Multicultural Awareness
Cultural Definitions versus
Stereotypes
&
APA Division 16: Guides for
working with diverse students
Providing Psychological
Services to Racially,
Ethnically, Culturally, and
Linguistically Diverse
Individuals in the Schools
ROGERS, INGRAHAM,
BURSZTYN, CAJIGASSEGREDO, ESQUIVEL, HESS,
NAHARI, and LOPEZ
Six Major Domains of Service
Delivery
 Legal and Ethical Issues
 School Culture, Educational Policy and
Institutional Advocacy
 Psychoeducational Assessment and Related
Issues
 Academic, Therapeutic and Consultative
Interventions
 Working with Interpreters
 Research
Legal and Ethical Issues
 Know the legal precedents and case law.
 Know legislation that protects civil rights
 Know about immigration laws, residency,
citizenship, and migrant families.
 Know legislation and litigation regarding
bilingual education and (ESL) and the
effectiveness of bilingual education/ ESL
 Are advocates for culturally diverse youths
 Know to provide school-based services that
will positively impact student growth.
Meyer v. Nebraska (1923)
 Supreme Court Decision
 It is the parent’s duty to educate their
child.
 It is a violation of the 14th Amendment
to forbid the teaching of foreign
language in the school.
Brown v. Board of Education
(1954)
 Supreme Court Decision
 Racial discrimination in public education
is unconstitutional.
 Rights to students are embedded in due
process and equal protection under 14th
Amendment
Hobson v. Hansen (1967)
 Supreme Court Decision
 Schools cannot discriminate on the basis of
race or socio-economic status
 “de facto segregation by race and class, it
should be clear that if whites and Negroes, or
rich and poor, are to be consigned to
separate schools … the minimum the
Constitution will require and guarantee is that
for their objectively measurable aspects these
schools be run on the basis of real equality”
Mills v. District of Columbia
(1971)
 Supreme Court Decision
 All children are to be provided publiclysupported, alternative educational services if
necessary for them to be educated.
 Though all seven children were African
American, this case represented all children
with disabilities, not just minority children
with disabilities
Guadalupe v. Tempe (1978)
 U.S. Court Of Appeals, 9th Circuit
 Schools must provide bilingual-bicultural
education to students based on rights
give in the Civil Rights Act and the
Equal Education Opportunity Act.
 Only applied to 9th Circuit area schools
(because is not a Supreme Court
decision)
Johnson v San Francisco (1971)
 U.S. Court Of Appeals, 9th Circuit
 Schools are prohibited from planned
segregation of minority students as well as
acts resulting in unplanned segregation.
 de jure segregation:not statutorily but
manipulation of student attendance zones,
school site selection and a neighborhood
school policy, created or maintained racially
or ethnically
Lau v. Nichols (1974)
 Supreme Court Decision
 Children must receive instruction in
their primary language if they cannot
meaningfully participate in an Englishonly classroom.
 “students who do not understand
English are effectively foreclosed from
any meaningful education.”
Diana v. State Board of
Education (1970)
 Diana addressed overrepresentation of nonEnglish speaking students in M.R. classrooms.
 When first tested, her I.Q. (in English-only)
was 30.
 When re-tested, her I.Q. (in her native
language) was 80.
 Result: Testing must be done in the child’s
native language.
Aspira v Board of Education
(1976)
 U.S. District Court: Southern District Of New
York Court Decision
 Hispanic students and their parents are
entitled to bilingual education of some sort
when needed for the child to be educated.
 Lau v. Nichols provided these rights and the
Board of Education in New York was found in
contempt for not following through.
Hudson v. Rowley (1982)
 Supreme Court Decision
 States need not provide additional services
above and beyond those needed to
adequately meet the child’s educational
needs.
 Sign-language interpreter not to be provided
for a deaf student who is receiving an
adequate education (based on school
records) to meet her educational needs
Larry P. v. Wilson Riles (1987)
 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
 15 years to resolve
 Moratorium placed that all IQ testing for
purposes of placement was not allowed.
Moratorium was lifted on all but testing for
mental retardation.
 IQ tests cannot be used in California to place
children in classes for mental retardation
because of perceived racial discrimination on
the tests.
Plyler vs. Doe (1982)
 Prohibit public schools from denying
FAPE to a child regardless of immigrant
status.
 Undocumented students are required to
attend school.
 Schools are PROHIBITED from
communicating with INS without a court
order/ subpoena.
History: Parent’s Rights
 Before legislation & litigation many schools
forbid students with disabilities from
attending
 Most early attempts to educate disabled
children were from White parents, minority
parents were still trying to get an equal
education for their children.
 Parental advocacy for their children took
place in the form of litigation and lobbying
History: Minority Parents
 Prior to desegregation, minority families were
considered active in their children’s schools.
Many felt unwelcome in their child’s new
schools.
 Minority parents advocated for their children
to receive an equal education by arguing
against segregation (intentional and de jure).
 Many felt that this segregation continued by
the overrepresentation of their children in
SPED placement
Group Project: NASP Ethics
 Go to the ethics section of the NASP
website.
 http://nasponline.org/standards/2010standards.aspx
 As a group, determine which ethical guidelines
are described that specifically apply to school
psychologists.
 Be prepared to present these to the class.
School Culture, Educational
Policy & Institutional Advocacy
 Take a proactive stance to enhance the
quality of services provided to all individuals
 Work toward increasing institutional
understanding and acceptance of culturally
and linguistically diverse individuals
 Inform and educate school staff about cultural
and behavioral patterns of culturally and
linguistically diverse populations
 Families need to be informed of their rights
and are meaningfully engaged in the
discussions affecting their children.
School Culture, Educational
Policy & Institutional Advocacy
 Examine individual referrals w/in the context
of the systemic patterns of how ethnically
diverse students are treated at that school.
 Rule out systematic factors as the cause of
problems before doing an evaluation or
intervention directly with the student.
 Provide interventions to help schools that
inappropriately identify diverse students.
 Help develop primary interventions to aid all
learners in the school.
 Help link diverse families to the school.
Psychoeducational
Assessment & Related Issues
 Assessment is a comprehensive process
which
 impact of socio-cultural, environmental, political,
experiential and language-based factors
 may or may not include standardized testing
 Consider cultural sources of information
about students and search for culture specific
confirming data.
 Acknowledge the impact of second
language/culture acquisition on the cognitive
and socio-emotional development
Psychoeducational
Assessment & Related Issues
 Psychologists have expertise in conducting
informal and formal language assessments
and in differentiating a language disorder
from second language acquisition
 Psychologists have expertise in assessing the
student’s biculturalism
 Psychologists incorporate cultural and
linguistic information in written reports
Psychoeducational
Assessment & Related Issues
 Understand the limitations and pitfalls
associated with the prescribed use of
standardized instruments not normed or
validated with the population being served.
 Well versed in the psychometric properties of
all instruments that they use.
 Able to adapt existing assessment tools when
necessary and report any deviations from
standardization.
 Keep abreast of new an better versions of
tests devised for diverse students.
Academic, Therapeutic and
Consultative Interventions
 Know research regarding the impact of
cultural, ethnic and linguistic factors on the
academic achievement of diverse students
 Understand the needs of diverse children in
terms of curriculum and instruction.
 Develop expertise in multicultural counseling.
 Demonstrate an awareness of an individual’s
worldviews and sociopolitical experiences
including the negative effects of racism,
oppression and stereotyping.
Academic, Therapeutic and
Consultative Interventions
 Consider involvement of trained interpreters,
community consultants, extended family
members.
 Implement culturally sensitive approaches
that are researched and acceptable to the
child or family
 Demonstrate culturally sensitive verbal and
nonverbal communication skills.
 Aware of own cultural background and biases
 Knowledge of minority family structures,
hierarchies, values and beliefs.
Academic, Therapeutic and
Consultative Interventions
 Understand relocation and migration and its
effect on children and families.
 Understand the process of acquiring a
second culture and its impact on the
development and adjustment.
 Understand the impact of poverty on physical
and mental health.
 Aware of different responses to interventions
 Understand the specific coping skills and
support systems available to culturally
diverse children and families.
Working with Interpreters
 Psychologists seek the services of
interpreters only when necessary and when
other alternatives have been sought out but
are not available.
 Work with trained interpreters familiar with the
student’s culture and regional area of origin.
 Know how to train interpreters when needed.
 Knowledge of the skills needed by qualified
interpreters
 Aware of problems inherent in the process of
translation.
Working with Interpreters
 Knowledge of the psychological impact of
using interpreters during assessment and
intervention activities.
 Knowledge and skills in interviewing and
assessing individuals through interpreters.
 Examine data obtained through interpreters
with extreme caution and acknowledge the
limitations of such data.
 Assessment results obtained through
interpreters are described as such and are
reported qualitatively.
Research
 Informed about quantitative and
qualitative research techniques.
 Consider the social, linguistic and
cultural context in which research takes
place
 Psychologists work to eliminate bias
when conducting research.
Research
 Insure that the informed consent of all
research participants is secured and has
been elicited in the language the family is
most comfortable with.
 Skilled in program evaluation to determine
the appropriateness and adequacy of
instructional programs specifically aimed at
diverse youngsters.
Cultural Definitions Vs.
Stereotypes
Stereotypes
 Stereotypes are considered to be




Group concept of one social group about another
Often used in a negative or prejudicial sense
Frequently used to justify discriminatory behavior.
May express “folk wisdom” about social reality.
 Stereotype production is based on:




Simplification
Exaggeration or distortion
Generalization
Presentation of cultural attributes as being
'natural'.
Wikipedia, 2006
Cultural Definitions
 Should be scientifically based.
 Represent many (but probably not all).
 Provide a general idea of a culture




History
Beliefs
Daily Lives
Norms
 Are objectively determined and reported
(neither positive or negative)
Psychs Need to Know…
 How families are organized in different
cultures.
 Educational systems in other locations.
 What recent events may cause distress in a
child or family.
 Languages spoken by the child.
 Gestures, greetings, etc.
 Views toward healthcare or psych services.
 Anything else on Div. 16 Guidelines
CultureGrams
 You can get much of the information that you
need from Culture Grams
(www.culturegrams.com).
 At UNLV we access Culture Grams by:
http://www.library.unlv.edu/search/eralpha.php#C
 Note: Not all that you need to know can be
accessed here. Sometimes you will need
alternate sources.
 Natives from that Country
 Current Newspapers
 Literature Reviews, etc.
Discussion Project:
CultureGrams
Use at least one of these scenarios to discuss information
on CultureGrams in terms of psychological, family, and
educational issues.
 Scenario 1:
 You have a female
child from Peru
 Scenario 2:
 You have a male
child from Saudi
Arabia
 Scenario 3:
 You have a female
child from Canada
 Scenario 4:
 You have a male
child from Chad