红领巾瓜报

College of Applied Studies Training

Culturally Responsive PRACTICES  

红领巾瓜报 Spring 2024 Workshop Series 

Dr. Bobby Berry, Dr. Sara Mata, Dr. Jennifer Friend

Introductions:

Dr. Bobby Berry

• Name
• What way do you serve students on this campus?
• What brought you here and/or what do you hope to take away?

Participant Outcomes

Participants will:

• Reflect upon diverse cultures and your own social identities, and how these influence your teaching / professional practices.
• Demonstrate increased awareness of the importance of a culturally responsive paradigm.
• Engage in action planning to incorporate culturally responsive practices within your roles at WSU.

Cultural Diversity is a strength

• 鈥淒iversity is the representation of certain groups and their cultures in a particular organization or workplace鈥� (Fredman, 2014, p. 3)
• Diversity increases critical thinking and creativity skills (Smith & Shonfeld, 2000)
• Costs of viewing diversity through a deficit lens
  • Citigroup study 鈥淐losing the Racial Inequality Gaps: The Economic Cost of Black Inequality in the U.S. (Sept. 2020)
  • Estimated $16 trillion was lost in the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) between 2000-2020 due to racial discrimination.
  • 鈥淚f racial inequality was addressed immediately in the U.S. through the equal distribution of wages, education, housing, and investment to Black people in the U.S., $5 trillion could be added to the U.S. economy over the five years鈥� (Tulshyan, 2022, p. 2). 

Reflect on Cultural Diversity at 红领巾瓜报

Question: What are some of the strengths you see at WSU related to cultural diversity?

Social Groups 鈥� A Definition

• A group of people who share a range of physical, cultural, or social characteristics within a social identity category, such as:
  • Race
  • Sex
  • Gender
  • Religion
  • Sexual orientation
  • Class
  • Ability
  • Age
• Social identities are personal - people define them differently. 
• Action: Review your policies, forms, course materials, etc. 鈥� how can you be more inclusive in language? (example: gender inclusive pronouns instead of he/she)

Examples of Social Group Categories

• Race: Black, White, Latino/a, Native American, Asian, biracial, multiracial
• Sex: Female, male, intersex
• Gender: Women, men, transgender, non-binary
• Religion: Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Hindu
• Sexual orientation: Lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual, gay
• Class: Wealthy, working class, poor, middle class
• Ability: Able-bodied, disabled
• Age: Elders, adults, young people

Who are our students?

Undergraduates - Fall 2023

• • Age in years (mean): 23
  • Percent female: 56%
  • Percent first generation: 46%
  • Freshmen % first gen: 48.8%
  • Pell-eligible: 36.1%

WSU Emerging Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI)

   17% of UG Students

Pie Chart of Race/Ethnicity of WSU Undergraduates (2023)

White: 56.60%; Hispanic: 17.00%; Asian: 7.8%; Black: 6.10%; Multiple Race: 5.60%; International: 4.30%; Indian or Alaskan Native: 0.60%;

Graduates - Fall 2023

• • Master鈥檚 Age in years (mean): 28.2
  • Doctoral Age in years (mean): 32.3
  • Master鈥檚 Percent female: 50.2%
  • Doctoral Percent female: 59.6%

Pie Chart of Race/Ethnicity of WSU Graduate Students (2023)

White: 47.50%; International: 36.60%; Hispanic: 5.70%%; Black: 3.70%; Asian: 2.80%;  Multiple Race: 2.50%; Indian or Alaskan Native: 0.40%;

Bar Chart of Domestic Students 鈥� Geographic Origins

Sedgwick County 55.3%; Metro Area: 12.0%; KS Southeast:4.1%; KS Northeast:9.2%: KS Northwest:0.9%: KS Southwest:4.4%: Texas:2.9%; Missouri:2.8%; Oklahoma:2.6%.

About 86% of domestic students Kansas residents. Metropolitan Area includes Butler, Cowley, Harper, Harvey, Kingman, Reno and Sumner counties. Office of Planning & Analysis (OPA)  10/5/2023

International Students 鈥� Geographic Origins

• • Undergraduate (categories >10%)
    • 18.7% Asia 鈥� India
    • 14.8% South America
    • 12.4% Asia 鈥� East & Southeast
    • 11.9% Africa 鈥� Central East South
    • 11.6% Africa 鈥� North & West
    • 10.7% Central America
  • Graduate
    • 79.6% Asia 鈥� India
    • 5.8% Asia 鈥� South
    • 3.2% - Africa 鈥� North & West
    • 3.1% Middle East

Unequal WSU Student Outcomes

Table of Fall 2022 to Fall 2023 Persistence: Percent of Full-time Freshmen who returned

All Students:68.9%; Non-underserved:76.2%; Underserved:63.6%; Equity Gap:-12.7%.

Note: Underserved = underrepresented minority, first generation student, or low income

• What is everyone's ownership in decreasing this equity gap?
• Action: Identify some ways that you can have a positive impact on student success and persistence 鈥� including closing the equity gap. (example 鈥� Utilizing SEAS in first 4 weeks of the semester)

Pillars of Power in the United States

Within each social identity category, some people have greater access to social power and privilege based upon membership in their social group.

Caruthers, L., & Friend, J. (2016). Great expectations: What kids want from our urban public schools. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Social Groups: Privilege & Power

• Our Stories: How do we see our privilege and power in the work that we do?
• What opportunities are there in your work to apply your privilege and power to show up for our students?

PURPOSE of Culturally responsive PRACTICES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

• To provide every student with equitable learning opportunities, treating every student justly and fairly and with dignity, regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, or first language.

Spectrum of how college students develop to understand their identity

Initially Minority Identity Development Model (Atkinson, Morten and Sue, 1979), revised by Sue and Sue (1970) Five Stages of Racial and Cultural Identity 

• Conformity-Identify with White culture, internalize negative stereotypes, no desire to learn about their cultural identity 
• Dissonance-Contradict their White worldview, begin questioning dominant culture and gain interest in learning more about their ethnic/racial group 
• Resistance and Immersion-Conscious exploration of one's racial/ethnic identity and reject White culture; formation of new identity 
• Introspection-Finding balance between dominant culture and their own cultural identity; equally shaping their identity.
• Synergistic Articulation and Awareness-Integration their knowledge and experiences of accepting themselves, appreciate their cultural background and balance racial/ethnic identity with all aspects of identity.

Culturally responsive Practices in the classroom and on Campus

Positive Experiences  

• Unlike other professors they actually seemed to care more but at the same time wasn't careless. They actually treated us like adults even thought we were freshman. that alone motivated me to want to work hard in their class and show up. show students a little of your personality and it will go a long way. 
• She鈥檚 a person who cares about student success and shows that through her actions. All of the coursework she provided us was also intentional and provided me with the information and experience I needed to become the competent teacher I am today.

Negative Experiences

• This was certainly because most of the ___ courses fell under the same professor and he was very dismissive of my struggles. He was also very judgmental and actually made me fall into a bit of a depressive episode because he made belittling remarks and made me question my character. 
• There was a few days that I missed class due to attending a conference and he wouldn鈥檛 provide me notes, so that I could catch up with the rest of the class. Along with that, he would write the notes quickly in class on the board and not allow for students to have enough time to ask questions.

Suggestions

• I think the bare minimum expectation would be for instructors and support staff to regard students as human beings. We aren鈥檛 machines that can operate with no emotion. We face things just as much as anyone else does and sometimes school just can鈥檛 come first. I feel that as long aswe鈥檙e actively trying and communicating those struggles, we shouldn鈥檛 be punished or publicly humiliated for struggling to keep up. It鈥檚 already hard as is to keep a steady pace while your world may be crumbling, but it鈥檚 even more difficult to keep going when the person who is supposed to help you is just throwing more obstacles at you. Asking for help is already difficult for some of us so if we do ask for support, HELP US and don鈥檛 make us regret reaching out. 
• I would suggest providing more opportunities for students to be able to speak about issues such as these. I would also suggest hiring more diverse candidates for positions such as academic advising because that would help many more students receive guidance from someone who actually understandstheir journey, identity, and struggles.
• I would like to for them to provide additional learning resources when certain topics are known to be confusing. Previously, a professor had a separate folder for resources on YouTube and this was very helpful, especially when preparing for exams.

• Examples鈥� of practices that reflect cultural responsiveness:
  • CAS Dean 鈥� 
    • College Student Success & Persistence (SSP) Planning to address equity gaps 
    • Resources committed for DEIB Faculty Fellow, Professional Development, Book Studies
    • Policy revision to address biased language and promote equity (e.g. distribution of resources)
    • Meeting with search committees to promote hiring practices that support a diverse and highly qualified applicant pool
  • HSI Strategic Planning -
    • Collaborating and strengthening efforts related to trainings and educational interventions supporting culturally responsive teaching
    • Building a sense of belonging for faculty and staff by promoting initiatives of the Latine Faculty and Staff Association and partnering with the Indigenous and Black Faculty and Staff Association efforts
    • Examine the data more intentionally by college/department to see where WSU is successful in addressing equity gaps and where improvements can be implemented 鈥�
  • Teaching Perspective鈥� -
    • Ask students what their expectations are of you 
    • Be transparent
    • Be open and willing to learn from the students
    • Challenge your own thoughts, assumptions and expectations

What are some examples of the ways you are interacting and working with students that demonstrate cultural responsiveness and servingness?

Group Activity

Create a task list for reflection and action planning related to culturally responsive practices:

• What are you currently doing?
• What
• Task list 鈥� Review your syllabus for鈥�.

Questions & Discussion

Culturally Responsive Practice: Your Social Group Membership Profile

Action: Continue to reflect on the ways in which your identities influence your teaching / professional practices.