Culturally Proficient Inclusive Schools

As schools become more diverse with students of differing abilities and needs, this self-reflective and action-oriented guide helps create and support more inclusive schools and classrooms that intentionally educate all students.

Are you doing all you can to improve teaching and learning? Culturally proficient instruction is the result of an inside-out journey of teaching and learning during which you explore your values and behaviors while evaluating the policies and practices of your workplace. The journey deepens your understanding of yourself and your community of practice. In the newest version of their best-selling book, the authors invite you to reflect on how you engage with your students and your colleagues as a community of learners. The third edition features a case study to show cultural proficiency in practice and: An updated discussion of standards-based education guidelines A conceptual framework for the tools of cultural proficiency New language for understanding the microaggressions of dominant cultures An integrated guide for use with study groups Each chapter contains reflective activities and group work conducive to collaborative professional development. Culturally Proficient Instruction is invaluable for anyone dedicated to creating an environment in which all learners can succeed.

This powerful third edition offers fresh approaches that enable school leaders to engage in effective interactions with students, educators, and the communities they serve.

Create inclusive educational environments that benefit ALL learners! As schools become more diverse with students of differing abilities and needs, this self-reflective and action-oriented guide helps you create and support more inclusive schools and classrooms that intentionally educate all students. Using the Five Essential Elements of Cultural Proficiency as a roadmap, this book presents: Students’ learning differences as just that – differences rather than deficits Strategies that show you how to break though the common barriers to culturally proficient and inclusive schooling Assessments that gauge your awareness and show you how to best serve every student’s needs

Why a new edition of Culturally Proficient Coaching? Why now, especially? Because several polarizing years later, there’s even greater urgency for us all to critically examine our attitudes, beliefs, and practices when working with students who look or sound “different.” No matter how broadly you define coach, no matter which coaching model you follow, this is the resource to help you get started. With the first edition, the authors’ big goal was to shift our thinking in service of standards-based teaching and leading, and equitable interactions that support all students achieving at highest levels. Now, with this second edition, the authors add a third goal: to encourage a more holistic mindset and expanded contextual uses. New features include: Enhanced research on the effectiveness of coaching in educational settings New data on response to implicit bias and microaggressions--subtle and unintentional, yet destructive, forms of discrimination that continue to marginalize Refinement and updating of the Tools of Cultural Proficiency, which enable you to provide equitable life-affirming experiences to all cultural groups Expanded models of Culturally Proficient Coaching Conversations A special section on crafting Breakthrough Questions to shift entrenched mindsets and barriers to Cultural Proficiency By design, Culturally Proficient Coaching is an intentional, inside-out approach that mediates a person’s thinking toward values, beliefs, and behaviors that enable effective cross-cultural interactions and equitable learning environments. Here’s your opportunity to serve as that expert and trusted mediator, boosting educators' cultural confidence and consciousness, while honing their coaching skills. "We owe it to ourselves and to our children to productively embrace and engage diversity, with all of its tensions, for the sustainability of humanity. These authors have given us the invitation, the road map, and the call to action. the embarkment is up to each one of us." --Carolyn M. McKanders, Director Emeritus Center for Adaptive Schools and Thinking Collaborative

Integrating the four Tools of Cultural Proficiency with the PLC framework, this guide provides school leaders with practical strategies for building equity-focused PLCs to help all students achieve.

Our students’ futures depend upon it: If we’re to guarantee equitable access and improved academic outcomes for our historically underserved students, then we must first confront the deeply rooted biases and practices that for far too long have limited them. That’s where Cultural Proficiency: A Manual for School Leaders has already benefited tens of thousands of schools leaders--and the students, teachers, and communities they serve. Cultural Proficiency helps us all establish a mindset and worldview for effectively describing and responding to inequities. Its inside-outside approach to leadership is grounded in the assumption that honest introspection is a requirement to leading equity-driven change. And now, with updated content, new case studies, expanded vignettes, new activities and study guides, and an updated matrix, this fourth edition is more urgently needed than ever. What leaders love most is the way Cultural Proficiency lays the groundwork for powerful organizational growth with resources to: Engage colleagues in collaborative dialogue about creating powerful teaching and learning environments Recognize and respond to both individual and group differences to break down barriers Use the Cultural Proficiency Continuum to assess the limitations of school practices and identify opportunities to shift the culture Take this first step on the Cultural Proficiency journey and soon enough you, too, can create equitable educational opportunities and more inclusive environments in which differences are embraced. “This book is a riveting and unparalleled resource for all educational merchants of hope. . . . The insights, learning strategies, and professional development structures in this edition illuminate a path for all leaders to successfully commit to the journey of being equity champions!” --Dr. Erick E. Witherspoon, National Director of Equity Professional Development Services Generation Ready “There is no greater honor than to have one’s professional work become the inspiration for a new way of thinking, and transformative literature and action that change the world for schools and the children and youth they serve. I am grateful that the ideas have been so skillfully brought to scale by these authors.” --Dr. Terry L. Cross, MSW, Founder and Senior Advisor National Indian Child Welfare Association

Embark on a journey toward cultural proficiency that results in professional growth and organizational change! This powerful third edition offers fresh approaches, a revised organization, and new activities that enable leaders to engage in effective interactions with students, educators, and the communities they serve. The authors meticulously provide information gathered from their experiences working with schools, educational agencies, and organizations across the United States and Canada and show how school leaders can: Gain a personal understanding of what cultural proficiency means in practice Use collaborative activities to effect change in a school Lead a learning community toward becoming a culturally proficient organization