Resources
How is Cultural Competence Integrated in Education? The goal of this section of our website is to provide a brief conceptual background for cultural competence, and to illustrate the elements of cultural competence in programs serving children with or at risk of developing serious emotional disturbance.
Cultural Competence for Teachers “Culturally competent educators are aware and respectful of the importance of the values, beliefs, traditions, customs, and parenting styles of the children and families they serve. They are also aware of the impact of their own culture on their interactions with others and take all of these factors into account when planning and delivering services to children and their families.”
Cultural competence is a developmental process occurring at individual and system levels that evolves and is sustained over time. Recognizing that individuals begin with specific lived experiences and biases, and that working to accept multiple world views is a difficult choice and task, cultural competence requires that individuals and organizations:
What is Socio-Cultural Competence? There are four components of socio-cultural competence: social contextual factors, stylistic appropriateness factors, cultural factors, and non-verbal communicative factors.
Teacher Colleges Emphasizing ‘Cultural Competence’- Schools of education are under pressure to better prepare teacher candidates, especially those who will work in urban schools. One strategy is to give prospective teachers the knowledge and tools to relate to students who come from a different background, through classes on race, class and culture; longer stints as student teachers; or community internships. The skill of cultural competence has become important at the same time that a shift is taking place in the Chicago Public Schools.
Resources: The mission of the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) is to increase the capacity of health care and mental health programs to design, implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems. The following resources have been gathered to supplement the entire Curricula Enhancement Module Series. Please use the table of contents below to navigate to specific resources for each individual module.
Stereotype Threat refers to being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group.This term was first used by Steele and Aronson (1995) who showed in several experiments that Black college freshmen and sophomores performed more poorly on standardized tests than White students when their race was emphasized. When race was not emphasized, however, Black students performed better and equivalently with White students. The results showed that performance in academic contexts can be harmed by the awareness that one’s behavior might be viewed through the lens of racial stereotypes.
Cultural Competence for Teachers “Culturally competent educators are aware and respectful of the importance of the values, beliefs, traditions, customs, and parenting styles of the children and families they serve. They are also aware of the impact of their own culture on their interactions with others and take all of these factors into account when planning and delivering services to children and their families.”
Cultural competence is a developmental process occurring at individual and system levels that evolves and is sustained over time. Recognizing that individuals begin with specific lived experiences and biases, and that working to accept multiple world views is a difficult choice and task, cultural competence requires that individuals and organizations:
- Have a defined set of values and principles, demonstrated behaviors, attitudes, policies and structures that enable them to work effectively in a cross-cultural manner.
- Demonstrate the capacity toDemonstrate the capacity to 1) value diversity, 2) engage in self-reflection, 3) facilitate effectively (manage) the dynamics of difference, 4) acquire and institutionalize cultural knowledge, and 5) adapt to the diversity and the cultural contexts of the students, families, and communities they serve, 6) support actions which foster equity of opportunity and services.
- Institutionalize, incorporate, evaluate, and advocate the above in all aspects of leadership, policy-making, administration, practice, and service delivery while systematically involving staff, students, families, key stakeholders, and communities.
What is Socio-Cultural Competence? There are four components of socio-cultural competence: social contextual factors, stylistic appropriateness factors, cultural factors, and non-verbal communicative factors.
Teacher Colleges Emphasizing ‘Cultural Competence’- Schools of education are under pressure to better prepare teacher candidates, especially those who will work in urban schools. One strategy is to give prospective teachers the knowledge and tools to relate to students who come from a different background, through classes on race, class and culture; longer stints as student teachers; or community internships. The skill of cultural competence has become important at the same time that a shift is taking place in the Chicago Public Schools.
Resources: The mission of the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) is to increase the capacity of health care and mental health programs to design, implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems. The following resources have been gathered to supplement the entire Curricula Enhancement Module Series. Please use the table of contents below to navigate to specific resources for each individual module.
Stereotype Threat refers to being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group.This term was first used by Steele and Aronson (1995) who showed in several experiments that Black college freshmen and sophomores performed more poorly on standardized tests than White students when their race was emphasized. When race was not emphasized, however, Black students performed better and equivalently with White students. The results showed that performance in academic contexts can be harmed by the awareness that one’s behavior might be viewed through the lens of racial stereotypes.