Are you doing all you can to improve teaching and learning?

Culturally proficient instruction is the result of an inside-out journey of teaching and learning during which you explore your values and behaviors while evaluating the policies and practices of your workplace. The journey deepens your understanding of yourself and your community of practice. In the newest version of their best-selling book, the authors invite you to reflect on how you engage with your students and your colleagues as a community of learners. The third edition features a case study to show cultural proficiency in practice and:

Each chapter contains reflective activities and group work conducive to collaborative professional development. Culturally Proficient Instruction is invaluable for anyone dedicated to creating an environment in which all learners can succeed. 

An introspective response with LGBT communities for positive change

A Culturally Proficient Response to LGBT Communities is a guide for educators to collaboratively combat issues of discrimination, inequity, and bullying through the review of current policies, practices, and deeply held assumptions about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered (LGBT) communities. This inside-out approach carries readers through a personal journey of reflection to action by using the Tools of Cultural Proficiency to examine their values, beliefs, and assumptions about how LGBT communities are served educationally. 

 Creating safe and welcoming schools includes both setting effective and appropriate policies and the inside-out analyses of one’s own beliefs and values. Resulting cultural proficiencies, steeped in self-reflection, boost empathy and improve learning environments. On this simple, powerful premise, readers will find:

Using this first step for positive systemic change, school leaders can elevate understanding and propel schools toward safe and diverse-friendly environments.

"This book provides essential tools for educators who want to make schools safe and welcoming for all students.  I could not put this book down. In my nearly 25 years of education I have not come across a resource that handles the needs of LGBT students as sensitively and supportively as these authors have using the tools of Cultural Proficiency." —Gunn Marie Hansen, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Orange Unified School District, CA

Sometimes people just don't fit in. They may not be a member of the dominant group; they may not have figured out the norms of the dominant culture, or members of the dominant culture may not realize that the organization's culture is marginalizing. As advocates for social justice it is important to notice and teach the cultural codes – the house rules – that contribute to success in a particular environment, and to dismantle the codes within those environments that target, marginalize or exclude. This book is helpful for

What People are Saying “Fish Out of Water is a great resource for navigating ponds that suffocate the marginalized with dominant norms and values. Linking Cultural Proficiency to decoding an environment provides more tools for code switching, code sharing, and conversations about making students and families feel welcomed, included, and safe in our schools.”  —Angela Ward, Office of Cultural Proficiency & Inclusion Austin Independent Schools, TX “This book made me think. It is a courageous attempt at the difficult subject of who ‘doesn't fit’ into the spaces and places we inhabit—and why. But the most valuable part of this book is that it describes what we can do about making our schools, workplaces, and communities more inclusive, and ultimately more effective.”  —Nicki King, Reducing Mental Health Disparities Project University of California, Davis 

Are you doing all you can to improve teaching and learning?

Culturally proficient instruction is the result of an inside-out journey of teaching and learning during which you explore your values and behaviors while evaluating the policies and practices of your workplace. The journey deepens your understanding of yourself and your community of practice. In the newest version of their best-selling book, the authors invite you to reflect on how you engage with your students and your colleagues as a community of learners. The third edition features a case study to show cultural proficiency in practice and:

Each chapter contains reflective activities and group work conducive to collaborative professional development. Culturally Proficient Instruction is invaluable for anyone dedicated to creating an environment in which all learners can succeed. 

An introspective response with LGBT communities for positive change

A Culturally Proficient Response to LGBT Communities is a guide for educators to collaboratively combat issues of discrimination, inequity, and bullying through the review of current policies, practices, and deeply held assumptions about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered (LGBT) communities. This inside-out approach carries readers through a personal journey of reflection to action by using the Tools of Cultural Proficiency to examine their values, beliefs, and assumptions about how LGBT communities are served educationally. 

 Creating safe and welcoming schools includes both setting effective and appropriate policies and the inside-out analyses of one’s own beliefs and values. Resulting cultural proficiencies, steeped in self-reflection, boost empathy and improve learning environments. On this simple, powerful premise, readers will find:

Using this first step for positive systemic change, school leaders can elevate understanding and propel schools toward safe and diverse-friendly environments.

"This book provides essential tools for educators who want to make schools safe and welcoming for all students.  I could not put this book down. In my nearly 25 years of education I have not come across a resource that handles the needs of LGBT students as sensitively and supportively as these authors have using the tools of Cultural Proficiency." —Gunn Marie Hansen, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Orange Unified School District, CA

Sometimes people just don't fit in. They may not be a member of the dominant group; they may not have figured out the norms of the dominant culture, or members of the dominant culture may not realize that the organization's culture is marginalizing. As advocates for social justice it is important to notice and teach the cultural codes – the house rules – that contribute to success in a particular environment, and to dismantle the codes within those environments that target, marginalize or exclude. This book is helpful for

What People are Saying “Fish Out of Water is a great resource for navigating ponds that suffocate the marginalized with dominant norms and values. Linking Cultural Proficiency to decoding an environment provides more tools for code switching, code sharing, and conversations about making students and families feel welcomed, included, and safe in our schools.”  —Angela Ward, Office of Cultural Proficiency & Inclusion Austin Independent Schools, TX “This book made me think. It is a courageous attempt at the difficult subject of who ‘doesn't fit’ into the spaces and places we inhabit—and why. But the most valuable part of this book is that it describes what we can do about making our schools, workplaces, and communities more inclusive, and ultimately more effective.”  —Nicki King, Reducing Mental Health Disparities Project University of California, Davis