Practicing the Three C’s: Cross-Cultural Competence Excerpts from: Practicing the Three C’s: Cross-Cultural Competence in School Psychological Services Emilia C. Lopez, Ph.D. Queens College, CUNY/NASP IDEA Resource Cadre Doris Páez, Ph.D. Furman University/NASP IDEA Resource Cadre

The Three C’s: Cross-Cultural Competence “The ability to think, feel, and act in ways that acknowledge, respect, and build upon ethnic, sociocultural, and linguistic diversity.” (Lynch and Hanson, 1998)

Cross-Cultural Competence Awareness: assumptions, values, biases Understanding: worldview of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) clients Knowledge: cultural differences, assessment and intervention strategies Skills: providing assessment and intervention services (Sue et al., 1982)

Culture “An integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thoughts, communications, languages, practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting and roles, relationships and expected behaviors of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group; and the ability to transmit the above to succeeding generations.” (National Center for Cultural Competence of Georgetown University: http://www.georgetown.edu/research/gucdc/nccc/ncccplannersguide.html)

Ethnicity of the U.S. Population Source: 2000 Census % White/Caucasian 70.7 Hispanic/Latino 12.5 Black/African American 12.3 Asian-American/Pacific Islander 3.6 American Indian/Alaskan Native 0.9

Ethnicity of School Psychologists Source: 2003 NASP membership survey (69% response rate) White/Caucasian 91.0 Hispanic/Latino Chicano/Mexican American Puerto Rican 1.7 0.9 0.8 Black/African American 2.4 Asian-American/Pacific Islander 1.1 American Indian/Alaskan Native 0.6

Ethnicity Comparison U.S. Population School Psychologists

Linguistic Diversity of the U.S. Population Source: 2000 Census 17.9 % of the U.S. population (five years old and older) speaks a language other than English at home. Approximately 11% of the U.S. population is foreign born.

Linguistic Diversity of School Psychologists Source: NASP 2000 Bilingual Directory 612 school psychologists speak at least one foreign language 97 school psychologists speak two or more foreign languages

Diverse States Source: 2000 Census 26-61% of the population in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina and the District of Columbia is African American/black 25-42% of the population in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas is Hispanic 5% of school psychologists in the field are people of color (Curtis, Hunley, Walker & Baker, 1999)

Cross-Cultural Competence Important to develop given an increasingly diverse population Benefits children by improving cross-cultural communication and ensuring that consultation, intervention, and assessments are appropriately designed to meet student, staff, and parental needs Promoted by NASP through partnerships, recruitment efforts, bilingual publications, training, online resources, and advocacy (http://www.nasponline.org/culturalcompetence)

Six Domains of Service Delivery Six domains of service delivery needed for cross-culturally competent practice Domain 1: Legal and Ethical Issues Domain 2: School Culture, Educational Policy and Institutional Advocacy Domain 3: Psychoeducational Assessment and Related Issues Domain 4: Academic, Therapeutic and Consultative Interventions Domain 5: Working with Interpreters Domain 6: Research (Rogers et al., 1999)

Domain 1: Legal and Ethical Issues Knowledge of local, state, and federal laws and regulations, awareness of litigation, and understanding of ethics Advocate for public policy and educational law

Domain 2: School Culture, Educational Policy, and Institutional Advocacy Knowledge of aspects of organizational culture that promote achievement and mental health for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students Ability to play a leadership role in the implementation of supportive interventions for CLD students and their families

Domain 3: Psychoeducational Assessment Knowledge of and skills in assessing CLD students, including consideration of variables such as environment, social issues, language development, second language acquisition, acculturation, educational history, quality of educational program, SES and racism

Domain 3: Psychoeducational Assessment Understanding that normed tests may not be a valid measure for English Language Learners (ELLs) due to inappropriateness of norms, scores reflecting English proficiency, product as opposed to process orientation, fairness of content, and differences in educational background, acculturation, and economic situation

Domain 4: Academic, Therapeutic, and Consultative Interventions Skills in multicultural counseling and cross-cultural consultation Knowledge of multicultural education, ELL programs, and school culture/culture of staff and students

Domain 5: Working with Interpreters Knowledge of recommended systemic practices, including guidelines from professional organizations and national and state policies, and plans for hiring, training, and managing interpreters Knowledge of recommended practices for interpreters translating for parent conferences, including using school personnel and community members as interpreters (never children or family members)

Domain 6: Research Knowledge of research related to culture and language issues and ability to conduct research that is sensitive to cross-cultural issues Awareness of Emic-Etic distinctions (Emic: behaviors or views that are common to an ethnic or minority group; Etic: aspects of human functioning that are more universal to peoples across cultures)

For More Information and Extensive References Curtis, Hunley, Walker & Baker, 1999 Lopez E. C., 2002. Best Practices in Working With School Interpreters to Deliver Psychological Services to Children and Families. In A. Thomas and J. Grimes (Eds.), Best Practices in School Psychology IV. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. Lynch & Hanson, 1998 NASP Culturally Competent Practice: http://www.nasponline.org/culturalcompetence

…continued National Center for Cultural Competence of Georgetown University: http://www.georgetown.edu/research/gucdc/nccc/ncccplannersguide.html Rogers, M. R., Ingraham, C. L., Bursztyn, A., Cajigas-Segredo, N., Esquivel, G., Hess, R. S., & Nahari, S. G., & Lopez, E. C. (1999). Best practices in providing psychological services to racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse individuals in the schools. School Psychology International, 20, 243-264. Sue, Bernier, Duran, Feinberg, Pedersen, Smith, & Vasquez-Nuttall, 1982 U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/