Cultural Competence Requirements for Teacher Certification and Licensure in Oregon

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Cultural Competence Requirements for Teacher
Certification and Licensure in Oregon

• Patrick Burk
• Chief Policy Officer
• Oregon Department of Education
• June 3, 2005

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Oregon Schools are Changing
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Oregon Students at a Glance
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Enrollment Changes
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Enrollment Changes Since 1980
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Enrollment Projections
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Student and Teacher Ethnicity
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Major Objectives

• Create a school environment in which all students
  and families feel welcomed, respected and valued
• Prepare teachers to be effective in
  multicultural classrooms
• Diversify the workforce

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Key Statutes

• Multicultural Education Act
• Create a curriculum that is responsive to and
  reflective of the diversity of Oregon students
• Minority Teacher Act
• Create better access to higher education for
  minority students
• Increase representation in schools of education
• Provide tuition assistance
• Beginning Teacher And Administrator Mentor Act
• Provide mentor support to beginning teachers

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2003 Budget Note

• Ways and Means Education Subcommittee directed
  the Department to address cultural competency
• Collaborate with Teachers Standards and Practices
  Commission and the Oregon University System
• Define proficiencies for cultural competence
• Incorporate into teacher preservice and training
• Collaborate with partners to recruit a more
  diverse workforce through incentives to attract
  teachers to high need schools

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ODE Internal Response

• Created the Cultural Competence Charter Group
• Intra-agency coordination to provide training to
  ODE staff
• Coordinate across departments and share resources
• Identify and share resources and strategies

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ODE External Response

• Cultural Competence Summit, May, 2004
• Invited cross-section of stakeholders in the
  state
• Definition
• Identify Component Elements
• Develop stakeholder work plans
• Underrepresented Minority Student Achievement
  Advisory Team
• Latino Communications Group
• www.ode.state.or.us

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Key Agreements

• Both Individuals and Organizations
• Have values and behaviors that enable them to
  work effectively in a cross-cultural manner
• Value diversity of culture, language, ethnicity
• Demonstrate these values in all aspects of
  leadership, policy making and service delivery

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State Action for Educational Leadership Program

• Phase I
• Study Leadership and Administrative Licensure
• Created statewide stakeholder process to redesign
  licensure requirements
• January, 2005, TSPC approved 7 new administrative
  standards that include cultural competence in
  each of the standards

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State Action for Educational Leadership Program

• Phase II
• Wallace Foundation/New York Times 600,000
  initiative to develop leadership capacity in
  comprehensive literacy and cultural competence
• Identify leadership demonstration district
  network
• Oregon Association of Latino Administrators
  Conference-2/05
• Supplemental grant to Portland Public Schools for
  demonstration of urban district strategies
• Leadership Institutes
• Support research on the impact of the work
• Establish a website

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Cultural Competence II The University Role

• Campus presentations on strategies for
  preparation of teachers to be effective in
  diverse classrooms
• Town Hall Forum on Cultural Competence
• NPR Radio Broadcast for Justice Talking with
  Margot Adler
• Chester Finn vs. Pat Burk
• Vision of leadership in the state

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Leadership Institute

• Demonstration Districts Leadership Teams
• Tim Waters, McREL
• Professional Development
• Idea Sharing and Exchange
• Networking
• K-12 Literacy Strategies
• Tom Henry, Eugene, OR
• Betty Shoemaker, Eugene, OR
• Cultural Competence
• Randall Lindsey
• Kikanza Nuri Robins
• Laraine Roberts

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Continuing Activities

• Native American
• Preservation and teaching of Native Languages
• Government-to-Government meetings on policy
• Latino Advocacy Groups
• Oregon Public Broadcasting Passports
  Cross-Cultural Borders Project
• Public Recognition of Schools that are Closing
  the Achievement Gap
• Diversified the State Board of Education to
  include African American, Latino, and Native
  American representation

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University Partners

• Oregon Association of Colleges of Teacher
  Education
• Public and Private Institutions adding Cultural
  competence to licensure programs
• Public stands in support of diversity
• Lewis and Clark College
• University of Oregon
• Oregon State University
• Portland State University
• Identifying key skill sets for Cultural
  Competence
• Ongoing Research
• Seeking refunding of Minority Teacher Act
  incentives

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Oregon Mexican Education Partnership

• 17 demonstration sites around the state to
  utilize materials provided by Mexican Government
• Teacher Exchanges
• Professional Development
• Assessment
• Web sites
• Binational Transfer Document for High School
  Students

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Challenges

• Expecting Different Outcomes from the System
• Cultural Competence Challenges the Status Quo
• Expect attacks from right and left and the press
• Social Justice and Respect for Diversity
• Belief system or instructional strategy?
• Talking about Race and Poverty is Hard
• Instructional Effectiveness and Inclusive
  Environments
• Effective strategies to close the gap
• We lack adequate cultural knowledge of our
  students