Culturally Proficient Leadership Practices

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Culturally Proficient Leadership Practices

• Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
• Randall B. Lindsey
• November 23, 2009

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Session Purposes

• Cultural Proficiency as leaders personal work,
• Introduce and practice use of strategies and
  activities, and
• Guide use of Manual for School Leaders.

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Checking-in Activity

• Give one, Get one
• Complete the handout as requested
• On cue from me, find another person to share 1
  finding
• Record that persons learning into your handout
• On cue from me, you will have 2 more discussions
• Group discussion

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In appreciation of the gifts from

• Terry Cross

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We

• Raymond Terrell
• Kikanza Nuri
• Delores B. Lindsey
• Randall B. Lindsey
• Brenda CampbellJones
• Franklin CampbellJones
• Laraine Roberts
• Richard S. Martinez

• Stephanie Graham
• R. Chris Westphal, Jr.
• Cynthia Jew
• Linda Jungwirth
• Jarvis Pahl
• Keith Myatt
• Michelle Karns
• Diana Stephens

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Cultural Proficiency

• It is an inside-out approach and the theme for
  our sessions
• It is about being aware of how we - as
  individuals and as organizations - work with
  others
• It is about being aware of how we respond to
  those different from us
• It is a worldview it is the manner in which we
  lead our lives
• It cannot be mandated it can be nurtured

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Pre-conditions for doing this work

• School leaders have to do their own work first.
• Each leader has to think deeply about the
  guiding principles and essential elements.
• Cultural Proficiency is a journey with our
  colleagues, not done to them.
• We begin where people are, not necessarily
  where we would like them to be.

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Culturally Proficiency is to

• Reframe our work, not add to it.
• Be embedded into our processes
• School Leadership teams
• PLCs or SLCs
• Department or grade level meetings
• Book studies
• Professional development sessions
• Faculty meetings
• Take a 3-5 year horizon

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Margaret Wheatley

• A reading from
• Turning to One Another

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Cultural Proficiency A Manual for School Leaders

• Scan pages 4 to 7
• Note descriptions of the tools of Cultural
  Proficiency

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The Cultural Proficiency tools

•   The Barriers
• Four caveats that assist in responding
  effectively to resistance to change
• The Guiding Principles
• Underlying values of the approach
• The Continuum
• Language for describing both healthy and
  non-productive policies, practices and individual
  behaviors
•  The Essential Elements
• Five behavioral standards for measuring, and
  planning for, growth toward cultural proficiency
•  

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Cultural Proficiency A Manual for School Leaders

• Scan pages 98 to 108
• Pay particular attention to the underlying core
  values in the Guiding Principles

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The Barriers

• The presumption of entitlement
• Systems of oppression
• Unawareness of the need to adapt
• Resistance to change

• The barriers to cultural proficiency are systemic
  privilege, oppression, and resistance to change

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The 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

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Guiding Principles, cont

• The best of both world enhances the capacity of
  all
• The family, as defined by the culture, is the
  primary system of support in the education of
  children
• School systems must recognize that marginalized
  groups have to be at least bicultural
• Community-centric vs School-centric
• Schools must recognize and adjust to effects of
  historical oppression - over representation in
  special education and under representation in
  gifted programs

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Cultural Proficiency A Manual for School Leaders

• Telling Your Story, page 169
• Please organize into groups of 4 people from
  diverse backgrounds - ethnicity, gender, job
  assignments, etc
• Choose one of the cells and relate a story to
  your colleagues
• We will debrief in the larger group

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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.

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Proficiency

• Downward Spiral Conversation

Incapacity
Pre-Competence
Destructiveness
Blindness
Competence
Upward Spiral Conversation
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Words 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

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Cultural Proficiency helps us to move FROM
TOLERANCE FOR DIVERSITY TO
TRANSFORMATION FOR EQUITY Destructiveness -
Blindness Precompetence
- Proficiency

• Focus on them and their inadequacies
• Tolerate, assimilate, acculturate
• Demographics viewed as challenge
• Prevent, mitigate, avoid cultural dissonance and
  conflict
• Stakeholders expect or help others to assimilate
• Information added to existing policies,
  procedures, practices.

• The focus on us and our practices
• Esteem, respect, adapt
• Demographics inform policy and practice
• Manage, leverage, facilitate conflict
• Stakeholders adapt to meet needs of others
• Information integrated into
• policies, procedures, practices.

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Essential Elements for Cultural Competence

1. Assess Culture
2. Value Diversity
3. Manage the Dynamics of Difference
4. Adapt to Diversity
5. Institutionalize Cultural Knowledge

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

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Cultural Proficiency Conceptual Framework

• Manual, page 60
• Read
• Table conversation
• Connections?
• Questions of clarification?
• General Discussion

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Systemic Tension

• The Barriers are forces within people and
  organizations to resist change and foster a sense
  of privilege and entitlement that inform
  Destructiveness, Incapacity Blindness

• The Guiding Principles are the core values, the
  foundation upon which the approach is built, that
  inform Precompetence, Competence Proficiency

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• Paired Fluency

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Cultural Proficiency A Manual for School Leaders

• Cultural Competence Self Assessment
• Complete activity on pages 295-296
• Individual, small group and large group
  considerations

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The Achievement Gap

• Exists when specific groups of students do not
  achieve in school at the same level. Achievement
  gaps may correlate with race, ethnicity, family
  income level, language background,
  ability/disability status, and gender.

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What we know, but act like we dont

• Correlation is not causation
• Wide achievement gaps on state and national
  assessments and attainment gaps in high school
  and college completion exist. But poverty and
  race do not determine destiny in education.
• Opportunity gaps give rise to achievement gaps
• Low achievement and attainment rates persist
  because we continue to provide poor and students
  of color with less of everything research says
  makes a difference.

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Revisiting Rubrics

• Study the Assessment Accountability Rubric
• Locate your school/district for each of the 5
  Essential Elements
• Locate where you believe your teacher colleagues
  would place your district
• Guiding QuestionWithin our current school
  processes, where and how do we move the
  conversation and decisions that will result in
  movement towards proficiency?

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Revisiting Breakthrough Questions

• Read handout
• With 1 other partner, respond to items in Table
  1.2
• Discussion Questions, observations, insights?
• Return to partner discussion, complete Table 1.3
• Discussion How do these activities inform
  intentional movement along the Continuum?

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States of Mind/Essential Elements

• Each table will work with 1 of the essential
  elements and respond to the prompts
• Chart and post responses - 20 minutes
• Carousel sharing
• Discussion

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Consideration of Data

• What achievement data do you want to examine?
• How is your school/district doing with regard to
  special needs students?
• How is your district/school doing with regard to
  language-learning students?
• What access data do you want to collect and
  analyze - e.g., special needs identification,
  attendance, suspensions, expulsions?

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Culturally Proficient leaders ask

• In what ways do we adapt to students who have a
  different culture, different set of values,
  different behavior patterns, different languages,
  and different learning styles?
• Maybe the deeper question is Different from what
  or whom?

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Voices that Resonate
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Other Cultures

• The world in which you were born
• is just one model of reality.
• Other cultures are not
• failed attempts at being you
• They are unique manifestations
• of the human spirit
• Wade Davis, Anthropologist