The Culturally Proficient Professoriate 55- The first 3 points of the Continuum reveal when and how we view them as a problem.
- The second 3 points the Continuum is when and where we focus on our practice.
We use the Continuum in a number of ways to collect and analyze data in order to
uncover underlying attitudes. Underlying values can peek through when we examine our
conversation (a manifestation of our behavior), let alone our policies and practices about
cultural groups different from us.
- Language to the left side of the continuum, as noted, blames them.
- Language to the right side of the continuum focuses on our practice – those things
over which we have control. - This is an example of the paradigm shift referred to earlier.
- An example of the shift in thinking and language is when on the left side, we often
refer to students as under performing; whereas, on the right side, we refer to students
as under served or needing to be served differently. - To the left side, we might refer to subgroups of students; to the right side, we refer to
demographic groups of students. This example came most vivid to us when an African
American parent rose in a session to announce she wasn’t a sub group to anything! - To the left side, we spend time describing the impact of the 17 hours students are not
on campus; on the right side we discuss the 7 hours students are on campus.
An example from one of our EDAD colleagues is:
- An EDAD thesis student who, after examining student achievement data for students
in his own school, arrived at an unintended consequence to his study. He questioned
why he is assigned to teach only honors classes. He realized the discrepancies that
existed between his assumptions about low performing students and the reality of
students being underserved. He said, Our students in most need, NEED the best
teachers. I am one of the best teachers, so I will also teach the least served in our
school from now on.
The Essential Elements of Cultural Competence
The 3rd tool is the five Essential Elements. The Essential Elements exist at the Cultural
Competence point of the Continuum and serve as standards for our professional behavior and
for the policies and practices of our programs. Table 3 lists the 5 essential elements:
Table 3. The Essential Elements for Culturally Proficient Leadership.- Assessing Cultural Knowledge
- Valuing Diversity
- Managing the Dynamics of Difference
- Adapting to Diversity
- Institutionalizing Cultural Knowledge
The Essential Elements do not add to our work, they provide a lens for how we do our
work. I have selected some questions that Education Administration colleagues are asking to