Culturally Proficient
Leadership Practices
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
Randall B. Lindsey
November 2&3, 2009
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Session Purposes:
 Cultural Proficiency as leaders’ personal
work,
 Introduce and practice use of strategies
and activities, and
 Guide use of ‘Manual for School Leaders.’
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Checking-in Activity
 Give one, Get one
 Complete the handout as requested
 On cue from me, find another person to
share 1 finding
 Record that person’s learning into your handout
 On cue from me, you will have 2 more
discussions
 Group discussion
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In appreciation of the gifts from:
Terry Cross
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‘We’
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Raymond Terrell
Kikanza Nuri
Delores B. Lindsey
Randall B. Lindsey
Brenda CampbellJones
Franklin CampbellJones
Laraine Roberts
Richard S. Martinez
 Stephanie Graham
 R. Chris Westphal, Jr.
 Cynthia Jew
 Linda Jungwirth
 Jarvis Pahl
 Keith Myatt
 Michelle Karns
 Diana Stephens
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Cultural Proficiency
 It is an inside-out approach and the theme
for our sessions
 It is about being aware of how we - as individuals
and as organizations - work with others
 It is about being aware of how we respond to
those different from us
 It is a worldview; it is the manner in which
we lead our lives
 It cannot be mandated; it can be nurtured
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Pre-conditions for doing this work
 School leaders have to do their own work first.
 Each leader has to think deeply about the
guiding principles and essential elements.
 Cultural Proficiency is a journey with our
colleagues, not done to them.
 We begin where people are, not necessarily
where we would like them to be.
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Culturally Proficiency is to:
 Reframe our work, not add to it.
 Be embedded into our processes:
 School Leadership teams
 PLCs or SLCs
 Department or grade level meetings
 Book studies
 Professional development sessions
 Faculty meetings
 Take a 3-5 year horizon
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Margaret Wheatley
A reading from:
‘Turning to One Another’
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Cultural Proficiency: A
Manual for School Leaders
 Scan pages 4 to 7
 Note descriptions of the tools of
Cultural Proficiency
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The Cultural Proficiency tools
 The Barriers
 Four caveats that assist in responding effectively
to resistance to change
 The Guiding Principles
 Underlying values of the approach
 The Continuum
 Language for describing both healthy and nonproductive policies, practices and individual
behaviors
 The Essential Elements
 Five behavioral standards for measuring, and
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planning for, growth toward cultural proficiency
Cultural Proficiency: A
Manual for School Leaders
 Scan pages 98 to 108
 Pay particular attention to the
underlying core values in the Guiding
Principles
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The Barriers
 The presumption of
entitlement
 Systems of oppression
 Unawareness of the
need to adapt
 Resistance to change
The barriers to
cultural proficiency
are systemic
privilege, oppression,
and resistance to
change
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The Guiding Principles
 Culture is a
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The Guiding Principles
predominant force
People are served in are the core values,
varying degrees by the the foundation upon
dominant culture
which the approach is
Acknowledge group
built
identities
Diversity within
cultures is important
Respect unique
cultural needs
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Guiding Principles, con’t
 The best of both world enhances the capacity of
all
 The family, as defined by the culture, is the
primary system of support in the education of
children
 School systems must recognize that marginalized
groups have to be at least bicultural
‘Community-centric’ vs ‘School-centric’
 Schools must recognize and adjust to effects of
historical oppression - over representation in special
education and under representation in gifted programs
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Cultural Proficiency: A
Manual for School Leaders
 Telling Your Story, page 169
 Please organize into groups of 4
people from diverse backgrounds ethnicity, gender, job assignments, etc
 Choose one of the cells and relate a
story to your colleagues
 We will debrief in the larger group
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The Continuum
 Cultural
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destructiveness
Cultural incapacity
Cultural blindness
Cultural
pre-competence
Cultural competence
Cultural proficiency
There are six points
along the cultural
proficiency continuum
that indicate unique
ways of perceiving
and responding to
differences.
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Downward Spiral Conversation
Incapacity
Destructiveness
Blindness
Pre-Competence
Proficiency
Competence
Upward Spiral Conversation
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Words often used to describe some groups and
implied terms for others:
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Inferior
Culturally deprived
Culturally disadvantaged
Deficient
Different
Diverse
Third world
Minority
Underclass
Poor
Unskilled workers
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Superior
Privileged
Advantaged
Normal
Similar
Uniform
First world
Majority
Upper class
Middle class
Leaders
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Cultural Proficiency helps us to move
FROM TOLERANCE FOR DIVERSITY
Destructiveness - Blindness
Focus on “them” and their
inadequacies
TO TRANSFORMATION FOR EQUITY
Precompetence - Proficiency
The focus on “us” and our practices
Esteem, respect, adapt
Tolerate, assimilate, acculturate
Demographics viewed as challenge
Demographics inform policy and
practice
Manage, leverage, facilitate conflict
Prevent, mitigate, avoid cultural
dissonance and conflict
Stakeholders expect or help others to
assimilate
Information added to existing policies,
procedures, practices.
Stakeholders adapt to meet needs of
others
Information integrated into
policies, procedures, practices.
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Essential Elements for
Cultural Competence:
1. Assess Culture
2. Value Diversity
3. Manage the
Dynamics of
Difference
4. Adapt to Diversity
5. Institutionalize
Cultural
Knowledge
The Essential
Elements of cultural
proficiency provide
the standards for
individual behavior
and organizational
practices
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Cultural Proficiency
Conceptual Framework
 Manual, page 60
 Read
 Table conversation
Connections?
Questions of clarification?
 General Discussion
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Systemic Tension
The Barriers are forces
within people and
organizations to resist
change and foster a
sense of privilege and
entitlement that inform
Destructiveness,
Incapacity & Blindness
The Guiding Principles
are the core values,
the foundation upon
which the approach is
built, that inform
Precompetence,
Competence &
Proficiency
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Paired Fluency
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Cultural Proficiency: A
Manual for School Leaders
 Cultural Competence Self Assessment
 Complete activity on pages 295-296
 Individual, small group and large
group considerations
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The Achievement Gap
Exists when specific groups of students
do not achieve in school at the same
level. Achievement gaps may correlate
with race, ethnicity, family income
level, language background,
ability/disability status, and gender.
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What we know,
but act like we don’t
 Correlation is not causation:
– Wide achievement gaps on state and national
assessments and attainment gaps in high school
and college completion exist. But poverty and
race do not determine destiny in education.
 Opportunity gaps give rise to achievement gaps:
– Low achievement and attainment rates persist
because we continue to provide poor and
students of color with less of everything research
says makes a difference.
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Revisiting Rubrics
 Study the Assessment & Accountability
Rubric
 Locate your school/district for each of the 5
Essential Elements
 Locate where you believe your teacher
colleagues would place your district
 Guiding Question:Within our current school
processes, where and how do we move the
conversation and decisions that will result in
movement towards proficiency?
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Revisiting Breakthrough
Questions
 Read handout
 With 1 other partner, respond to items in
Table 1.2
 Discussion: Questions, observations,
insights?
 Return to partner discussion, complete Table
1.3
 Discussion: How do these activities inform
intentional movement along the Continuum?
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States of Mind/Essential
Elements
 Each table will work with 1 of the
essential elements and respond to the
prompts
 Chart and post responses - 20 minutes
 Carousel sharing
 Discussion
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Consideration of
Data
 What achievement data do you want to examine?
 How is your school/district doing with regard to
special needs students?
 How is your district/school doing with regard to
language-learning students?
 What access data do you want to collect and
analyze - e.g., special needs identification,
attendance, suspensions, expulsions?
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Culturally Proficient leaders ask:
 In what ways do we adapt to students who
have a different culture, different set of
values, different behavior patterns,
different languages, and different learning
styles?
 Maybe the deeper question is: Different
from what or whom?
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Voices that Resonate
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Other Cultures
The world in which you were born
is just one model of reality.
Other cultures are not
failed attempts at being you:
They are unique manifestations
of the human spirit
Wade Davis, Anthropologist
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