Cultural and linguistic competence as it relates to education, is having an awareness of one’s own cultural identity and an understanding about differences, and the ability to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms of students and their families.
With the increasing diversity of the U.S. population, schools must be aware of cultural differences and how those differences influence learning styles, communication, and behavior. All children have the right to a meaningful educational experience regardless of race, ethnicity and culture. Cultural competency of school staff is essential to a culturally responsive learning environment where every student's cultures, languages, and life experiences are acknowledged, validated, celebrated, and positively reflected in the curriculum. School staff must acknowledge the cultural differences among their students to recognize the unique experiences they face. When culture is ignored, students and their families are at risk of not getting the support they need, or worse yet, receiving assistance that is more harmful than helpful.
The cultural gap between students and their teachers very often can be a factor in students’ academic performance and contribute to achievement gaps among different student groups. Some 27 percent of public-school students are Hispanic, with students of other ethnicities and multiracial students comprising another 26 percent of public school students. In addition, the number of children ages 5-17 who speak a language other than English at home has more than quadrupled between 1979 and 2019 to more than 12 million students. In comparison, about 79 percent of public-school teachers identified as non-Hispanic White during the 2017-18 school year.
These trends will continue as the nation and the school-age population become increasingly diverse.
Cultural competence is the capability and capacity to understand the differences within a cultural and/or ethnic group that makes each student unique while celebrating those variations. This understanding provides the basis for the creation of culturally responsive learning environments and teaching practices in the culturally competent educator’s classroom.
Aceves, T. C., & Orosco, M. J. (2014). Culturally responsive teaching (Document No. IC-2). Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center. https://ceedar.education.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/culturally-responsive.pdf
Boser, U., Wilhelm, M., & Hanna, R. (2014). The power of the Pygmalion Effect: Teachers’ expectations strongly predict college completion. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2014/10/06/96806/the-power-of-the-pygmalion-effect/
ChildStats.gov. (2019). FAM5 Language Spoken at Home and Difficulty Speaking English: Number of Children Ages 5-17 Who Speak a Language Other Than English at Home by Language Spoken and Ability to Speak English, and the Percentages of Those Speaking a Language Other Than English at Home and Those with Difficulty Speaking English by Selected Characteristics, Selected Years 1979-2019. Accessed at: https://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/tables/fam5.asp
Cross, T., Bazron, B., Dennis, K., & Isaacs, M., (1989). Towards A Culturally Competent System of Care, Volume I. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Child Development Center, CASSP Technical Assistance Center.
Egalite, A. J., Kisida, B., & Winters, M. A. (2015). Representation in the classroom: The effect of own-race teachers on student achievement. Economics of Education Review, 45, 44–52.
Fergus, E. (2017). Interrogating the White teacher and students of color integration project: Understanding the role of bias-based beliefs in disproportionality. Theory into Practice, 56 (3), 169-177.
Gershenson, S., Hart, C. M. D., Lindsay, C. A., & Papageorge, N. W. (2017). The long-run impacts of same-race teachers (IZA DP. No. 10630). IZA Institute of Labor Economics.
Kids Count Data Center. (2020). Children who have difficulty speaking English in the United States. Accessed at: https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/82-children-who-have-difficulty-speaking-english#detailed/1/any/false/1729,37,871,870,573,869,36,868,867,133/any/398,399
Kids Count Data Center. (2021). Children who speak a language other than English at home in the United States. Accessed at: https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/81-children-who-speak-a-language-other-than-english-at-home#detailed/1/any/false/1729,37,871,870,573,869,36,868,38,35/any/396,397
National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). Racial/Ethnic Enrollment in Public Schools. Accessed at: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cge
Schaeffer, K. (2021). America’s public school teachers are far less racially and ethnically diverse than their students. Pew Research Center. Accessed at https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/12/10/americas-public-school-teachers-are-far-less-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-than-their-students/
PBIS Rewards. (2021). 5 Traits of a Culturally Responsive Classroom. Accessed at: https://www.pbisrewards.com/blog/culturally-responsive-classroom/#:~:text=What%20is%20Cultural%20Responsiveness%3F&text=Culturally%20responsive%20schools%20offer%20a,the%20curriculum%20and%20instructional%20methods
