Leadership magazine Jan/Feb 2016 V45 No 3 | Page 18

What’s your level of
cultural proficiency?
In J.A. Banks’ book An Introduction to Multicultural Education, the
author offers four practical approaches for administrators to gauge
where their level of cultural proficiency might be in regards to its
ongoing presence in their school settings:

The Contributions Approach:

This approach reflects the least amount of involvement in multicultural education approaches. This is incorporated by selecting
books and activities that celebrate holidays, heroes and special
events from various cultures. For example, spending time reading
about Dr. Martin Luther King in January is a common practice that
falls into this category. In this approach, culturally diverse books
and issues are not specified as part of the curriculum.

The Additive Approach:

In this approach content, concepts, themes and perspectives are
added to the curriculum without changing its basic structure. This
involves incorporating literature by and about people from diverse
cultures into the mainstream curriculum. For example, examining
the perspective of a Native American about Thanksgiving would
be adding cultural diversity to the traditional view of Thanksgiving.
However, this approach does not necessarily transform thinking.

The Transformation Approach:

This approach actually changes the structure of the curriculum and
encourages students to view concepts, issues, themes and problems from several ethnic perspectives and points of view. For example, a unit on Thanksgiving would become an entire unit exploring
cultural conflict. This type of instruction involves critical thinking and
involves a consideration of diversity as a basic premise.

The Social Action Approach:

This approach combines the transformation approach with activities to strive for social change. Students are not only instructed to
understand and question social issues, but to also do something
important about it. For example, after participating in a unit about
recent immigrants to North America, students may write letters to
local lawmakers, Congress and newspaper editors to express their
opinions about new policies.
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Leadership

This is where the term “cultural proficiency” in the life of a school administrator
is just as important as terms such as “meeting,” “assessment,” “observation,” “Common
Core” and “evaluation.” While there seems
to be varying definitions of cultural proficiency, by and large it is in reference to an
educator, an administrator, having the ability and willingness to support teachers who
educate students from diverse cultural backgrounds, along with supporting and encouraging the families of these students, to attain
positive and productive lives.

What does cultural proficiency
look like?
Cultural proficiency has a variation of
meanings because it is defined differently to all
people. Certainly your professional and personal experiences will be the catalyst in your
level of initial proficiency in the school setting,
but it shouldn’t preclude you from growing.
In my opinion, although important and
typically festive, an administrator must truly
understand and demonstrate that being culturally proficient is not in the form of organizing or coordinating a cultural faire, with food,
dancers, musicians, guest speakers of a particular native tongue that are representative
of differing cultures. These actions and events
are merely the superficial surface of extending
and offering a glimpse of appreciation.
Even conducting annual trainings, workshops and in-services conveying cultural
sensitivity or cultural awareness only provide
snapshots of embracement for staff and the
diverse student populations and families you
serve. You have to ask yourself: “Am I having
these events because they’re in celebration of
culture and diversity or am I fulfilling mandates and checking off lists?”
The key to being a culturally proficient
school administrator is having the realization that accepting, appreciating and embracing differing cultures is an ongoing way
of being. The primary focal point is establishing elongated relationships and rapport,
and in doing so, ensuring the foundation of a
school’s culture and school’s climate remains
or becomes a place of true and real engagement, with the backdrop of really caring
about who the students and families are.
Even though a school administrator may