| Oregon update |
Wednesday) A
EMU Balloon
lQlQQjimzV.QmM
:egon
r
The University of Oregon’s
Coalition Against Environmental Racism (CAER)
presents the
10th Annual
Environmental Justice Conference
&■ ---
This weekend
Saturday, April 2nd, 2005
8am - 6pm
Wesley Foundation center
1236 Kincaid St., Eugene, OR
*Food Provided*
In Your Own Backyard:
Work within our community to
create change here and elsewhere
021883
V
•8:00 ORGANIC BREAKFAST
•8:45 WELCOME ADDRESS
• 12:30 FREE ORGANIC LUNCH
• 1:00-1:45 KEYNOTE ADDRESS
by Caleen Sisk-Franco, spmtmnexim
and Chief of the Wlnnemem Wintu Tribe of California.
The conference is free
and open to the public
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~caer/
More Info: ela@law.uoregon.edu
Student
Groups!
Advertise in the Emerald call 346-4343
or place your ad online at
www.dailyemerald.com
Efforts for cultural
competency face
criticism in House
A proposed bill stresses the importance of educators
being able to teach students of varied backgrounds
BY JULIA SILVERMAN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTLAND — A quiet effort by
state officials to require that all new
ly certified Oregon teachers be “cul
turally competent” looks to be
dead-on-arrival in the Republican
controlled House, despite firm sup
port from education advocates.
In its broadest sense, “cultural
competence” in the classroom
means the ability to successfully
teach children from all different
backgrounds, regardless of ethnici
ty, socioeconomic level or disability.
For example, it can mean not as
signing homework that requires a
computer to a homeless student or
understanding that in some Hispan
ic cultures, it’s considered rude to
look an authority figure in the eye.
The idea is that understanding a
student’s background will eventual
ly help him or her to perform better
in class and on tests.
A bill requested by Gov. Ted Ku
longoski on behalf of the state
Teacher Standards and Practices
Commission, which regulates teach
ing licenses, sailed through the Sen
ate Education Commission, easily
passed the full Senate by a vote of
25-3 and went to the House Educa
tion Committee.
There, though, it has run into
trouble.
The problem, House Republicans
say, is the state’s working definition
of what it means to be culturally
competent, which was devised dur
ing a by-invitation summit spon
sored by the Oregon Department of
Education last year.
According to the working defini
tion, cultural competence is based
on “a commitment to social justice
and equity,” and individuals
should, “have a defined set of val
ues and principles ... that enable
them to work effectively in a cross
cultural manner.”
Those phrases sent up red flags
for Rep. Linda Flores, R-Clackamas,
who chairs the House Education
Committee, and her staff.
“This seems to require of teachers
that they think and believe” certain
things, said Dave Mowry, Flores’
legislative coordinator. “If you don’t
have the same viewpoint of equity
and social justice, does that mean
you don’t get certified?”
Mowry said the bill may not even
get a hearing in front of the House
Education Committee.
“It’s just beyond the pale,” he
said. “We’re the only state that
has enlarged the definition to in
clude advocating for equity and so
cial justice.”
Flores said she is generally sup
portive of encouraging teachers
to be more culturally aware
in an effort to close the persistent
gap between the test scores of
minority students and their white
counterparts.
But the working Oregon defini
tion seems tinged with politics,
Mowry said.
Even with the Republican
objections, the cultural competency
concept still has legs in Oregon and
influential backers.
“I do believe that there is an issue
of social justice inherent in the
achievement gap,” said Pat Burk,
chief policy officer for the Oregon
Department of Education. “There is
a fundamental question of whether
we are willing to allow our public
institutions to serve some people
better than others.”
Oregon is one of 20 states to re
ceive a leadership development
grant from the New York-based Wal
lace Foundation. Funded by the
$600,000 grant, teachers and ad
ministrators in eight school districts
— Springfield, Lincoln County,
Beaverton, Eugene, South Lane,
Nyssa, Bend-La Pine and Portland
— are receiving cultural competen
cy, literacy training, or both.
The goal is for them to pass their
newfound knowledge along to their
colleagues and to share those prac
tices with other school districts, said
Rob Larson, the Oregon Department
of Education’s federal liaison.
Already, Larson said, the Teach
ers Standards and Practices Com
mission has adopted new standards
that will require any new school
administrators to demonstrate cul
tural competency skills, starting
in 2007.
Teacher preparation programs at
universities across the state have
been putting more emphasis on cul
tural competency as well, Larson
and others said.
“The Oregon student population
is changing dramatically,” said Pe
ter Cookson, dean of the Graduate
School of Education and Counseling
at Lewis & Clark College. “We need
to have teachers and administrators
who are able to deal with language
acquisition in a sophisticated man
ner. Literacy is key to the future of a
kid by any measure. ”
Vickie Chamberlain, the execu
tive director of the teacher licensing
agency, said the state can look for
incentives to encourage school dis
tricts to include cultural competen
cy training in current professional
development opportunities.
Chamberlain’s agency is itself a
target of House Republicans, who
have introduced a bill to eliminate
it. But that prospect seems unlikely
to win support in the Democratic
controlled Senate.
In the meantime, Chamberlain
said the commission may be able to
push forward with cultural compe
tency requirements for teachers
without a legislative seal of ap
proval, especially because represen
tatives of the teachers’ union,
school administrators and school
boards have been supportive.
“The commission has made it a
personal goal of ours to begin work
on cultural competency standards,”
Chamberlain said. “We don’t
need legislation to pursue those
goals. (Lawmakers) delegated the
authority to set the standards
and requirements for all licenses to
the commission.”
You're always close to campus.
* www.dailyemerald.com