Developing Cultural Proficiency: Educating for Diversity, Equity, and Success for All Students...

Developing Cultural Proficiency: Educating for Diversity, Equity,

and Success for All Students

Stephanie Graham, ConsultantSchool Equity & Student Achievement

Los Angeles County Office of Education(562) 922-6410

From Tolerance to Transformation:

Outcomes• Shift conversations from equality to equity, and

from tolerance for diversity to systemic transformation cultural proficiency.

• Deepen understanding about gaps that indicate that one or more groups are being better served than others.

• Understand how the dynamics of difference and cultural power contribute to equity gaps.

• Learn to use the Cultural Proficiency Continuum as a tool to assess and analyze school policies, practices, and behaviors.

• Plan next step to lead for cultural proficiency.

It’s All About Students - Equity and Equal Access

Focusing on gap reduction is the moral responsibility of all educators. They must understand the bigger picture and reach out beyond themselves to work with others.

Educational reform: reducing the gap between high and low performers at all levels (classroom, school, district, state) is the key to system breakthroughs.

Fullan, Change Forces with a Vengeance

“Equity is the principle of altering current practices and perspectives to teach for social transformation and to promote equal learning outcomes for students of all racial, cultural, linguistic and socio-economic groups.”

Enid Lee, New Teacher Center(Next Four Quotes)

Educational Equity

“Equity can mean treating some students differently in order to treat them fairly.”

“Different treatment is needed because students from some social groups enter our schools on an uneven playing field.”

“To ensure that all students, regardless of background have equal opportunities and outcomes in learning, system-wide transformation must occur that will create the chance for students on the margins of our educational system to become central to it and perform to their fullest potential.”

ONE Shared Vision for Cultural Proficiency

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)

What We Can Learn From Multicultural Education Research

Gloria Ladson-Billings

Beliefs About Students Matter

Content and Materials Matter

Instructional Approaches Matter

Educational Settings Matter

Teacher Education Matters

So What is Cultural Proficiency?

• A model• A mind set• A way of being• The use of specific tools for effectively describing,

responding to and planning for change that meets the needs of under-served populations.

• Policies and practices at the organizational level and values and behaviors at the individual level that enable effective cross cultural interactions among employees, clients, and community.

What does it look like?

• Your core values• Your organizational structure and systems• Your language and behavior• Your organizational norms, traditions and

practices– Infused, transformed, and bolstered with the tools

of Cultural Proficiency

What are the Four Cultural Proficiency tools?

1. The Continuum– Language for describing both healthy and non-

productive policies, practices and behaviors

2. The Essential Elements– Five behavioral standards for measuring, and

planning for growth toward cultural proficiency

3. The Guiding Principles– Underlying values and assumptions of the model

4. Understanding the Barriers to Change_ Unawareness of and resistance to difference– Privilege, entitlement, and agentry– Unawareness of the need to adapt

The Continuum

Cultural destructiveness

Cultural incapacity Cultural blindness Cultural

pre-competence Cultural competence Cultural proficiency

There are six points along the cultural proficiency continuum that indicate unique ways of perceiving and responding to differences.

1.

Six Levels of Cultural Proficiency

Cultural Destructivene

ss“See the difference; stomp it out.”

Eliminating other people’s cultures

Cultural Incapacity

“See the difference; make it wrong.”

Believing in the superiority of one’s own culture and behaving in ways that disempower another’s culture

Cultural Blindness

“See the difference; act like you don’t.”

Acting as if cultural differences do not matter or as if there are no differences among/between cultures

Cultural Precompetenc

e“See the difference; respond to it inappropriately.”

Recognizing the limitations of one’s skills or an organization’s practices when interacting with other cultural groups

Cultural Competence

“See the difference; understand the difference that difference makes.”

Interacting with others using the five essential elements of cultural proficiency as the standard for behavior and practice

Cultural Proficiency

“See the difference; respond positively. Engage and adapt.”

Esteeming culture; knowing how to learn about organizational culture; interacting effectively in a variety of cultural groups

The Essential Elements1. Value Culture2. Assess Culture3. Leverage and Manage the

Dynamics of Difference4. Use Knowledge to Adapt

to Diversity5. Engage Others and

Institutionalize Cultural Knowledge

The Essential Elements of cultural proficiency provide the standards for individual behavior and organizational practices

2.

The Five Essential Elements of Cultural Proficiency and

FROM:TOLERANCE FOR

DIVERSITY

Destructiveness, Incapacity & BlindnessThe focus is on them

TO:TRANSFORMATIO

N FOR EQUITY

Precompetence, Competence &

ProficiencyThe focus on our practices

Assessing One’s Own Cultural Knowledge - Demographics are viewed as a challenge

Assessing One’s Own Cultural Knowledge - Demographics are used to inform policy and practice

Valuing Diversity - Tolerate, assimilate, acculturate

Valuing Diversity - Esteem, respect, adapt

Dealing with Conflict- Prevent, mitigate, avoid

Dealing with Conflict- Manage, leverage, facilitate

Integrating Cultural Knowledge - Information contributed or added to existing policies, procedures, practices

Integrating Cultural Knowledge - Information integrated into system, provoking significant changes to policies, procedures, practices

Adapting to Diversity - System-wide accountability to meet changing needs of a diverse community and reduce cultural dissonance and conflict.

Adapting to diversity - System-wide accountability for continuous improvement and responsiveness to community. Staff understands, operates, and perseveres on the edge of often rapid and continuous change.

The Guiding Principles• Culture is a predominant

force• Acknowledge group

identities• Respect unique cultural

needs• Diversity within and

between cultures is important

• People are served in varying degrees by the dominant culture

The Guiding Principles are the core values, the foundation upon which the approach is built

3.

Barrier n. 1. Anything built or serving to bar passage

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary

Understanding the Barriers

• Difference

• Privilege

• Unawareness of the need to adapt

The barriers to cultural proficiency are resistance to difference, unawareness of one’s privilege entitlement and agentry, and unawareness of the need to adapt to difference.

4.

Removing Barriers to Cultural Proficiency

Dynamics of Difference

Dynamics of Cultural Power

Privilege

Entitlement---------------------------------------------------------------------

TARGETS/ AGENTS

Adapted from Marilyn Loden and Judy Rosener, Worldforce America” (Business One Irwin, 1991)

Dimensions of Cultural Identity

Personality

IncomeManagement Status

Functional Level/ Classification

Work Content/

Field

Division/ Department/

Unit/ Group

Recreational Habits

Union Affiliation

Work Location

Seniority

Geographic Location

Marital Status

Parental Status

Appearance

Work Experience

Educational Background

Religion

Personal Habits

Sexual Orientation

Physical Ability

Ethnicity

GenderRace

Age

Primary Cultural Identity

ME

age,age-group

religion

gender

(optional)

physical ability

capacity

race ethnicity

Income level, class

sexual orientation

+anti-

semitism-

+ableism

-

+ageism

-

+racism

-+sexism

-

+classism

-

+heterosexism

-

ME

TARGET

EMPOWERED TARGET

AGENT

ALLY

1. What do you notice about your profile? What “isms” are you an agent of? What “isms” are you targeted by? What thoughts, feelings or emotions are triggered by this awareness?

2. How might your profile impact your effectiveness as a leader?

3. How does your understanding of the dynamics of cultural power inform your next steps as a leader for cultural proficiency?

CULTURAL IDENTITY PROFILE QUESTIONS

Given our review of Cultural Proficiency today, what two next steps will you take to provide leadership for Cultural Proficiency and closing learning and achievement gaps in your school/department?

To honor diversity is to maintain the dynamic tension between “pluribus” and “unum.”

- Believe and expect that ALL students can achieve high standards and do rigorous work.

- Believe and expect that all students, parents, and staff make valuable contributions.

- Teach and lead with a culturally and linguistically inclusive approach.

- Teach and expect students, parents, and staff to seek and understand multiple perspectives about issues, themes, events, and concepts.

- Seek and value ideas, solutions, and approaches different from one’s own.

- Assess progress by allowing students and staff to demonstrate and apply knowledge and skills in a variety of ways.

- Learn about your students, their families, and staff members in authentic contexts.

VALUE DIVERSITY

-___________+ 1 2 3 4 5 6

Classroom, School and DistrictwidePractices and Behaviors

Essential Element ofCultural Proficiency

- Identify and assess multiple aspects of one’s own cultural identity.

- Examine how one’s cultural identity affects ones communication, work, teaching, and/or management style.- Assess how one’s cultural identity influences his/her work effectiveness and productivity.

- Respect and expect students and staff to apply knowledge and demonstrate skill in a variety of ways.

- Learn about self, students, families, and staff in authentic contexts.

-

-

-

ASSESS CULTURE

-___________+ 1 2 3 4 5 6



- Understand, use and model conflict and difference of opinion, misperceptions, as tools to learn and grow.

- Teach and use conflict resolution skills.

- Discourage competition and promotion based on hierarchy and status. Promote cooperation/ cooperative learning.

- Seek inclusion and multiple contributions to common learning/work decisions and tasks.

- Understand that racial, linguistic, gender, economic and other cultural differences may require varied and flexible learning opportunities and alternate ways of demonstrating classroom/work effectiveness and school/work success.

- Collect, disaggregate, analyze, and track data about student achievement and staff effectiveness to ensure that all student/staff groups are making progress and achieving outcomes equitably.

LEVERAGE, MANAGE THE DYNAMICS OF DIFFERENCE

-___________+ 1 2 3 4 5 6



- Adapt your communication, work, management, and teaching style to meet the needs of others, not your own needs.

- Make time for and engage in on-going opportunities to increase your knowledge about culture and language to enhance your skills in cross cultural communication. Don’t just delegate this to others.

- Observe and learn from others who have been successful in cross-cultural communication, interaction, and teaching.

- Serve as a resource to others. Share successes as well as challenges. Solicit input and involvement from colleagues.

- Provide and solicit input about culturally proficient policies, practices, and procedures, especially for working with all student groups.

- Partner with students and parents to learn how to better meet the needs of students in all cultural communities.

- View and promote all students, parents, and staff as sources of knowledge and strength.

ENGAGE AND ADAPT TO DIVERSITY

-___________+ 1 2 3 4 5 6



-Model and share the ways that learning about yourself and others has shifted your own attitudes, perceptions and behavior.

- Teach students how to become smart.

- Ask for feedback about your own cultural competence.

- Create environments that acknowledge, include, and respect student, parent, and staff cultural/religious differences, and multiple work and communication styles.

- Learn and use the language of students, parents, and staff.

- Assess student/staff progress and skills in a variety of ways.

- Give frequent, timely, specific,relevant feedback about progress.

- Provide accommodations to meet the cultural, linguistic, communication, learning, and work styles of students and staff.

- Interact with students, parents, and staff who are different from you.

USE, INSTITUTIONALIZE, INTEGRATE CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

-___________+ 1 2 3 4 5 6


Essential Elements ofCultural Proficiency

SEVEN STAGES OF CULTURAL IDENTITY

Pre-encounter Stage 1• Internalizes negative stereotypes.

• May not be aware of this.

Encounter Stage 2

• Acknowledges personal impact of prejudice,

discrimination, oppression.

• Anger at “other” group.

Immersion/Emersion Stage 3

• Surrounds self with obvious symbols of one’s

identity and avoids experiences of “other” group(s).

• “Other-focused” anger dissipates and sense of self

is reaffirmed.

Contact Stage 1• Not aware of oppression of others or

of own privilege.

• Curious about and intrigued by difference.

Disintegration Stage 2

• May feel guilty or ashamed about one’s advantage.

• May try to “convert” others.

• Cognitive dissonance.

Reintegration Stage 3

• Re-direct, refocus anger at “other” group. Blame “other” group.

• Cannot continue to challenge close friends or abandon long-held beliefs.

• Continued dialogue needed to move to next stage.

“Target Cultural Identity” “Agent Cultural Identity”

Plateau: Cultural Equilibrium Stage 4

• Prefers interactions with own group; maintains

polite, politically correct interactions with members of dominant

group.

• May not challenge members of dominant group out of frustration/cynicism/ fear; may

not seek to educate members of other group.

Internalization Stage 5

• Less need to assert “super__” attitude.

• Coalition building (with same and “other” groups).

Internalization-CommitmentStage 6

• Can perceive and transcend race.

Autonomy/InterdependenceStage 7

• Has good relationships with other group without feeling guilty/

compromised.• Constantly re-evaluating own attitudes,

beliefs, behaviors.

• Forms alliances/advocacy for others.

Plateau: Cultural InsulationStage 4

• Awareness of issues of others and own good intentions leads to political correctness;

pseudo-relationships with members of other

groups’ denounces racism in others.

• May wish to blame problems not on race/ ethnicity/culture and conditions of

otherness, but on “the system,” i.e., class and socio economics.Pseudo-Independent Stage 5

• With encouragement, can question own

attitudes and relationships.

• Actively begin to affiliate with “other” group.

Immersion/Emersion Stage 6

• Seeks out new, improved, alternative ways to belong to his/her group.

• Seeks out ways to become ally.

Autonomy/InterdependenceStage 7

• Has good relationships with “other group without feeling guilty/compromised.

• Constantly re-evaluating own attitudes, beliefs,

behaviors.

• Forms alliances/advocary for others.

Adapted by Graham, S. 1999 From Cross, W.E. Jr, Helms, J.E., and Tatum, B.D.

James A. Banks, “Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform” Levels of Integration of Ethnic Content

Level 4 The Social Action Approach Students make decisions on important social issues and take actions to help solve them. Level 3

The Information Approach

The structure of the curriculum is changed to enable students to view

concepts, issues, events, and themes from the perspective of

diverse ethnic and cultural groups.

Four Levels of Curriculum Reform

Level 1The Contributions ApproachFocuses on heroes, holidays,

anddiscrete cultural elements.

Level 2 The Additive Approach

Content, concepts, themes, and perspectives are added to the curriculum

without changing its structure.

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