Fostering Inclusive Leadership Among College and High School Students

Rolando Arroyo-SucreChief Officer For Diversity and Equity

Bucknell University

2011 National Partnership for Educational Access Annual Conference

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Multi-Goal Shared Learning Experiences:Engaging College and High School Students in mutually beneficial interactions to become Culturally Competent

Outline for this session:

Personal and Institutional Cultural Competency:Is your institution Culturally Competent?How Culturally Competent are you?

A Framework: The American Association of Colleges and Universities Intercultural Knowledge Rubric

Program Development and Implementation:Leadership Definition in the context of this program: Predominantly White College students, Underrepresented High School StudentsLessons Learned: About the High Schools and CBOs, about the participating students, about the parents, Service vs. Sustained Engagement

Q& A

Developing America’s Future Leaders While Addressing the Cultural Competency Needs ofMajority and Underrepresented Students

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The Greatest American Adventure:The Pursuit of Social Justice and Equity;

Integration, Access and Opportunity

• In the mid 60’s there were no blueprints for incorporating culturally/racially diverse groups of learners.

•There were assumptions about perceived “needs” that have changed through fifty years of trial and error and research, but we are still learning and the inequities remain pretty much constant.

• Most of our efforts have focused on services for the underrepresented students: academic preparedness and social adjustment to the institutions. Very little is aimed at changing institutionsor the values and beliefs of the majority.

•Would things be different today if, during the past fifty years, we had invested more energy in educating majority students to understand issues of difference and transforming our institutions to be culturally competent and welcoming for all?

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WHAT IS CULTURAL COMPETENCY?

It involves a developmental process that goes beyond “cultural awareness” (the knowledge about a group gained through media resources and workshops) and “cultural sensitivity” (knowledge as well at some level of direct experience with a cultural group other than one’s own). This process is an engaging, life-long journey of expanding one’s horizons, thinking critically about power and oppression, and behaving appropriately.

Cultural competency is defined as the capacity for an individual, an organization, or an institution, to respond to the unique needs of populations whose cultures are different from that which might be referred to as “dominant.”

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Individual Level

• Beliefs and attitudes that demonstrate:- Awareness and sensitivity to personal heritage- Respect and value of different heritages- Awareness of personal values and biases and how they may affect the perception of other cultures-Comfort with differences that exist between personal culture and other cultures’ values and beliefs

• Knowledge and experience that demonstrate:-A good understanding of the power structure in society- Specific efforts made to acquire knowledge and information about other groups - Recognition of Institutional Barriers

• Skills that demonstrate:-Ability to send verbal and non-verbal messages accurately and appropriately- Ability to intervene and advocate appropriately on behalf of individuals from a different culture

Institutional Level

• Promote a diverse and inclusive campus-Assessment of campus climate-Explicit & disseminated inclusive policies- Cultural competency as skill required from new hires and part of performance evaluation-Professional Development for cultural competency

• Inclusive physical environments-Visual markers/aesthetics of various cultures- Culturally diverse food offerings

• Periodic review of campus publications for cultural sensitivity and inclusiveness• Intentional and structured opportunities for interaction across differences• Acknowledgement of cultural differences beyond ethnic celebrations• Opportunities to explore the “other” with an understanding of power imbalances

Culturally Competent Individuals & Institutions

Based on the cultural competency framework of the American College Health Association (ACHA)

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Is your institution/campusCulturally Competent? Please Rank on a 1 to 10 scale(1 = no, 10 = completely)

Yes? No? Why?What markers inform your assessment?

Can you give an example to support your ranking?

What would need to change?

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For Many People Diversity is a Chore or a Dirty Word . . .

Challenges in creating truly inclusive learning places:

• Lack of an agreed upon framework• Lack of understanding diversity work as a professional/academic field• Competing agendas of stakeholders• Fear of acknowledging the need to learn and/or change

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Sometimes, indirect strategies and external validation work best:

- Inclusive Leadership is a lesser loaded label than Diversity Leadership

- Moving from “social justice” to “indispensable for professional success” increases the perceived value and removes some biases

- An effective program requires a “credible” yet flexible conceptual framework

- Almost everyone in education likes to be cutting edge as long as it is “safe”

AAC&U Rubrics come to the rescue

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Intercultural Knowledge and Competence Value Rubric Modified from the American Association of Colleges and Universities Rubric (AAC&U)

Capstone Milestone Milestone Benchmark

Knowledge:Cultural Self-Awareness

Articulates insights into own cultural rules; aware of his/her influence in worldview

Recognizes cultural complexity, new perspectives and biases with comfort

Identifies own cultural biases and rules

Minimal Awareness of own cultural rules and biases; Uncomfortable

Knowledge:Knowledge of Frameworks

Sophisticated under- standing of what matters to other cultures (history, values, beliefs, etc.)

Adequate understanding of what is important for members of other cultures

Partial understanding of the complexity of history, values, etc.

Surface understanding of other cultures, values, communication styles, etc.

Skills: Empathy

Interprets inter – cultural experience from self and other POV; recognizes the feelings of other groups

Recognizes differences and participates in inter- cultural communication

Identifies cultural differences but responds with his/her own worldview

The experiences of others are filtered through his/her own worldview

Skills:Communications

Articulates complex understanding of cultural differences in communications

Asks deeper questions about other cultures and seeks out answers

Identifies differences but unable to negotiate shared understanding

Minimal understanding of verbal and non-verbal communications

Attitudes:Openness & Curiosity

Suspends judgment in valuing her/his interactions with culturally diff others

Begins to develop interactions with culturally different others w/o judging

Has difficulty suspending judgment but is aware of biases

Difficulty suspending judgments when interacting across cultures

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Challenges posed by the AAC&U Rubric:

Institutional

-How do you implement it at predominantly White institutions?- How do you implement it in the middle of a small, predominantly White rural community?- Class imparted knowledge is not enough- Service learning programs may have negative effects reinforcing stereotypes- Financial sustainability- engaging Faculty for out-of–the-classroom learning experiences

Individual

- Comfort level interacting across cultural differences-Motivation for sustained training-Safe space to make mistakes- Time commitment for sustained interaction- Time required for introspection- Opportunities to discuss and self-assess cultural competency learning- Ability to address the intellectual challenges resulting from dealing with culturally different others with comparable intellectual potential

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Development of teamwork and multi-level communication skills for all participating students

A Non-Controversial Approach:

Leadership Development

Providing all participating students with opportunities to become culturally competent leadersExposing Urban High School Students (mostly Underrepresented) with opportunities for college learning, understanding of college cultures and academic expectations

College Faculty: active engagement in selecting materials for and teaching diverse groups of high school students

Intentional, structured and sustained interactions across differences to provide opportunities for acknowledging and experiencing cultural differences“Safe” context for learning.

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• It cannot be learned in the classroom• It’s a leveling of the playing field: minorities need it too• It needs to be devoid of the “diversity/multiculturalism” stigma• It requires faculty engagement• It needs to bring the fun into learning about others• It cannot be learned in situations with major power imbalances

Strategic Choice: Making it Cool to Explore and Develop Cultural Competency Skills

On Campus Approaches:• Engage faculty in developing an effective pedagogic framework• Identify and attract a “cool” pool of students:

• Presidential Scholars• Greek System• Academically achieving Underrepresented Students

• Promote the experience as a co-curricular academic enrichment /social justice experience• Make participation voluntary but with significant time commitment

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Technology as a Solution forDeveloping Cultural Competency Skills

• Build collaborations with urban CBO’s and High Schools• Ideally, HS students need to be at similar levels of academic achievement as their college peers

• Develop a pedagogic context where all students learn-Training for College Students

- Cultural Competency- Mentoring-teaching-learning across differences

- Training for High School Students- Thinking like a college student- Learning to read complex texts- Developing critical thinking skills- Developing communications skills

• Combine virtual and face-to-face interactions

• Regularly scheduled (bi-weekly) debriefing conversations to internalize learning

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The Ideas Become a Program:

New Frontiers of Knowledge

A collaboration with Chicago inner city high performing high schools serving low-income students

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Program Design and Implementation:

• Work with faculty to design pedagogic approach and program content (readings, audio/visual materials, learning strategies, etc.) to reflect college-level liberal arts learning.

• Work with high school and CBOs to identify appropriate cohorts of high school students; determine target grades and expected levels of academic performance

• Discuss use of technology and technology requirements

• Interview and train peer mentors

• Test project and make necessary adjustments

• Begin implementation

• Put in place assessment and oversight tools

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Pre – Conference

(six weeks)

During Conference

(three days)

After Conference

( one year)

• High School Students apply• Admitted participants receive PDFs of reading materials and peer mentor assignments• College peers lead participants through readings and on-line discussions for three weeks

• Participants meet college peers and continue discussing materials• Small groups, along with their peers, attend class sessions presented by college faculty• Small groups integrate in their discussion the lecture and assigned readings and the multiple points of view of liberal arts disciplines• Small groups prepare a presentation including what has been learned and how it was learned• Small groups present in a plenary session

• Participants are assigned a book to read and discuss• Small group discussions continue on-line (about one chapter a month)• Small group selects a topic for further individual research• Participants share research findings with their small groups• Participants prepare a presentation for next year’s conference.

Process at a glance:

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Sustained Interaction Across Differences: Year 1:

9th GradersTheme: Food

Year 210th gradersThe Devil in the White City

Year 3:11th Graders

The World is Flat

• Purposeful, focused.

• College peers commit to one year of interaction

• High school students participate in three years of the program, interacting with three college students and at least nine college faculty in various disciplines

• During the conferences, counselors and teachers are invited to attend professional development workshops with a focus on working with at-risk and underrepresented students.

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LOGISTICS

• Teachers/counselors have an overwhelming work load

• Students have tier counselors/specialists according to grade

• Union issues: Space is free, security and custodial expensive

• harmonizing time between college and multiple high school schedules

TECHNOLOGY

• Public high school students have very limited access to computers

• Email address but no experience or scheduled time to check it

• Blackboard is blocked by many school servers

• Teachers may not be technology savvy

• Frequent changes in contact information

CBOS & SCHOOLS ENGAGEMENT

• Great commitment, very limited resources

• time and performance pressures

• Low levels of parental engagement

• Pos-secondary counselors focused on college placement more than on college preparation

• Staff turnover

• Follow through

Lessons Learned:

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• College students develop

• Increased understanding of the interconnection between culture and values• Increased awareness of personal preconceptions and biases• Improved skills to communicate across cultural differences• Need-based comfort and curiosity to learn about other cultures• understanding of the need for self-awareness in the interaction with other cultural groups.

Academic Gains:

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Benefits for Participants:

• Through sustained interaction, all participants report getting a better understanding of the other’s culture

• College students report that the exposure to issues of diversity and social justice expanded their knowledge beyond classroom learning

• College students report becoming more aware of how cross-cultural communications requires additional skills

• High school students report increased interest in attending college

• Samples of discussion threads reveal an improvement in reading and communication skills, critical thinking, and giving/receiving feedback among high school participants

• Communications expanded beyond the assigned tasks to include conversations about career choices, the college experience, etc.

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Academic Leadership Skills Development

• Through leading discussions and projects in culturally diverse teams the college peers begin to understand differences in values, communication styles, motivation and sense of belonging

• Through developing and presenting projects that included teamwork and public speaking high school students (overseen by their college peer) learn to work as teams, make decisions and assign responsibilities

• Public speaking in front of audiences including college faculty and students, parents, high school personnel, and other high school students-participants develop the comfort level to present, answer questions, and share their knowledge

•High school students assume leadership roles in small group discussions, research and development of team projects

• Participants discover that learning can be a fun collective experience of discovery and validation that it’s cool to be smart

Thank You!

Questions?

Rolando Arroyo-Sucreraas001@bucknell.edu

2011 National Partnership for Educational Access Annual Conference