2. Culturally Responsive Practices Companion Field Guide (An Introduction)
Milaney Leverson
Wisconsin RtI Center
Kent Smith
Wisconsin RtI Center
@leversmil (Twitter)
@Kent1915 (Twitter)

3. Agenda
Parts of the Guide
Activities and resources
Wrap up/Eval

4. Things to Know Coaches use the guide to help teams implement
The guide helps build CR Systems
Identity work is critical
Systems and practices must both be addressed.
Risk ratio identifies SOMETHING is going on but is not diagnostic
Teams may begin by discussing gender or poverty, but the conversation must go deeper
Patterns of risk are evident at the National and State level, not just individual districts
Skiba study (Race is not Neutral) investigated race and poverty
Results indicate race is a much bigger predictor of success than poverty

5. Turn and Talk
Do you have concerns about your current systems starting to use this resource?
How might your staff respond to this conversation?
How can you begin the conversation?

6. Parts of the Guide
Introduction - Background, logic, and “how-to” use the guide Identity Development - Discussion on identity development, how identity impacts school and classroom cultures. TFI Culturally Responsive Components - embeds culturally responsive components into the TFI including how what the core universal component is, what the CR elaboration includes, examples, non-examples and resources. Appendices - definitions of key terms, materials, examples, activities and resources.

7. Identity Development
Identity development work must be systemic This work will not occur or sustain unless staff are provided support regarding when and how it can best happen

8. Section I: Identity Development Practitioners
Practitioners must examine and understand:
How and why they perceive the world the way they do
Their own comfort level with issues of race, ethnicity, and educational and social disparities
The background from which they develop and apply their expectations, procedures, routines, and practices
The purpose of their expectations, procedures, and practices
It is imperative that staff examine their beliefs about what is “normal,” “appropriate,” or “acceptable” behavior.
These beliefs are influenced by culture and experience. They can vary greatly from person to person, leading to disproportionate correction.

9. We see the world not as it is, but as we are…
These men both did ground breaking work. They died on the same day. They had different backgrounds, both faced struggles, both by any measure were successful at the time of their deaths. Who are they? Why is it that we know one of them on sight and the other we don’t?
Derrick Bell and Steve Jobs
We pay attention to those things familiar to us and that resonate with us. Technology is a daily presence, but how many people know what critical race theory is? CRT is no less important than technology, but the things we know are the things we see.

10. Cultural History
Graphic organizer to show your history Identifies how you view yourself now Identifies key events in your life that make you the way you are today

11. 10 experiences/events that influenced me
Indicate 10 key life events/influences .
Summarize in 4 descriptors.
Describe how learning history affects how you describe & act on what you experience.
10 experiences/events that influenced me
4 words to describe me
My Name and it’s story
Trainer should modify this slide to represent themselves and to walk through the exercise to illustrate how identity is developed, key experiences that have impacted the practioner and influenced who they are and how they operate in the school setting.

12. Identity Development Student & Family and School & Community
Student and Family Identity:
Student and family backgrounds, cultures, and values
Students understanding their own identity
School and Community Identity:
People of the community; their beliefs, values, and expectations
Shared experiences that shape the behaviors of community members
The school’s place in the community:
Source of pride? Source of conflict?
Connections between the school and community agencies & organizations
Visibility of the school at community events
School and/or district teams should use student and system data along with community feedback to guide decision-making.

14. Student and Family Identity
Practitioners learning about student and family backgrounds, cultures, and values Students understanding their own identity
Decreased
Increased
Increased
Awareness of own cultural background +
development of self-worth =
Academic and behavioral outcomes during middle school.
and
School and/or district teams should use student and system data along with community feedback to guide decision-making.
Smith et al., 2009;
Thomas, Townsend,
& Belgrave, 2003;
Hughes et al., 2009
Problem behavior in 4th grade African American students.

15. Section II: SWPBIS Cultural Responsiveness Companion
Teams are encouraged to:
Complete the Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI), found at
Identify areas of priority from the TFI
Refer to related sections of the SWPBIS Cultural Responsiveness Companion
Develop an action plan
Use Culturally Responsive SWPBIS Self Assessment for progress monitoring

16. SWPBIS Cultural Responsiveness Companion: Organized by TFI Features
Team Composition
Team Operating Procedures
Behavioral Expectations
Teaching Expectations
Problem Behavior Definitions
Discipline Policies
Professional Development
Classroom Procedures
Feedback and Acknowledgement
Faculty Involvement
Student/Family/Community Involvement
Discipline Data
Data-based Decision Making
Fidelity Data
Annual Evaluation

17. Team Composition

18. Behavioral Expectations

19. Validate – Affirm – Build – Bridge
To make legitimate that which the institution (academia) and mainstream has made illegitimate.
Build –
Making the connections between the home culture and language with the school culture and language through instructional strategy and activity.
Affirm –
To make positive that which the institution (academia) and mainstream media has made negative.
Bridge –
Giving opportunities for situational appropriateness or the utilization of the appropriate cultural or linguistic behavior.
All of the previous strategies should be aimed at VABBing with stakeholders. We want to:
Validate and Affirm concerns
And Build and Bridge to the purpose of implementation

20. Activity Think about your school-wide expectations:
How were they identified?
Were families involved in determining them?
Have families been engaged in getting feedback or revising them?

21. Problem Behavior Definitions

22. Behavior Definitions
Research indicates that subjective behaviors more often result in disproportionate discipline for students of color (e.g., defiance, disrespect)
McIntosh, Girvan, Horner, & Smolkowski, 2014 Skiba et al., 2011

23. Feedback and Acknowledgement

24. Climate and Culture Conversation
What is your school’s culture in relation to use of acknowledgement?
In teaching behavior in general?

25. Student/Family/Community Involvement

26. Engagement Defined Engaged Stakeholders demonstrate ownership through:
Investment in Purpose
Commitment to Common Goal/Vision
Active and Continued Participation
Interactive Communication
Internal/External and two way

27. Discipline Data

28. Appendix Examples of concepts referenced in the Guide
Activities that can be done with staff
Lesson plans for how to teach the concepts to staff

34. Turn and Talk
Of the concepts highlighted (Team Composition, Behavioral Expectations, Problem Behavior Definitions, Feedback & Acknowledgement, Student/Family/Community Engagement, and Discipline Data), which would be easiest to start with in your building or district?
Which will be the most difficult?
How might you address the difficult pieces?

35. How to Use This Guide
Teams may use this tool either before initial SWPBIS implementation to build cultural responsiveness into systems from the beginning or after initial SWPBIS implementation to enhance equity of existing systems. To use this resource, we suggest the following steps:

36. Step 1
Complete the TFI. Teams can first complete the SWPBIS Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI; available at a fidelity of implementation measure for SWPBIS. This measure allows teams to rate their implementation of the critical features of SWPBIS and identify next steps for implementation.

37. Step 2
Use the TFI Cultural Responsiveness Companion. After completing the TFI, coaches can use the companion to help teams assess and improve the cultural responsiveness of their SWPBIS systems. This may include:
reviewing the whole companion,
consulting items from the TFI that are in place (to build on strengths), or
targeting items where the TFI indicates need for improvement or other information indicates the need for enhanced cultural responsiveness

38. Step 3
Create an action plan. Use the information from the TFI and this resource to develop a detailed action plan for implementing core components of cultural responsiveness within SWPBIS.

39. Getting Started
Establish the need in local terms – mismatch between mission and outcome
Begin Identity Development work
Move into the CR TFI use

40. Turn and Talk
When considering the “Getting Started” information, where is the biggest challenge going to come from?
How might you begin to neutralize those challenges?

41. PBIS Disproportionality Data Guide
Equity in PBIS website from OSEP PBIS Technical Assistance Center Data Guidebook WI Risk Ratio Tool

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