Transcript Training

Culturally Competent
Psychological Practice Part 1:
Standards, Ethics, and Guidelines—School psychologists as
cultural practitioners.
Samuel O. Ortiz, Ph.D.
Professor
St. John’s University
Understanding and Defining Culture

Not just ethnicity & race
– Gender
– Religion
– Child rearing
– Socioeconomic status
– Demographics
– Level of acculturation
– Attitudes towards formal education
– Language
– Values
– Humor
Professional Standards for Multicultural Competency

National Association of School Psychologists’ (2000)
Professional Conduct Manual

American Psychological Association’s (2002)
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct

American Educational Research Association, American
Psychological Association and National Council on
Measurement in Education’s (1999)
Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing
National Association of School Psychologists’ (2000)
Professional Conduct Manual
Principles for Professional Practices
Professional Practices (c.1.b)
“School psychologists respect differences in age, gender,
sexual orientation, and socioeconomic, cultural, and
ethnic backgrounds. They select and use appropriate
assessment or treatment procedures, techniques, and
strategies.”
National Association of School Psychologists’ (2000)
Professional Conduct Manual
Guidelines For the Provision of School Psychological Services
Practice Guideline 5:
“School Psychologists have the sensitivity, knowledge, and skills
to work with individuals and groups with a diverse range of
strengths and needs from a variety of racial, cultural, ethnic,
experiential, and linguistic backgrounds.”
National Association of School Psychologists’ (2000)
Professional Conduct Manual
Guidelines For the Provision of School Psychological Services
Practice Guideline 5.2:
“School psychologists recognize (in themselves and others and in
the techniques and instruments that they use for assessment
and intervention) the subtle racial, class, gender, and cultural
biases they may bring to their work and the way these biases
influence decision making….School psychologists work to
reduce and eliminate these biases when they occur.”
American Psychological Association’s (2002)
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct

Use of Assessment (9.02)
“ . . . .Psychologists use assessment methods that are
appropriate to an individual’s language preference and
competence, unless the use of an alternative language is
relevant to the assessment issue.”
American Psychological Association’s (2002)
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct

Interpreting Assessment Results (9.06)
“When interpreting assessment results, including automated
interpretations, psychologists take into account the purpose of
the assessment as well as the various test factors, test-taking
abilities, and other characteristics of the person being
assessed, such as situational, personal, linguistic, and cultural
differences, that might affect psychologists’ judgments or
reduce the accuracy of their interpretation. They indicate any
significant limitations of their interpretations.”
Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing
(AERA, APA & NCME, 1999)

“9.1: Testing Practices should be designed to reduce threats to
reliability and validity of test score inferences that may arise from
language differences….

9.3: When testing an examinee proficient in two or more languages for
which the test is available, the examinee’s relative language
proficiencies should be determined. The test generally should be
administered in the test taker’s most proficient language, unless
proficiency in the less proficient language is part of the assessment….

9.10 Inferences about test takers’ general language proficiency should
be based on tests that measure a range of language features, and not a
single linguistic skill.”
Cultural Competency at the Service Level
According to NASP, educators and related services personnel who are
culturally competent:

Learn as much as they can about a student's or family's culture, while recognizing the
influence of their own background on their responses to cultural differences;

Include neighborhood and community outreach efforts and involve community cultural
leaders if possible;

Work within each student's family structure, which may include grandparents, other
relatives, and friends;

Recognize, accept, and when appropriate, incorporate the role of community volunteers;

Understand the different expectations people may have about the way services are offered
(for example, a period of social conversation may be necessary before each contact with a
person; or access to a family may be gained only through an elder); and

Adhere to traditions relating to gender and age that may play a part in certain cultures (for
example, in many racial and ethnic groups, elders are highly respected). With an
awareness of how different groups show respect, providers can properly interpret the
various ways people communicate.
Domains of Culturally Competent Service Delivery

Knowledge of local, state, and federal laws and regulations, and court rulings pertaining
to culturally and linguistically diverse individuals

Understanding of ethical standards as they related to delivering services to culturally
and linguistically diverse individuals

Ability to recognize the limits of our own multicultural competence

Examine individual referrals within the context of institutional and systemic patterns
(e.g., cultural misinformation, racism, cultural differences) affecting diverse learners
and provide leadership in seeking and implementing individuals and systemic
interventions

Knowledge of and skills in assessing diverse individuals, including consideration of
variables such as environment, social issues, language development, second language
acquisition, acculturation, educational history, quality of educational programs, SES
and racism

Understanding that normed tests may not be a valid measure for diverse individuals due
to inappropriateness of norms, scores reflecting English proficiency, product as opposed
to process orientation
NASP
Blueprint III
Purpose of Blueprint III
“Blueprint III is written to be a stimulus for discussion
by school psychologists and those who educate them.
It can be used by trainers to develop coursework and
practical experience for both preservice and
continuing education, and it can be used by
practitioners to help them shape their own continuing
professional development. Finally, it can be used by
professional associations to facilitate strategic
planning and to inform the development of
standards.” (TF)
NASP Blueprint III Multicultural Domain

Diversity Awareness and Sensitive Service Delivery
– School psychologists must be able to recognize when
issues of diversity affect the manner and nature of
interactions with other people and organizations
– They must have the ability to modify or adapt their
practices in response to those being served
Cultural Competence
NASP Operational Definition
“Cultural competence is the integration
and transformation of knowledge about
individuals and groups of people into
specific standards, policies,
practices,and attitudes used in
appropriate cultural settings to increase
the quality of services; thereby
producing better outcomes.”
(NASP, 2005)
Culturally Competent
Psychological Practice
“Being culturally competent is not so much about
having knowledge of particular culture and it’s
attendant beliefs, values, traditions, and customs,
as much as it is the ability to recognize instances
where cultural differences might be operating and
the application of a systematic, well-reasoned
framework to deal with them.”
(Ortiz, 2005)
Culturally Competent
Psychological Practice
“The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking
new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
Marcel Proust