On
March 15, 2005, the Network of Demonstration Districts participants
reconvened to focus on the role of leadership in the areas of of cultural
competency, and K-12 literacy. The day concluded with "Open Space"
discussions of how the learnings of the institute could be implemented
in the home districts, communities, schools, and classrooms.
Day
1
- Welcome | Leadership
| Superintendents' Panel
| District Team Meetings
Day 2
- Cultural Competency | K-12
Literacy | Open Space Discussions
Cultural
Competence, Diversity, and Student Success, by Kikanza Nuri
Robins and Randall B. Lindsey
The
presenters explained that Cultural Proficiency is a mind set,
a way of being; the use of specific tools; policies &
practices within organizations; values and behaviors of individuals.
|
The
Tools of Cultural Proficiency:
-
The
Continuum
- Language
for describing both healthy and non-productive policies,
practices & individual behaviors
-
The
Essential Elements
- Behavioral
standards for measuring, & planning for, growth toward
cultural proficiency
-
The
Barriers
- Caveats
that assist in responding effectively to resistance to
change
-
The
Guiding Principles
- Underlying
values of the approach
|
Kikanza
discussed what research says about teacher cultural proficiency
and narrowing the achievement gap. Click
here for a PDF download of points.
|
The
Continuum:
There
are six points along the cultural proficiency continuum that
indicate unique ways of perceiving & responding to differences.
-
Cultural
destructiveness
-
Cultural
incapacity
-
Cultural
blindness
-
Cultural
pre-competence
-
Cultural
competence
- Cultural
proficiency
|
 |
The
Essential Elements:
The
Essential Elements of cultural proficiency provide the standards
for individual behavior & organizational practices.
- Assessing
Culture (naming the differences)
- Valuing
Diversity (claiming the differences)
- Managing
the Dynamics of Difference (reframing the differences)
- Adapting
to Diversity (training about the differences)
- Institutionalizing
Cultural Knowledge (changing for differences)
|
K-12 Literacy:
A Key to Closing the Achievement Gap, by Tom Henry and Betty
Shoemaker
Day
1
- Welcome | Leadership
| Superintendents' Panel
| District Team Meetings
Day 2
- Cultural Competency | K-12
Literacy | Open Space Discussions
Back
to top
Open Space
Discussions
Tom
Ruhl and Tom Henry call out the topics partipants have listed
on wall post-its, assign District 4J administrators as group
facilitators, and people choose which topic interests them
for discussion.
|
•
Finding time & resources
• How do we engage parent, community, & school board
members in this important work?
• How do you get a school to take ownership (& act)
and make literacy everyone's responsibility?
• To date only a few are at the tabale engaged in the
work (with a risk of burn-out). How do we engage others to
broaden the effort?
• How to engage colleagues in discussions tomorrow that
we didn't have yesterday?
• Improving performance/testing of low SES populations.
• What are some "brass taks/hand-on" methods
to offset those responsibilities negatively impacted by 2nd
order change?
-- Culture
-- Communications
-- Order
-- Input
|
Click
here to download a PDF format of how the Open Space process
works.
Here
and below are pictures of the various discussion groupd in
process.
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Day
1
- Welcome | Leadership
| Superintendents' Panel
| District Team Meetings
Day 2
- Cultural Competency | K-12
Literacy | Open Space Discussions
Back
to top
Eugene School District 4J