The Cultural Proficiency Journey

Moving Beyond Ethical Barriers Toward Profound School Change

Franklin L. CampbellJones, Brenda CampbellJones, Randall B. Lindsey

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781452271187
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Multicultural Education

Because equitable education for every child is a moral imperative!

Providing an excellent education to every child is truly a moral imperative, requiring profound change by organizations and individuals. Recognizing that true change begins from within, this compelling book shows how educators can develop a deeper personal understanding of cultural difference and advocate for equitable learning in their classrooms, schools, and districts. Readers will find:

• An approach to cultural proficiency as a framework for moral action that is grounded in leading thought on ethics and organizational development
• Reflective exercises for individual study, group learning, and collaborative work
• Richly detailed case studies that present challenging dilemmas for critical self-reflection and group discussions

Part I

Cultural Proficiency and Morality

1	Oakland Hills

It has been four years since Barbara Campbell left the position of superintendent of Maple View School District. Her work as a consultant to districts throughout the country is personally rewarding. The joy of helping others nourishes her in ways she had not imagined possible during her climb up leadership ranks in the school system. Today, she carefully reviews files sent to her by Eduardo Soriano, superintendent from a nearby school district. The phone rings. It is Dr. Soriano.

Barbara:	Eduardo, I received several files from your office. I am struck by the power of the mission statement.
Eduardo:	Yes, it is a powerful mission. We developed it based on the Guiding Principles of Cultural Proficiency. It took a collaborative effort to develop it.
	It was a real struggle for members of the community, the board, teachers, students, and administrators to pull things together.
Barbara:	I can tell from reading that you put a lot of work into the effort to make it happen.
Eduardo:	(Speaking quickly, on edge) Well, it is a great mission statement. It is something to be proud of, but making it a reality has proven to take a little bit more work than actually crafting the statement.
Barbara:	Mmm … I see. What seems to be the problem, Eduardo?
Eduardo:	It is very difficult to put my finger on just where the problem lies. There seem to be several of them, not just one.
	One thing is for certain: what we say is our mission is not always consistent with what we do. What we say we want to do seems to be in conflict with what we actually do.
	I do not think we are walking our talk. It is as if we are working against ourselves sometimes.
	I sent you a file about one of our high schools. I think you will get a flavor of what I mean after you read it.
Barbara:	Okay, Eduardo. I have it. I will download it this morning, read it, and then we can discuss it in detail when we meet next week.

After hanging up the phone, Barbara ponders the anxiety in Eduardo’s voice. Dr. Soriano had worked his way through the ranks in the Oakland Hills School District. He began his career as a fifth-grade teacher. After five years, he was transferred to the middle school to be the Dean of Students. After a few more years, he became assistant principal, a position he held for six years. His status was eventually elevated to principal, which he served for three years. He was then encouraged by top-level administration to pursue a central-office position, Director of Special Services. He held that position for only two years prior to his current rank as superintendent.

Some in the central-office administration questioned his rapid ascent to the top of the leadership ranks. He had managed to land the top spot of superintendent ahead of two other administrators. Both had worked in the district five years beyond Eduardo’s tenure. In fact, they had each held the position of assistant superintendent for two years prior to Eduardo’s coming to the central office. Chatter amongst many in the Oakland Hills School District was that either of these two administrators was in line to assume the title of superintendent. The School Board thought otherwise and recruited Eduardo instead. Cautiously, he accepted. Now, he called asking for Barbara’s help. He wanted her to perform an audit of the system to inform the district on how well they were progressing toward implementing cultural proficiency. The audit would offer him an objective perspective as to what might be happening in the district.

Barbara knew too well the challenges involved in implementing cultural proficiency systemwide into a school district. She led the charge to make cultural proficiency a high-leverage strategy in the Maple View School District where she was formerly superintendent of schools. After the call ended, Barbara once again looked at Oakland Hills’ mission statement.

OAKLAND HILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT MISSION

We strive for personal academic excellence in a safe and caring environment, which allows us to build and value relationships while honoring our cultural and social diversity in a newly developing global community.

We believe …

1. Every student learns in an academic culture that allows them to be successful at their own pace and allows educators to build on their strengths.
2. There is a dominant culture and it serves our staff, students, and community in varying degrees.
3. Developing a relationship of trust with students within the dynamics of culture leads to student success.
4. Teaching comes from the heart. The best teachers are called to their profession and all good teachers work as if they are called.
5. Educators must be supported emotionally, academically, and financially as they meet the inherent potential of every student and adapt to their students’ changing needs.
6. Educators, school staff, parents, and students contribute to making students feel a part of an important community.
7. For decisions at schools, meeting student needs is the determining factor.
8. Education is not limited to academic settings, but is a valued gift also offered by other institutions or cultural factors as family, spirituality or religion, and community.
9. Public schools will successfully educate every child when people in all social and economic classes are valued in society.
10. Education is a major socializing force in creating an inclusive society that is based on equality of rights, sense of purpose, human dignity, justice, and hope.

Therefore, we will continually:

• Critique and assess the prevailing school culture in order to create culture that serves each student and staff member well.
• Acknowledge individual and group identities and needs within our school and community cultures.
• Recognize the importance of the vast diversity within cultures, as well as acknowledge the diversity that exists between cultures.

“It was a good mission statement,” Barbara thought to herself. It had all the qualities needed to foster a culturally competent environment. She reflected upon her experience leading the effort to create a mission statement at her former school district and imagined how things must have been for the Oakland Hills community. They tussled with every word and sentence throughout the entire process. They were careful to embed multiple perspectives from the entire community to capture everyone’s values and beliefs. It was a great achievement. It set in motion a vision for providing the best education for each child. But what was going wrong in the Oakland Hills School District? What was the cause of the anxiety in Eduardo Soriano’s voice?

Barbara set the mission statement aside. She retrieved an article in the file from the local newspaper, the Oakland Hills Harbinger. It was a scathing indictment of one of the district’s schools. Titled “Educate or Incarcerate,” the article highlighted the divide in the Oakland Hills community along racial lines dating back to court-ordered school desegregation in the 1960s. As local residents resisted school integration, it was a difficult time for the community. African American schools were closed down, forcing children from these communities to attend what were once White-only schools located in White communities. The district bused the children into the schools. Although the event of school integration transpired, social mixing along racial lines was a more difficult achievement. Overt segregationist behaviors transformed into subtle underground practices. Although children attended the same campus occupying the same space, they tended to group themselves along racial lines. This observation was most prevalent in the higher grade levels. In the local high schools, it was common for a White student to attend school and not interact with a single African American student the entire day. In fact, it was possible for that same student to spend his entire high school career without an interracial social experience. The same was true for African American students.

This self-imposed social segregation by students was sanctioned by the school’s institutional practices creating student traffic patterns for academic coursework tracked along racial and ethnic lines. Entire floors and wings of the school building were considered Black, White, Latino, or for English Language Learners (ELL) based upon the number of students taking classes in the area. Many Latino and Asian students, particularly newcomers to the school, were placed in the ELL wing specially designed to help them gain language acquisition toward English proficiency. On the other hand, advanced placement and honors classes were primarily attended by White students with a few Asian students and an occasional African American or Latino student in attendance. African American, Latino, Native American and/or First Nation,¹ and Asian students new to the school occupied most remedial courses.

When looking at the Oakland Hills community, the same patterns existed. For all practical purposes, the students followed the lead of their parents. Neighborhoods were segregated as well as religious institutions. This became the way things were in Oakland Hills. Defacto racial segregation was woven into the fabric of the community culture.

However, with the recent boom in housing developments, the old tensions had risen above ground once again. The previously mentioned newspaper article exacerbated the situation. Its central theme pointed to a demographic trend toward increased numbers of residents of color moving into the area. The article raised questions as to whether this change might affect the “standing” of the local schools. Since a great number of Oakland Hills’ graduates attended college beyond high school, the article raised doubts as to whether that tradition might continue, given that many “minorities tend” to be incarcerated throughout the country. It cited data showing the high incarceration rate of Blacks and Latinos. “These populations tend to need extra attention so as not to overly use resources in the community,” the article concluded.

After the article’s appearance, a series of letters and e-mails circulated throughout the community. A letter to the editor written by a long-time resident was printed in the local paper’s opinion section, Voice of the People.

Regarding, Educate or Incarcerate, it is clear that things are changing in the Oakland Hills community and they may not always be for the bett...