A Culturally Proficient Response to LGBT Communities: A Guide for Educators - Paperback

by Randall B. Lindsey (Author), Richard M. Diaz (Author), Kikanza Nuri-Robins (Author)

An introspective response with LGBT communities for positive change

A Culturally Proficient Response to LGBT Communities is a guide for educators to collaboratively combat issues of discrimination, inequity, and bullying through the review of current policies, practices, and deeply held assumptions about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered (LGBT) communities. This inside-out approach carries readers through a personal journey of reflection to action by using the Tools of Cultural Proficiency to examine their values, beliefs, and assumptions about how LGBT communities are served educationally.

Creating safe and welcoming schools includes both setting effective and appropriate policies and the inside-out analyses of one's own beliefs and values. Resulting cultural proficiencies, steeped in self-reflection, boost empathy and improve learning environments. On this simple, powerful premise, readers will find:

• Inside-out growth through personal stories and case-studies
• Reflection through activities and prompts appropriate for individuals and teams
• Insight into current responses to bullying

Using this first step for positive systemic change, school leaders can elevate understanding and propel schools toward safe and diverse-friendly environments.

"This book provides essential tools for educators who want to make schools safe and welcoming for all students. I could not put this book down. In my nearly 25 years of education I have not come across a resource that handles the needs of LGBT students as sensitively and supportively as these authors have using the tools of Cultural Proficiency."
--Gunn Marie Hansen, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services
Orange Unified School District, CA

Author Biography

Randall B. Lindsey is principal associate of The Robins Group. He is professor emeritus at California State University, Los Angeles, where he served as chair of the Division of Administration and Counseling in the School of Education. He has served as a junior and senior high school teacher of history and as an administrator of school desegregation and staff development programs. He has worked extensively with school districts as they plan for and experience changing populations.

Richard Diaz is the founding director of the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce′s Riordan Volunteer Leadership Development Program. Richard has provided leadership and vision to the Riordan program and has impacted thousands of young professionals and hundreds of nonprofit organizations in the past two decades.

Kikanza J. Nuri-Robins is an organizational development consultant. She has spent her career working with schools, churches, hospitals and not-for-profit organizations helping them to become healthy, productive, diverse and inclusive. She began her career teaching elementary school and secondary reading. She has taught social foundations for schools of education and has provided professional development in schools and districts throughout the United States.

Raymond D. Terrell, EdD, retired as Special Assistant to the Dean for Diversity Initiatives in the School of Education and Allied Professions at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He has served as a secondary English teacher, elementary school principal, professor of educational administration, Dean of the School of Education at California State University, Los Angeles. He has more than 40 years of professional experience with diversity and equity issues.

Delores B. Lindsey is Associate Professor of educational administration at California State University San Marcos in San Marcos, California. She is coauthor of four Corwin publications: Culturally Proficient Learning Communities: Confronting Inequities Through Collaborative Curiosity (2009), Culturally Proficient Instruction: A Guide for People Who Teach (2002, 2006), the multimedia kit by the same name, and Culturally Proficient Coaching: Supporting Educators to Create Equitable Schools (2007). Lindsey is a former middle grades and high school teacher, middle grades site administrator, and county office of education administrator. As a professor, she serves schools, districts, and county offices as a cognitive coach training associate, adaptive schools associate, and as a consultant to develop culturally proficient educators.

Complete CVs for Randy, Kikanza, Ray, and Delores are on file with the editorial team and available upon request. Richard Diaz′s complete CV is included in this proposal.