Culturally proficient people manifest 5 key characteristics (as adapted from Nuri Robins,
Lindsey, Lindsey and Terrell’s Culturally Proficient Instruction):
1) They can describe and understand their own culture and the cultural norms of the
college, and who recognizes how their culture and the culture of the college
affects others and impacts those whose culture is different.
2) They value differences as manifestations of diversity instead of inappropriate
responses to the environment, accepts that each culture considers some values and
behaviors more important than others and seeks opportunities to work with and
learn from people who are different from them.
3) They understand the effect of historic distrust on present-day interactions, realizes
that others can be misjudged if seen in the context of your culture and learns
effective ways to resolve conflicts among people whose culture and values differ
from theirs.
4) They changes what and how they teach and or communicate in response to the
differences that are present among their students or colleagues and align practices
and programs with the guiding principles of cultural proficiency.
5) They intentionally develop skills for cross-cultural communication.