Leadership magazine Jan/Feb 2016 V45 No 3 | Page 19

not necessarily be empathetic to cultures that
are not of their own, he or she must at a bare
minimum be cognizant, sympathetic and display compassion toward student populations
in cultures that have historically not been affirmed. These are non-recipients of attribution
for their contributions to society, disenfranchised and have been subjected to disparities,
both implicit and explicit. The personnel at
the school site and the curriculum must have
this mindset embedded in daily practice while
engaging all who are being served.

Means of supporting the
cultural shift
In the state of California, there has been
recognition of the cultural shift. In 2014,
legislation enacted the new Local Control
Funding Formula for school districts, charter schools and county offices of education.
The LCFF replaced the previous model
of categorical funding in support of base
grants, supplemental grants and concentration grants. A component of the LCFF is
the Local Control and Accountability Plan,
which includes a template provided by the
state that requires a district or county office
of education to identify annual goals, action
plans and instruments that will be used to
measure student progress within eight priorities. The LCAP addresses the needs of
student populations that will be the macro
culture in the very near future.
It is important to note that it is within the
LCAP and specifically three of the eight
priorities, Student Engagement, School
Climate and Parental Involvement, where
the state of California is theoretically mandating that schools and school administrators be responsive to the needs of the diverse
population. The accountability aspect is a
piece that affords guidance to assist in supporting not only the students and families,
but also their cultures.
Although the LCFF and the LCAP are
in their infancy stages, these mechanisms of
resources and support are greatly appreciated by school administrators who envision
the benefit of the intent and the spirit of the
new funding formula to assure equity. The
culturally proficient school administrator
views the LCFF and LCAP as a means to
assist what he or she has already proposed

You’ll 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?”
and campaigned for, including:
• Parental involvement so parent/family populations can feel appreciated as collaborators in
the process of educating their children.
• Parents having the ability to monitor the
school climate by determining alternative
means of disciplining students.
• Assisting in the creation of appropriate
intervention methods prior to reaching exclusionary actions.
• Fully researching and addressing the
background and history of the student to determine if any social emotional issues may be
the causation of unwanted school behaviors.
• Devising and implementing strategies
that support students that have challenges
with chronic absenteeism leading to dropping out of school.

Educators must be reflective
about cultural biases
Understanding the term cultural proficiency incudes realizing the components
that make up a culture. Culture is primarily composed of a belief system, agreed
upon values, traditions, behaviors, religion,
symbols and ethnicities that distinguish
the members of one group people from another. Due to the large swath of elements
that construct a culture, in order for a school
administrator to be genuinely accepting of
a culture, one must display the ability to be
reflective, introspective and assess an honest
accounting of their possible biases toward
varying cultures.

For some administrators, this can certainly be a challenge. However, the cultural
proficiency level of an administrator will not
be elevated until that challenge is met, and
the benefits will definitely be transformative.
In cases where the challenge is difficult to
overcome, it has to do with the implicit biases that are present within them and cause
the lack of cultural proficiency.
The overt and explicit biases are quite simple to recognize and root out. However, it is
the covert and unidentifiable implicit biases
that are most demanding for the school administrator. The very definition of implicit
biases means that a person essentially isn’t
consciously aware of their biases, but subconsciously they are in existence.
At this point is where courageous and oftentimes, necessary conversations must be
held with members of the varying cultures
in order to gain true progress of supporting
the representatives of the cultures that are
being served.
Diverse populations have unique needs
that must be acknowledged and serviced in
unique styles, but with the ultimate goal of
simply wanting to do what is best and most
appropriate to extend support. As long as
this is in the forefront for the school administrator, he or she will be on a path to develop
the relationships and rapport that are needed
to arrive at a culturally proficient level that
is accepting, appreciative and embracing of
cultures.

Resources
• State Priority Related Resources, California Department of Education: http://
www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/lc/statepriorityresources.asp.
• Banks, J.A. (1999). An Introduction to
Multicultural Education (2nd ed.). Boston:
Allyn and Bacon.
• U.S. Census Bureau (March, 2015).
New Census Bureau Report Analyzes US
Population Projections: www.census.gov/
newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15tps16.html.
LaDay Smith is an administrator in the
Orange County Department of Education
Alternative Education Division.
January | February 2016

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