Cultural Competence Now: 56 Exercises to Help Educators Understand and Challenge Bias, Racism, and Privilege

by Vernita Mayfield

What will it take to create equitable educational opportunities for all students? According to veteran educator Vernita Mayfield, teachers and school leaders need to learn how to recognize culturally embedded narratives about racial hierarchy and dismantle the systems of privilege and the institutions that perpetuate them with knowledge, action, and advocacy. Cultural Competence Now provides a structure to begin meaningful conversations about race, culture, bias, privilege, and power within the time constraints of an ordinary school. The 56 exercises include activities, discussions, and readings in which to engage during each of the four quarters of the school year. School leaders will discover how to facilitate learning through the four steps—awaken and assess; apply and act; analyze and align; advocate and lead—as you and your colleagues

* Increase your awareness of privilege and bias.
* Adapt your professional practices to meet the needs of all students.
* Examine policies and practices that inhibit opportunities for marginalized populations.
* Align resources to eradicate inequity in your school. Mayfield offers advice on establishing a safe environment for professional conversations, setting goals for cultural competency, overcoming resistance, reviewing school data and the school's vision and mission through the lens of race and culture, and strategically managing what can be a transformative yet uncomfortable change process. Cultural Competence Now responds to the urgent need to build the cultural competency of educators—for the sake of children and in the interest of supporting and retaining all educators.

Genres: Education, Social Justice

212 pages, Paperback

Published February 18, 2020

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great if you have already done the research and historical reading on racism in education. This book is an action book full of resources for a school to use to work on being culturally competent educators. Sucks that a lot of the academic articles I could not access because i am not at a college setting :(

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent call to action and then great, specific activities you can do with your staff to deepen learning.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good! It's geared toward school leaders and staff. There's several introductory chapters and many exercises to complete with the staff throughout the school year.

[Caitlin Gloege · Rating 3 out of 5]

While providing a basic historical context, this book is spot on for ease of use and could be implemented immediately.