November 2009 Volume 4, No. 1

The concept of cultural competence is a set of behaviors, attributes and policies enabling JCPS to work effectively in our increasing diverse district. In defining this concept, it is important to highlight that cultural competence is not a static concept, rather it is an on-going developmental process necessary to engage in by staff and students throughout JCPS to address diversity in our schools, community, nation and world.

JCPS views cultural competence as a system that recognizes and connects at all levels the importance of culture, the assessment of cross cultural relations, continued attention toward the dynamics that result from cultural difference, the expansion of cultural knowledge, and the adaptation of strategies to provide culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy. Achieving cultural competence in JCPS requires a series of systemic building blocks that are the foundation for effective interactions and communications in our school/community environments between individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Carl Grant, Hoefs-Bascom Professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, believes that cultural competence is the foundation for culturally relevant pedagogy in the classroom and one of the pillars of social justice in society.

Over the past two years, JCPS has set ambitious goals in reshaping the district’s culture through the development of systemic building blocks for promoting and practicing cultural competence. These building blocks are JCPS’s Vision and Mission Statement reflecting the district’s Core Beliefs, and Theory of Action, along with the district’s Goals and Strategies, and the JCPS Leadership/Teaching Competencies.

One of JCPS’s Core Beliefs provides guidance for district employees to “…interact in a caring, safe, secure, respectful, diverse, and inclusive learning environment.” This guiding principle is an integral part of the district’s ethos as reflected in our new mantra posted in all district schools and offices. The mantra about our vision of the future reinforces the importance of cultural competence. In states in part:

We Won’t Stop Until …

“achievement is reflected in authentic student performance…
each student discovers the leader within him or her…
we all celebrate and learn from our diversity…
each student fosters the well being of others…
teamwork is the source of our success – and leadership is the catalyst…”

The district’s Theory of Action provides a framework for all JCPS employees to work collaboratively to create caring and culturally responsive schools. The Theory of Action emphasizes the importance of cultural competence, the core of the district’s educational philosophy.

The Theory of Action is a building block for the district’s four goals and twenty-four implementation strategies focusing on closing student achievement gaps; maximizing student learning, growth, and development; building a caring culture that empowers students and staff to have a voice and practice leadership and civic engagement; and aligning district resources to improve instruction across the district, while providing additional and targeted support to low-performing schools. Cultural competence is integral to these Goals and Strategies.

For example, Goal 3: Strengthening Organizational Culture, and Strategy 2: Enhance Cultural Competence provide a process to:

“…promote a district culture in which individual differences are respected and valued by offering professional development that supports and enhances the staff's cultural competency and world view.”

“…provide opportunities for students to learn in heterogeneous groups, and to study about people from back-grounds representing the cultural spectrum, by means of student cultural exchanges, both in person and electronically.”

“… work to close the engagement gap and the empowerment gap through CARE for Kids/Developmental Design activities, personalized instruction, and classroom support for teachers in the use of culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy.”

CARE for Kids is an acronym for Community, Autonomy, Relationships, Empowerment), a key program in schools where the district is working to embed cultural competence.

Cultural competence is also integral to JCPS’s Leadership, Teaching, Resource Teacher Competencies and Core Practices for a Great Classroom. To facilitate student understanding, connection and meaning JCPS has identified four competencies and core practices:

(1)  Building A Community
(2)  Diagnosing Level of Understanding
(3)  Learning from Student Work
(4)  Improving Teaching

As seen in the bullets below, these competencies and core practices require an understanding and practice of cultural competence by Leadership, Teachers and Resource Teachers.

Leadership:

· Structures a comprehensive approach to social-emotional learning and the Social Curriculum.
· Fosters the development of caring classroom environments.
· Cultivate teamwork of students, staff, and stakeholders in a learning community.
· Shapes a culture of ownership by students, staff, and stakeholders in a learning community.

Teacher:

· Creates a caring and personalized classroom community.
· Utilizes extensive content knowledge, research based pedagogy, and cultural competence to facilitate student understanding.

Resource Teacher:

· Emphasizes with teachers how inquiry-based instruction and caring classroom culture interact to support students’ academic and social development.

The goal of these competencies and core practices are to create more ways to connect the core curriculum to what is important and unique about our students’ worlds and life experiences.

Cultural competence is not a new concept. The concept has been at the center of struggle for educational equity since the struggles of desegregation. JCPS is one of the many large urban school districts nationwide faced with an increasing diverse school community. It is imperative that we increase our efforts to become a culturally competent school district and develop resources to facilitate meaningful dialogue and discussion in schools and classrooms. JCPS will continue to build capacity for cultural competence through professional development initiatives that will help to engage administrators, teachers, and students in discussions about the diversity represented in our district, as well as in our city, state, nation, and world.

JCPS’s Vision and Mission Statement, Core Beliefs, Theory of Action, Goals and Strategies, and the Competencies and Core Practices for a Great Classroom, are the foundation that supports cultural competence initiatives throughout JCPS. In Part II of this article, I will discuss the Cultural Competence Institute and CARE for Kids, two district initiatives designed to infuse cultural competence in teaching and learning with the intention to improve school and classroom climate and culture to maximize instruction, student achievement, and student connectedness.

For more details about the JCPS’s Vision and Mission Statement, Core Beliefs, Theory of Action, Goals and Strategies, and Competencies and Core Practices for a Great Classroom, read “Shaping the Way We Learn, Teach, and Lead.” You can locate this document at: http://www.jcpsky.net/ Go to “Reports and Publications,” in the lower left corner of the page. Click on “Choose” and scroll down to “Shaping The Way” to download the document.

Aukram Burton is the JCPS Diversity/Multicultural Education Specialist in the Department of Diversity, Equity and Poverty Programs.

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E-Corp Summer Experience at Blackacre State Nature Preserve

By Bryan Thompson

This summer, a work crew from the YouthBuild Louisville E-Corps program had the opportunity to work at Blackacre State Nature Preserve. This conservation program, funded by Kentuckiana Works, was designed to get young, socio-economically disadvantaged adults (16-22 yr.old) involved in the environment through education, restoration, conservation and community-related work projects.  Arranged through JCPS, resource teacher and naturalist Bryan Thompson served as the team’s leader throughout their work at Blackacre.

The E-Corps crew work benefited all Blackacre visitors by making the facilities safer, more accessible, more aesthetically pleasing, and with more educational opportunities. The crew worked on the following projects; the reconditioning and maintenance of the public trails, repairs to fencing, the building of a rain garden and compost bin, the maintenance of the vegetable garden, and the maintenance of the nature center, barn, and carriage house.

However, while they did complete many projects, the greatest value was the opportunity for these youth to spend five weeks at Blackacre developing an awareness and appreciation about the natural world they live in. It’s a reminder that today’s children often don’t experience the simple joys of nature - first learn to recognize a tomato plant, run or yell when a butterfly lands on them, hike through the woods, or have the first opportunity to eat a blackberry or sip nectar from a honeysuckle – until young adulthood.

For more information about this program, please contact Bryan Thompson, JCPS naturalist and resource teacher, at (502) 485-3295.

Bryan Thompson is a naturalist and resource teacher in the JCPS Center for Environmental Education at Blackacre State Nature Preserve.

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History: A Lens on Our Future

By Susan Graseck

One might argue that the historian is the conscience of the nation, if honesty and consistency are factors that nurture the conscience. -- John Hope Franklin

Slavery in the United States has traditionally been thought of (and taught) as a southern problem. Indeed, many students, and even teachers, are unaware of the extent of slavery in the North, particularly in New England. Long thought of as the birthplace of abolitionism, New England has a more complex history of slavery and the trade in slaves than many realize.
 
In 2003, Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, established a Slavery and Justice Committee at the University to investigate and to prepare a report about the university’s historical relationship to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade and to explore “the complex historical, political, legal, and moral questions posed by any present-day confrontation with past injustice.” Led by Brown University Professor James Campbell, this three-year effort was far more extensive and inclusive than a mere examination of connections that the University had; it was a scholarly effort to examine the nature and extent of the slave trade and slavery in New England and an educational effort designed to help the university community, the city, the state, and the nation reflect on the meaning of this history in the present. This work was happening at a time when similar efforts were taking place in other parts of the country, the efforts of the New York Historical society being a prime example.
 
In a Choices Program (a National Education Institute based at Brown University), scholars online video interview designed for use in secondary schools, Campbell— a professor of Africana studies, American civilization, and history— explained why it was critical to take on this work. “The way we tell the story of the past changes; and it changes in relationship to where we are in the present,” Campbell said. “And I think nowhere is that truth more dramatic than in looking at the way the history of slavery and the slave trade has been represented.”
 
Today, there are many resources that contribute to a change in the way the history of slavery in America is taught. That change cannot happen too soon. Generations have been raised on the southern plantation/ northern abolitionist narrative of slavery. Our history is much more complex. The slave trade and northern slavery are integral components of American economic and social history. Understanding the intricate nature of that history not only sets the record straight but provides a lens into our past that can help our students gain insight into similar complexity in our world today. Too often, we take for granted that things are as they are just because … because they are. When John Hope Franklin, renowned scholar of African-American history and civil rights activist, died in March, his statement about the role of the historian as the conscience of the nation was popping up in many newspapers. The role of a history teacher is not dissimilar; it is our responsibility to bring our history, in all of its complexity, into the light where we can explore that history in the context in which it took place. Yet, at the same time, we must not give it a pass as something that happened and is over.
 
The study of history is an exploration of the long shadow cast across our present by past events. If we step back into that past and explore it as living choices faced by real people—just as we face choices today—it can give us insight, in turn, to understand that our present will someday be viewed differently. Whether the topic is immigration, race, war, or genocide, people in the future will look back on us and ask, “How could they? Why did they do what they did? Couldn’t they see?” Understanding this dynamic between our past and our future gives us perspective that allows us to get engaged now and to ask, “What can i do to make this a better world today and in the future?” This is what we mean at the Choices Program when we say “explore the past; shape the future.” It should be a central component in every student’s education.
 
James Campbell’s full interview, other scholars online videos, and links to a range of resources from multiple sources are available online at: www.choices.edu/resources/slavetrade.php.

Susan Graseck is director of the Choices Program, a national educational initiative based at Brown University. Choices has published curriculum resources on the slave trade and slavery in the North in collaboration with Brown University’s Slavery and Justice Committee.

This article first appeared in the Spring 2009 issue of Ole Landmark. It is republished here with permission from the author.

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Ghanaian Mayor Visits Foster Academy, Thanks Students for Friendship

By Susan Quinlan, Aukram Burton, and Catherine Collesano

Foster Traditional Academy principal Susan Quinlan hosts an assembly for the Tamale delegation. (photo courtesy of Aukram Burton)
Tamale Mayor Alhaji Abudulai Hurruna visits Foster Traditional Academy. (photo courtesy of SFTA)
JCPS Diversity/Multicultural Education Specialist Aukram Burton gives a presentation to students about his recent visit to Ghana. (photo courtesy of SFTA)

Stephen Foster Traditional Academy welcomed a delegation of government administrators and representatives from the Metro Tamale Assembly in Tamale, Ghana to their school in October. Tamale Mayor Alhaji Abudulai Hurruna led the delegation, whose visit was part of an official celebration of the 30^th anniversary of sister cities relations between Louisville and Tamale. As part of the relationship, Foster Academy has established an educational and cultural exchange program with Dahin-Sheli Primary School, it’s sister school in Tamale.  Since 2008, students at Foster Academy have been involved in collecting school supplies and playground equipment for Dahin-Sheli Primary School. Foster’s Student Technology Leadership Team collected over fifty boxes of supplies and equipment. The project and the mayor’s recent visit were covered in the Louisville news media, including The Courier-Journal and WHAS11-TV.

The partnership between Foster Traditional Academy and Dahin-Sheli Primary School began after the mayor of Tamale visited Louisville two years ago. The mayor and his delegation observed classrooms at Foster and participated in a Student Technology Leadership Team video interview in the school’s library.  From this interview, Foster students discovered a need in Tamale for school supplies and playground equipment.  They responded by kicking off a year-long effort to reach out to Dahin-Sheli Primary School and provide them with as may boxes of supplies and equipment as possible. One of Foster’s business partners, Whayne Supply Company, helped out by shipping the supplies to Tamale. The project and the mayor’s recent visit was  local Louisville news media, The Courier-Journal and WHAS11-TV, recently reported on the projects.

During Mayor Hurruna’s visit to Foster Academy, he thanked the student and staff for their friendship and efforts in collecting supplies and equipment. Foster was honored to host this delegation for an assembly where Foster’s PTA donated money for more school supplies. The assembly marked the beginning of another year-long campaign for more money for Tamale’s schools and students.  Mrs. Susan Quinlan, principal of Foster Academy, presented the Assistant to the Mayor of Tamale with pen pal letters and artwork that Foster’s students had completed. Mrs. Quinlan stated that both Tamale schools and Foster have the same vision: To help all our students learn at high levels and become productive citizens in our community and abroad.

Susan Quinlan is the principal of Foster Traditional Academy. Aukram Burton is the JCPS Diversity/Multicultural Education Specialist. Catherine Collesano is the Data Manager/Research Technician in the JCPS Diversity/Multicultural Education Office, as well as the editor of Global Connections.

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NAAEE 38^th Annual Conference: The Power of Partnerships

By Kevin Garner

A scenic view of Portland, Oregon in October.

The 38^th Annual North American Association for Environmental Education Conference was held in Portland, Oregon on October 7-10, 2009. The purpose of the conference was to bring awareness of environmental education to the entire world.

Conference Topics

The conference featured educational strands on major environmental issues and concerns including:

Environmental Justice and Cultural Diversity: Culturally diverse and low income communities find themselves exposed to disproportionate levels of harmful chemicals and other health related issues/concerns. These issues affect communities at an alarming rate, therefore the development of environmental education partnerships are necessary.

Climate Change Education: Global warming is affecting the lives of everyone on the planet. Therefore, we as a people must understand the causes and effects of climate change. We must accept personal responsibility and work towards a resolution.

Service-Learning and Community Education: Service learning is a tool helping to propel environmental education in the 21^st century. Service learning can help develop collaborations between resource agencies, environmental education organizations, community organizations, business and industry, teachers and students that enhance their learning and encourage them to become informed environmental ambassadors, and re connecting communities to help protect the environment.

The Arts and Environmental Education: The use of the arts and culture can have a direct impact on teaching children about the environment.

Coastal and Marine Education: Human life is essentially connected to the ocean and other aquatic environments. This discussion brought an understanding of the importance of water in our everyday lives.

Place-Based Education: This is an approach to teaching and learning that builds a connection between the community, place and the children. This approach investigates local culture, nature and resource issues. Topics may include economic concerns, opportunities and community participation. Students actually participate in work that helps the community while the community educates the children with their knowledge.

The NAAEE conference offered participants the opportunity to preview environmental education curriculum that covers grades K-12. We viewed the FOSS materials which will actually become part of Portland Elementary School’s curriculum for environmental education. Additionally, the conference really broadened the spectrum on equity and diversity and included environmental issues in the discussion of those topics. The focus this year spanned beyond our black and white brothers and sisters and focused on everyone from various racial ethnicities. The Diversity Committee helped to implement the inclusion policies of NAAEE and worked to make the organization ethically diverse. Participants discussed we could become the ambassadors for our communities and how our role is to educate as many people as we can about the necessity of “Going Green."

Things That I Learned

Cultural diversity events were instituted this year at the conference and were held each night. This nightly event was filled with cultural expression from Hawaiian to Native Americans performing music, native expression through dance, and the opportunity to see how they were keeping tradition alive within their cultures. This was an excellent way to meet people and share ideas about how to close the gap between minorities and the environment.

Attendees had the opportunity to discover the true meaning of giving back to the community. A service learning project sponsored by NAAEE through the Portland local Community Garden Program focused on organic gardening, composting, food sustainability and inter-generational activities. The participants worked with students to harvest crops, clean up the garden and mulch garden plots.

Participants got a once in a lifetime experience to ride on a working towboat ride at the Madison Street Fire Dock. RiverWorks Discovery, an interactive, multi-media science center that featured displays ranging from how humans are born to how humans age, to a display about how we respond to our fears, which included a cabinet with snake inside and viewer seeing the snake and sticking their hands in a dark encased closure. Not for the meek hearted!

The NAAEE has taken the time to help to educate participants on the importance of “Going Green” in our country. Going Green means more than just recycling. I discovered that African Americans are beginning to participate in learning about the environment. One of the discussions that I had was why is there a lack of support from minority communities. Educating diverse groups require members of the dominant culture to be aware of their cultural assumptions that are often unconscious. What I learned is humans are often influenced by people they can relate to, either culturally or racially. Now, with environmental education in schools, children are going home and educating their parents about the importance of “Going Green."

The truth of the matter is, even I wanted to learn more about saving our planet, so I learned more about composting. Composting is the decomposition of plant remains and other once-living materials to make an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that is excellent for adding to houseplants or enriching garden soil. It is the way to recycle your yard and kitchen wastes, and is a critical step in reducing the volume of garbage needlessly sent to landfills for disposal.

I learned more about sustainability, which is a paradigm for thinking about the world in which environmental, social and economic concerns are balanced. Its purpose is to allow the environmental education community to implement an education that prepares children and adults alike from all walks of society to work and live together in our ever-changing world.

I learned about basic lessons on how to engage our students using a “hands on” strategy adopted from the traditions of the Native Americans. Through implementation, their philosophy could help us as educators reach more children in the 21^st century.

We also discovered that the concept of incorporating technology to connect urban youth to nature is being implemented in Chicago, Illinois by the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. The students actually go to websites from various parks and facilities to view their environment and discover how it’s maintained.

The agency National Energy Education Development: Putting Energy Into Education, located in Covington, Kentucky, had developed the “blueprint” in educating students about lower energy consumption. They have an online guide that is available for download. They have developed a curriculum for educating students about energy while encouraging them to create a school energy team.

When I discovered a forum called "Environmental Education for the Hip-Hop Generation," I knew I could not miss a discussion on how to unite the environment education movement with the hip-hop generation. The North Bay Adventure Center took environmental education and combined character development, along with a multi-media focus. They targeted inner city and rural children teaching them about the importance of taking care of their environment. Students learned how to save energy, recycle, and build community relationships through the use of hip hop music.

Overall Impression of the Conference

One of the inspiring moments during the conference was when participants learned how they could connect urban and rural students with one another. They actually demonstrated to students from different socio-geographical areas that their lives were not as different as they had believed. Through conversation and working within the environment, students compared and contrasted their neighborhoods. I learned how to apply for grants to improve students’ knowledge about their role within the environment and how to involve state and federal agencies with local organizations and consultants to connect urban and rural students.

NAAEE has really spent time focusing on how to involve the planet on becoming “environmentally aware." This year, the conference's main objective was to not just talk about what you’re going to do for the environment, but do it! As an educator, I learned how to take garbage and convert it to art. I became even more aware of how my carbon footprint can affect everything that we do as planet. For instance, instead of driving everywhere learn to use an alternative source of transportation. Walking, bike riding, carpooling, purchasing a hybrid vehicle, and public transportation are very effective ways to reduce and save.

Use bags that are created from recycled materials when purchasing grocery, eliminating the use of plastic and paper bags. Instead of taking long showers, reduce your water consumption by monitoring your time to three minutes. Unplug all appliances that are not in use. When they are plugged in, whether the item is on/off, it uses energy. The most important aspect of the conference for me was how I can now change my role in saving our planet.

As I educate children, I want to continue being the role model that inspires other African American children and parents alike to make better choices. After all, this is our world and taking care of it starts with all of us.

Learn more about the North American Association for Environmental Education at www.naaee.org.

Kevin Garner is an intervention specialist at Portland Elementary School and is the head teacher of the JCPS Street Academy program.

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