Excerpts from: Excerpts from:

Practicing the Three C’s:Practicing the Three C’s:

Cross-Cultural CompetenceCross-Cultural Competence

in School Psychological Servicesin 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, biasesUnderstanding: worldview of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) clientsKnowledge: cultural differences, assessment and intervention strategiesSkills: providing assessment and intervention services(Sue et al., 1982)

Culture

“An integrated pattern of human behavior thatincludes thoughts, communications, languages,practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals,manners of interacting and roles, relationships andexpected behaviors of a racial, ethnic, religious orsocial group; and the ability to transmit the above tosucceeding generations.”

(National Center for Cultural Competence of Georgetown University: http://www.georgetown.edu/research/gucdc/nccc/ncccplannersguide.html)

Ethnicity of the U.S. PopulationSource: 2000 Census

EthnicityEthnicity %%

White/CaucasianWhite/Caucasian 70.770.7

Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino 12.512.5

Black/African AmericanBlack/African American 12.312.3

Asian-American/Pacific IslanderAsian-American/Pacific Islander 3.63.6

American Indian/Alaskan NativeAmerican Indian/Alaskan Native 0.90.9

Ethnicity of School PsychologistsSource: 2003 NASP membership survey (69% response rate)

EthnicityEthnicity %%

White/CaucasianWhite/Caucasian 91.091.0

Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino

Chicano/Mexican AmericanChicano/Mexican American

Puerto RicanPuerto Rican

1.71.7

0.90.9

0.80.8

Black/African AmericanBlack/African American 2.42.4

Asian-American/Pacific IslanderAsian-American/Pacific Islander 1.11.1

American Indian/Alaskan NativeAmerican Indian/Alaskan Native 0.60.6

Ethnicity Comparison

Caucasian

Hispanic/Latino

AfricanAmerican

AsianAmerican

AmericanIndian

U.S. Population School Psychologists

Linguistic Diversity of the U.S. PopulationSource: 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 612 school psychologists speak at least one foreign languageforeign language

97 school psychologists speak two or more 97 school psychologists speak two or more foreign languagesforeign languages

Diverse StatesSource: 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 IssuesDomain 2: School Culture, Educational

Policy and Institutional AdvocacyDomain 3: Psychoeducational

Assessment and Related IssuesDomain 4: Academic, Therapeutic and

Consultative InterventionsDomain 5: Working with InterpretersDomain 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/