diverse settings. Can move forward or regress from here.

Cultural Competence – Inclusive of different views in such a way that healthy and positive interactions can take place.

Cultural Proficiency – Holding the vision that you and the school are instruments for creating a socially-just democracy; interacting with your colleagues, your students, their families, and their communities as an advocate for lifelong learning to serve effectively the educational needs of all cultural groups.

The Continuum – Cont.’

Assess Culture – Identify the differences Value Diversity – Embrace the differences Manage Difference – Reframe the differences

so it is not viewed as a problem to be solved Adapt to Diversity – Teach and learn the

differences so you can respond effectively Institutionalize Cultural Knowledge – Change

systems to ensure healthy and effective responses

The Essential Elements

How comfortable are you with your knowledge

of cultural proficiency? What questions do you have? What more do you want to learn about the

tools of cultural proficiency? How do you see the tools of cultural

proficiency helping you and members of your school community narrow and close educational gaps?

Table Talk

Overcoming Barriers

“If we tell ourselves that the only problem is hate, we avoid facing the reality that it is mostly nice, non-hating people who perpetuate racial inequality?

- Ellis Close (1998)

Chapter 5 – The First Tool

It is there. It may not be systematic, but it is there.

It is systemic.

Is there an expectation that ALL children can learn to high levels? Is there an expectation that ALL children can accomplish the requirements of the Common Core, or just a few? A culture of low expectations is systemic oppression. It’s not mean and maybe not intentional, but it is there…in society and schools.

Systemic Oppression

By the very nature of the system, those who are not

oppressed have the benefit of privilege and entitlement.

What was the cause of the Revolutionary War? What was the cause of the Civil War? Who were the main beneficiaries of the Industrial Age? Who was Jim Crow?

The key is getting those who have been the beneficiaries of privilege and entitlement to recognize that fact.

Privilege and Entitlement

We have an additional dynamic of poverty

extending deeply into a historically privileged group.

How does that impact us?

Meanwhile, here in MoCo…

Change is difficult That is especially true in areas you are not

even aware that change is needed.

The biggest need for change in education is in the EXPECTATIONS.

Unawareness of the Need to Adapt

Have an emerging awareness of their

strengths, their limitations, and what they need and want to learn.

Are not afraid to change their worldview or paradigms about their students’ cultures.

Are eager to begin the change process, both individually and institutionally.

Culturally Proficient Educators…

We can learn (improve). Paradigms can change. Change is beneficial.

Core Beliefs

Acknowledge the feelings of the complainers.

Change is seldom easy and often unwanted, especially when it involves more work.

Explain the changes are to better serve the students and their families. It is not about fixing something that is broken, but about improvement and to grow as a school for the benefit of the children.

Two Responses to Resistance

What areas of privilege and entitlement do

you see in your school? Do you think those in your building see it? If

so, who? Has any of these topics been addressed in

your school before? If so, what was the outcome?

If these discussions have not taken place, what has been the dominant barrier in your opinion?

Table Talk

The Guiding Principals

Accepting diversity enables us to see that each of us is needed. It also enables us to abandon ourselves to the strengths of others, acknowledging that we cannot know or do everything on our own.

- Max De Pree (2008)

PDSA anyone? PLCs? Anyone, anyone?

Chapter 6 – The Second Tool

You don’t notice culture until it changes. It is the predominant force in shaping values

and behaviors. It is a defining aspect of humanity. Offensive behavior may not be personal but

cultural.

Do some of your teachers take discipline cases personally?

Culture is Ever Present

The dominant culture sets expectations. Values and behaviors can be adjusted to serve

everyone. The dominant culture will find the overall

culture comfortable and beneficial, and some oppressed people may find success in the dominant culture, but what about the many oppressed people who do not?

Served by the Dominant Culture

There are wide differences within a given

ethnic culture. From poor to rich, and all levels in between.

That is why socioeconomic factors impact all within the “poor” group.

Diversity Within Cultures

Some schools/policies refuse to adapt to the

need for change. We must encourage the change we want to

see. We must make sure everyone has access to

the same privileges and benefits.

Each Group Needs Respect

How do we define “parent involvement?” If parents send students to school prepared to

learn, do we need them at the school to be “involved?” Are they not already “involved?”

What can we do if they are not “involved?”

Family is the Primary Support Structure

Oppressed people belong to their own culture. They are also trying to assimilate into the

dominant culture. Students are punished if they do not

assimilate as expected.

If not Dominant, They are Bi-Cultural

We are dealing with history here folks. Those who are oppressed continue to be so

and the dominant culture often doesn’t even see it, or they see slights as small and inconsequential.

EC vs. AP/AIG for instance…

Social and Communication Dynamics

This book study is the first step….

Cultural Knowledge Must Be Incorporated

Questions? Comments. Concerns!

Conclusion