In this standing-room only
session, featured presenter Ron Walker, Executive Director, Coalition of
Essential Schools Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC) addressed the challenges
around understanding and embedding cultural proficiency in our schools.
·
How are school
policies supportive of cultural proficiency?
o
Is there full
inclusion and awareness? We think and say there is, but there is not.
o
Do you have a
cultural proficiency policy? Every policy that comes to the table needs the
lens of cultural proficiency.
·
How are we as
a state and country re-examining discipline?
o
The right
approach is restorative justice including the culturally responsible approach
of a Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) protocol.
·
Panel member
Kharis McLaughlin, Director of Diversity in the Cambridge Public Schools, spoke
to the language “all children.” The state says we can’t disaggregate data down
to individual students but she disagrees. Even if there is one student of
color, what if that student isn’t doing well? It’s not racist to look at each
child because the goal should be to lead students to rigor and high standards.
We shouldn’t use the term “sub-group.” If a student is doing well, we can’t
replicate that to help others. We can’t support underperformance or replicate
success without data analysis.
·
We can measure
ourselves using the “Cultural Proficiency Continuum,” also known as the
“Cultural Competence Continuum.” It looks like this:
o
Cultural destruction:
destroys groups due to their culture (e.g. Holocaust, slavery, Trail of Tears).
o
Cultural
incapacity: doesn’t destroy, but doesn’t improve.
o
Cultural
blindness: fails to recognize, disregards, or ignores cultures.
o
Cultural
pre-competence: good intentions and emerging, but need to learn more.
o
Cultural
competence: appreciate all children and all communities.
o
Cultural
proficiency: no one really meets this standard since it involves policy,
practice, attitudes, and behaviors. We all aspire to this.
·
Do a cultural
scan. Be conscious. Notice and respect people at all times in all places (e.g.
at Market Basket, the man packing grocery bags was from a different culture.
Asking “how do you pronounce your name?” shows respect.) Ask yourself “Where am
I and where do I want to be?”
·
Is poverty an
overlay question? The data of poor white boys is not that different from poor
black and Latino boys.
·
The parent
piece is not about bake sales. Parents are allies. They inform policy and act
as liaisons.
·
Reflect on
what all students should be able to know, understand, and do.
·
Nothing supersedes
teacher quality and a teacher’s belief that all students can learn. High
expectations for all is the key.
http://www.coseboc.org/
@COSEBOC
