Written by Patty Rasmussen, womenetics.com | 
http://bit.ly/GX99xZ
Friday, July 15 2011 :: It’s said that experience is the best teacher. In the case of the forthcoming new book, A Culturally Proficient Society Begins in School, the authors – all former teachers – take that adage and multiply it, times three.
Highly accomplished and respected educators in California, Carmella Franco, Maria Ott, and Darline Robles, draw upon their similar life experiences to inform their thesis – that cultural proficiency must be addressed in schools in order to equitably educate and transform not only students but also teachers, communities, and the rest of society.
They have the credentials to make the case.
After many years in the classroom, Franco worked her way up to become superintendent of Whittier City School District, where she served for 12 years. After a brief retirement, she now serves as a state trustee, appointed by the California State Board of Education, to oversee Alisal Union Elementary School District, an academically failing district in Monterey County.
Ott also worked as a classroom teacher and made her way up the administration ladder, serving five years as the senior deputy superintendent to Roy Romer in the Los Angeles Unified School District. For the last six years, Ott has served as superintendent of the Rowland Unified School District, a district rich with ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic diversity.
Robles was the first woman and first Latina ever to serve as county superintendent of schools for the Los Angeles County Office of Education, the country’s most populous and diverse county, which served 80 school districts with more than two million students from preschool to high school. She left that position in August 2010 to become a professor at the University of Southern California charged with developing a master’s program for school leaders. In early 2011, Robles was named to President Obama’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
“We were having dinner one night commiserating over the challenges of the job,” recalls Franco. “We each had unique situations we were dealing with and overcoming, and we said, ‘You know, we need to write a book someday. We need to get these stories out there.’” That was five years ago. The book, published by Corwin Press, will be available in September, just as school gets back in session. And it’s not a stuffy textbook or academic treatise.
<<Carmella Franco
“I think anyone can pick up this book and find wisdom and practical knowledge.” says Franco. “It’s relevant for anyone who works with children, in particular children where there are high needs. And we all faced it, personally. We’re all Latina. My coauthors and I grew up in situations that weren’t always ideal. We didn’t have material things, yet our parents came through for us. That’s been the driving force. (Readers) can look at three careers and how they happened.”
“Cultural proficiency” is a term that’s been around awhile. Randall Lindsey, author of numerous books on the subject, defines it as “the policies and practices at the organizational level, and values and behaviors at the individual level, that enable effective cross-cultural interactions among employees, clients, and community.”
The business community often uses the phrase “diversity training,” and the two terms have been used interchangeably. But cultural proficiency goes deeper, attempting to transform or move the organization and individuals from viewing cultural differences as problematic to appreciating differences and learning how to interact effectively with other cultures.
There are few environments as diverse as a school system. They reflect the community in terms of race, ethnicity, economics, and ethos. In particular, the approach a classroom teacher takes when addressing those differences between students can last a lifetime.
Ott tells a story of being a first grader with the surname “Gutierrez.” The teacher wrote and pronounced it, “Gunzer.” Ott cried, confused that her teacher could be wrong. Not fluent in English when she started school, Ott remained intimidated about expressing herself correctly. It wasn’t until high school that a sensitive English teacher changed her perspective about the language, breaking down the barrier of fear by encouraging her, telling her she was a good communicator.
But the paradigm shift of cultural proficiency goes both ways. “Growing up, my center was my grandmother’s home,” says Robles. “We didn’t have lots of different ethnic groups coming to my grandmother’s home; it was pretty much our family and neighborhood friends. But I went to school with Caucasians, African-Americans, Japanese; I had friends who were biracial. School was where I experienced exposure to other cultures. For me, cultural proficiency did begin at school because, as in my case, the community (I lived in) and my home didn’t provide it.”
Leaders of school systems are instrumental in identifying the need to address cultural proficiency systemically and then supporting their principals and teachers in the transformation process.
Maria Ott>>
When Robles was hired as superintendent of schools in Salt Lake City, the system was bracing for major changes in its demographic. One of the first things she did was to provide professional development to the staff. “We were fortunate to get a grant and spent six years, three days a year, with full staff involvement, looking at what do we need to get ready for this (change),” she says. “Over time they realized they were missing (the cultural proficiency component). They were excellent teachers – excellent, if a certain population was in their classroom.”
Robles encouraged teachers to look at things as basic as homework practices. “If I know I’m going to have students in my classroom whose parents only speak a different language and I want the parents involved I’m going to have to give them homework where the parents can help,” she says. “I can’t just give them the workbook in English where no one can help them. So what can I do to set up that support for the student? Is there a homework activity at school with tutors available to help them? Could I change my homework assignment for this group of students so the parents can be involved verbally?”
Franco listed key components to achieving cultural proficiency, including setting high expectations for student achievement, encouraging parental involvement, having visionary school leadership, and keeping good teachers and getting rid of the bad ones. In her current role as a state appointed “guardian” for an academically poor school system, Franco sees heartening glimmers of hope.
“I believe that every parent can be a support and a role model,” she says. “For example, where I am as a trustee in the Salinas Valley, the children of the farm workers see their parents going to work every day. They’re seeing the value of hard work; that their parents will do everything they can to see that their family is provided for. That’s how they’re setting an example. They’ll come home after working in the fields all day and still go to a night meeting at the school. I’ve seen them, and we encourage that.”
Ott leads a system of more than 15,000 students; 63 percent are Latino. In 2008, the system began partnering with the Ball Foundation, a nonprofit organization that develops and funds literacy initiatives. “They’ve worked with us to build a system characterized by a collaborative learning style,” she says. “Collaboration is built upon an understanding of others and openness to hearing and learning from others, whoever that ‘other’ is. The core of their work has been to build a strong learning environment in our school district to promote literacy and produce exceptional outcomes for all children whatever their background.”
The collaboration component is also an essential ingredient in professional development and the advancement of the goal of cultural proficiency. “The day-to-day work in the classroom is challenging and often done in isolation,” says Ott. “In our system, we’ve built ‘communities of practice’ where teachers come together and work in teams. We believe collaboration is the foundation for adult learning that translates into the learning environment in our classrooms. Cultural proficiency is the lens through which we look at the organization and everything we do. What we do is important, but how we do it may be even more impactful.”
<< Darline Robles
Even in the enlightened 21st century, the concept of cultural proficiency can be a hard sell. “Based on their perceptions of others, people sometimes have ideas about student potential,” says Ott. She and her coauthors talk about the importance of starting the “courageous conversations,” opening up about attitudes regarding race, ethnicity, gender, and other ways people are labeled as it relates to student achievement and value.
“If it was as simple as putting a textbook in everyone’s hands and teaching our students the standards that our state requires, why do we continue to have the gaps in achievement?” Ott asks. “Why do we continue to face the very painful issue of why certain segments of our U.S. population are not fully participating in society and are not getting the education they need to be productive and successful?”
Despite the sometimes contentious political climate permeating many institutions including education, Ott is optimistic. “I think that the country is more ready for the conversation than they’ve ever been,” she says. “Maybe, because of our fiscal crisis, we’re aware of our vulnerabilities and want to make sure our citizens are succeeding, beginning with the youngest ones going to school.”
Robles cites a more pragmatic reason to embrace cultural proficiency. “Our economic future depends on it,” she says. “Think about our pocketbooks. If doing it because it’s right doesn’t cut it, economically, we have to do it. The world is shrinking. If I’m not able to work with diverse groups, different styles, this country isn’t going to make it.”
Patty Rasmussen is an Atlanta-based freelance writer. She spent 12 years covering the Atlanta Braves for ChopTalk Magazine and has written for Major League Baseball publications, Georgia Trend magazine, WebMD, and Blue Ridge Country.
●●smf: I do not know Carmella Franco, but I do know Dr. Ott and Dr. Robles – and they are both impressive women and powerful educators. They have taught me things and I’m a challenge …easily distracted by sparkly, shiny things and anything other than what I should be doing.. I should be doing something other than writing this.
I am looking forward to reading this book.
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