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Cultural Competency
I saw where the comments on the Indy Weekly have called this a "someone pulling the race card" issue, which makes me a little hesitant to comment on this. But, an individual can be "culturally incompetent" and not have a racist bone in their body.Research supports the fact that school districts need to provide school staff (teachers, counselors, administrators, etc.) with cultural competency training. This would help ensure that behavioral problems are addressed in a consistent manner. This May 2011 report from the Education Development Center, Inc. explains it well: http://www.hhd.org/sites/hhd.org/files/California_Suspension_and_Expulsion_Policies.pdf I also recommend : http://www.ode.state.or.us/opportunities/grants/saelp/culturallynwrel.pdf Lawrence Sanders, Sr.
Do you know...
of diverse school districts where discipline rates are proportionate to ethnicity? Great citations, BTW.
I am looking
Thanks Barbara. I have not found those statistics just yet. I will share if I find them. But there's lot of information on what some districts are doing to combat this problem. The Oregon Department of Education appears to have made this a priority. Lawrence Sanders, Sr.
so true
Thank you so much for responding here. Good intentions are not enough and training must be delivered by professional training groups that include members of the race/ethnic groups that the district is interested in better serving. It must be ongoing and required as a part of professional development for everyone who is in the school, not just teachers.
Similar stats on EC?
I would love to see the stats on Exceptional Children classifications. I bet that minority statements are disproportionately identified.