develop an action plan and carry it out. By applying English-language arts skills in a meaningful context, all students will build content knowledge and develop civic skills and dispositions needed for civic compe- tency, while at the same time meet the Com- mon Core State Standards for English-Lan- guage Arts. The guide can be downloaded at no cost at
www.lacoe.edu/historysocial- science. It was produced by the Los Angeles
County Office of Education in collaboration with the Trinity County Office of Education and the California Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools.
3.
The Cultural Proficiency Continuum for History-Social Science
In response to the narrowing of the cur-
riculum, particularly in low-performing schools, the continuum developed by the
Los Angeles County Office of Education in 2008 recognizes that access to culturally proficient instruction can close achievement gaps in all subject areas, including history- social science. The Cultural Proficiency Continuum examines the following three program components: curriculum content and resources; instructional methods; and assessment (how we assess for mastery and use data to make instructional decisions). Within these three program compo-
nents, six levels of cultural proficiency are described: 1. Cultural destructiveness seeks to eliminate vestiges of the cultures of oth- ers; 2. Cultural incapacity seeks to make the culture of others wrong; 3. Cultural blind- ness refuses to acknowledge the culture of others; 4. Cultural pre-competence ac- knowledges the cultural differences of oth- ers, but may do so in surface or inappropri- ate ways; 5. Cultural competence promotes adaptations to better meet the diverse needs of our customers and students; and 6. Cul- tural proficiency advocates for life-long learning about one’s own and others’ cul- tures for the purpose of meeting the needs of all underserved groups, closing gaps, and achieving educational equity in classrooms and schools and social justice in the com- munities we serve. The Continuum asks important ques-
tions about the content and curriculum ma- terials we use in classrooms. These materi- als are worthy of analysis if we are intent on providing a culturally proficient curriculum for students. In the teaching of history, as described in
California’s History-Social Science Frame- work, as a story well told, we need to ask ourselves, whose story are we telling? Which perspectives are shared? What message or agenda is delivered? For example, in teaching early American
history do we focus entirely on the series of events led by white colonists to declare in- dependence, win a war, draft and adopt a national constitution and bill of rights? By omitting or distorting the stories of African- Americans (who represented nearly one- fifth of the population), as well as women and Native Americans, we run the risk of
being culturally destructive by promoting Continued on page 24
22 Leadership
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40